Greetings from North Central California

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phwsteven

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 10, 2011
2
10
Hello to all,

This is my first post. I love to cook and spend a lot of winter doing just that. have been interested in smoking for some time now. I have a Bradley electric smoker that is now broken and I need a new smoker.

That being said, I need to add I've been looking for a long time and am honestly somewhat confused about everything that is available. So my idea is to put it to you. If you could do anything including build your own smoker, what would it be? I have the tools necessary for metal fabrication as well. Or, is there a smoker on the market that you could recommend?

The only additional information I could giv e is that I would prefer a side smoker or a double barrel smoker.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Thanks,

Steven
 
Welcome to SMF glad you joined us. You'll find lots of good info and some great recipes here. As for what smoker to get that depend on lots of things like what type of smoker do you think you want electric, propane, charcoal or wood fired? There are models of all of them that will produce good Q so it's kinda what your looking for and comfortable with
 
Welcome to SMF. There are several good units on the market like the Weber Smokey Mountain aka WSM. You could build a UDS Ugly Drum Smoker. I would build a RF stick burner like the Lang or Bubba.

Good luck
 
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   Glad to have you with us!
 
Welcome to the forum! I'm currently going to be transitioning from a charcoal offset smoker to a wood (stick) burner. It's not cheap though, I have a Lang 36 on order, $950 + around $400 - $500 for shipping. If you want to stick with the offset design like you mentioned one thing you'll realize is that you got your inexpensive models that might require a lot of work to get it to cook even and maintain heats well. Then there is a big jump in price and now you're looking at, I would say, $900 and up to thousands of $'s for a good offset smoker which is made of 1/4" steel. Stick burners require more work, although a good one won't require as much work tending the fire as an el cheapo offset. There are 2 main designs in offset smokers, traditional flow and reverse flow designs, reverse flows help even out that cooking temp all the way across. Traditional flow smokers usually have a major hot spot and need a tuning plate to help even out the temps. If you don't want to drop the cash for a Klose, Lang, Jambo, Horizon etc you can get an inexpenisve offset and modify it and that makes a big difference in how they cook.

There are other quality smokers out there but you said you wanted to stay to offset smokers so that's what I have to say about that. Definately take Jeff's 5 day E-Course, search the forum for traditional vs reverse flow, and some of the other pits I mentioned above. If you have the know how and the means to build one then look at these manufacturers stuff for ideas and hang out in the section on builds.
 
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Welcome to SMF phwsteven!!

I am a proud owner of an MES 40. Being new and loving smoked food this was the simplest and most cost effective for me.

Almost a no fail also.

With it and the addition of the AMNPS smokin is a breeze. JMO.

I am sure you will find what you are comfortable with.

And all I can say when ya do is

Happy Smokin'

Mike
 
WOW !   I checked this 24 hours later and to my suprise I found the Mother Lode.

First, thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. I've decided to not go with the electric option as I have done that before. Maybe it was my unit or maybe it was me, but I just didnt get the results I wanted. I'm definetly taking the 5 day course. Thanks for that!

As for the Lang or the Bubba, I love the style but the price is a little steep for me.

The WSM is near the top of my list.

Now for my decision.......................I think I am going to build my own!!!

When I come up with a plan that fits my criteria I will move over to the build thread and learn how to upload pictures on the site.

From the build process to what you are calling Q view.

Thanks for all your imput.

Hey FishWrestler in Rocklin, CA. I'm in Plumas Lake. Only 20 minutes away!

Thanks again,

Steve
 
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Hey Steven,
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 and if you have the equipment, go big ; you won't go back to Elect. The flavor of wood smoked meat is superior to the other modes and yes, it takes a bit more work, but well worth the effort.
 
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