Need quick education

smokerzwife

Newbie

Original poster

Dec 17, 2015

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• Dec 17, 2015

• #1

My husband wants to start smoking meat & I was looking to buy a smoker for him for Chistmas. Based on your threads, I'm wondering if a smoke house would be better?? What are pros/cons of each? If a smoker is a good place to start, what brand? I would appreciate any advice based on your smoking journey!

 

noboundaries

Epic Pitmaster

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Sep 7, 2013

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Roseville, CA, a suburb of Sacramento

• Dec 17, 2015

• #2

Smokerzwife, welcome to SMF!  Glad you are here and looking for some last minute shopping advice.

A smokehouse is quite an undertaking, and generally best for cold smokes.  If you want to get him something for hot smoking and he has not smoked meat before, you've got two easy options: electric or charcoal.  The electric uses wood chips for smoke flavoring; charcoal uses wood chunks. 

Electric is convenient, easy, and probably the most purchased first smoker on the market.  With minimal mods or additions you can turn out some great smoked meat.  There are a ton of folks here in the electric club. 

The most convenient and easy charcoal smoker is a Weber Smokey Mountain.  No mods required and works great right out of the box.  Get the 22.5" and you can smoke for two or a hundred.  It also comes in an 18.5" and a 14.5".  There are a lot of folks here with the WSM. 

At this late date you'll probably have to buy them online unless you have a Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas close to you.  Kind of off season for the big retailers.  Check with Home Depot and Lowes too. 

Have fun shopping!

 

chef jimmyj

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• Dec 18, 2015

• #3

Welcome and you chose the right place to come for Honest advice...

If your hubby is a Techie kind of guy with a smart phone, The Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse, Model 20070115, with Bluetooth has been getting good reviews around here and at $399.99 on Amazon is a pretty good price.

For a more Basic electric smoker, the Smokin-it Model #2 is the same price but shipping is a bit salty.

For Charcoal fired, I agree, the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) in 22.5 will get the job done with a small learning curve and is also $399.

For Propane, the Landmann 3895GWLA is a similar size and price. Shop around including calling the manufacturer. They can sometime beat online store prices. The Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24" wide is cheaper and has good reviews.

There are cheaper smokers and WAY more expensive ones but the above are some of the most popular around here with the least amount of problems or modifications needed. I would not hesitate to purchase any of these...JJ

 

smokerzwife

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Original poster

Thread starter

Dec 17, 2015

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• Dec 21, 2015

• #4

Great advice, thank you! I ended up ordering an electric Bradley from Cabella's. It's supposed to be delivered Christmas Eve...hopefully, it's on time! And I will definitely make sure he signs up for this blog. What a great resource! My next question is how important is it to have sausage hooks versus just laying it on a shelf?

 

gary s

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• Dec 22, 2015

• #5

  Good evening and welcome to the forum, from a nice cool day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything. 

Gary

 

chef jimmyj

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• Dec 22, 2015

• #6

I probably would not bother. Most of us but a cheap 1" wood dowel and cut it to fit across the supports for the shelves. Cheap and holds more than the hooks. Just curious...What made you pick the Bradley?...JJ

 

smokerzwife

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Original poster

Thread starter

Dec 17, 2015

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• Dec 23, 2015

• #7

it had decent reviews. Didnt seem to have more/less features than others but was on sale with free shipping...Need I say more?:)

 

chef jimmyj

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• Dec 23, 2015

• #8

smokerzwife said:

it had decent reviews. Didnt seem to have more/less features than others but was on sale with free shipping...Need I say more?:)

Click to expand...

Nope...I totally understand.

 The Bradley's are good smokers. They are just are more expensive to operate having to use the Pucks. The system dumps the pucks every 20 minutes, so on a 15 hour Butt or Brisket cook you will be going through A LOT of those expensive little suckers. Best of Luck and Merry Christmas to you and yours...JJ

 

daveomak

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• Dec 23, 2015

• #9

smokerzwife, evening... Once the meat has the smoke you are looking for, the meat can always be moved to the oven to finish.. I do that with large hunks that take hours and hours to finish cooking... AND there is always the option to modify your brand new smoker by adding an electric heating element with a temp controller.... finish the smoke, turn on the electric element and finish the cook right in the smoker....

Some of us like tinkering with our toy because it's there....

 

SmokyMose

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Indianapolis, Indiana

• Dec 23, 2015

• #10

Chef JimmyJ said:

I probably would not bother. Most of us but a cheap 1" wood dowel and cut it to fit across the supports for the shelves. Cheap and holds more than the hooks. Just curious...What made you pick the Bradley?...JJ

Click to expand...

I guess I'm really cheap. I just use 5/8" dowels...