Need Guidance on Vertical Smoker (Budget Friendly)

[Coach Lax]

I am looking for suggestions on a vertical offset smoker for under $500. My 13 year old son has really gotten into smoking and I would like to get him a vertical offset smoker to help fuel his passion and allow him to do more things that using a standard charcoal grill to do it. Any suggestions on brands/models would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Coach

 

[flatbroke]

Welcome to SMF.

 

[JC in GB]

Dyna-Glo heavy duty offset smoker. Is a good unit for the money and will teach you smoking basics.

Big Poppa Barrel smoker kit. Around $350 if you want to build it yourself.

Barrel smokers are great all around units.

Weber Smokey Mountain 22" smoker

Solid performer. Great beginner smoker. Around $450

Just a few examples. My $0.02

Welcome from Wisconsin.

JC

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

The Oklahoma Joe's Bandera might be worth a look too.

Vertical Offset Smoker | Bandera®

The unique design of the Oklahoma Joe's® Bandera® Vertical Offset Smoker gives you smoking versatility and maximizes food capacity.

www.oklahomajoes.com

 

[TomCrump]

I had the Dyna Glow and have the 22" Smokey Mountain, that JB mentions above.

The Dyna Glo produced good food, but fire management can be an issue.

The Smokey Mountain is far more user friendly, and produces good food, too.

My suggestion would be to purchase the WSM, and enjoy it right out of the box.

 

[normanaj]

WSM is a great out of the box smoker as already stated.

 

[JC in GB]

I agree with TomCrump . Dyna-Glo works but you need to attend the unit constantly to keep the fire where you need it.

 

[bill1]

For a 13yo male, tending the fire may be a feature not a bug. Sheez, have you guys all forgotten what it's like!?!!? And it's better he tinkers with a separate fire box than constantly opening the doors on the meat!
At the low $300's delivered, I'd go with the DynaGlo. If money is a real issue (e.g. he wants to pay for it) there are options at a lower price point. But JC's initial "top" choice is my "top choice".

Congratulations on that son of yours. He sounds like a fine young man. Set aside $10 for a good set of leather gloves that fit him well. A nasty burn could turn him off before he gets hooked.
And we're not real exacting on spelling and grammar here so encourage him to read and post a bit with us. We're full of ideas for fire starting, temp control, etc which could just pop up.

 

[Coach Lax]

For a 13yo male, tending the fire may be a feature not a bug. Sheez, have you guys all forgotten what it's like!?!!? And it's better he tinkers with a separate fire box than constantly opening the doors on the meat!
At the low $300's delivered, I'd go with the DynaGlo. If money is a real issue (e.g. he wants to pay for it) there are options at a lower price point. But JC's initial "top" choice is my "top choice".

Congratulations on that son of yours. He sounds like a fine young man. Set aside $10 for a good set of leather gloves that fit him well. A nasty burn could turn him off before he gets hooked.
And we're not real exacting on spelling and grammar here so encourage him to read and post a bit with us. We're full of ideas for fire starting, temp control, etc which could just pop up.

Thanks Bill, you got him profiled right. He has done pellet grills and electric smokers that others have let him use and finds them extremely boring. He wants to work the fire. He did an 8 hour smoked brisket on a buddies vertical one and was out there the whole time (totally hooked after that). He has saved $200 for his own, and I told him I would match whatever he saves. I'll get him active on here once he has some equipment. He loves asking questions and learning.

 

[normanaj]

He has done pellet grills and electric smokers that others have let him use and finds them extremely boring. He wants to work the fire. He did an 8 hour smoked brisket on a buddies vertical one and was out there the whole time (totally hooked after that). He has saved $200 for his own, and I told him I would match whatever he saves. I'll get him active on here once he has some equipment. He loves asking questions and learning.

That's awesome!Before you know it he's building his own!

I'd still consider the WSM.Great smoker and plenty to learn while using it.

 

[thom emery]

WSM

 

[JWFokker]

The Dyna Glo Signature Series Heavy Duty is the way to go. Keep the vents wide open and make sure you have good dry wood. I use a basket in the firebox and toss in lump charcoal with the wood to keep temps stable. Very small splits of wood or even 2-3 large chunks is all you need to cruise at 275. Despite being an offset smoker it is pretty efficient, except in the winter.

The WSM is a very good cooker, but it's also pretty hands off once you get a handle on it. Start your fire, set your vents and forget about it for the next few hours like a Big Green Egg.

 

[JWFokker]

You'll want to get the cover for the Dyna Glo though because the finish is not very good and prone to rust. Even with a cover you'll want to sand and paint the firebox yearly.

 

[phatbac]

Another vote for the WSM it's a great smoker! let him start managing a fire then you can go to a PID controller for set and forget.

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[bill1]

Well CoachLax, you can see there are some loyal adherents to quite a few smoker denominations here in this religion of ours! (The WSM bullet smokers seem to be quite spirit-filled lately.)

But Phatbac's last comment on PID's does remind us that getting the smoker may just be the beginning of many related hobbies for your son. Should you go with my (recommended) offset-firebox vertical-cabinet style (Walmart currently has a good price on the DynaGlo) there are electro-mechanical methods of controlling air supply, and hence temperature, of the fire and then controller technologies to control them. In fact, some here in this forum design and build up their own controllers (PID or simple feedback) from the board level on up. He'll likely be picking up quite a bit of metallurgy as he learns about rust prevention and treatment, as well as plenty of practical applications of heat flow, molecular diffusion, and insulation technologies, to say nothing of the basic skills of welding, drilling, painting, etc. There's a whole array of interesting organic chemistry considerations that go into choosing wood, how to place it, etc, as well as a whole world of cooking chemistry this opens for him. And he'll learn good business practice as he balances the costs and benefits or all these options he'll be able to choose from.

Hope we can all be of some help to him (and his dad) along the way if y'all have questions.

So...come for the fire, stay for the engineering degree.

 

[JWFokker]

Offset stick burners and PID don't really go together for a variety of reasons. You can do it, but you're going to be outside at the pit every 30 min to an hour anyway and monitoring your temps. Then there's the volume of airflow required by a wood fire vs charcoal, the potential for ash to be blown into the cook chamber, temp stability still won't be great. I've only seen it done successfully a couple of times, usually on larger stick burners. Heavy Metal BBQ on YouTube has a design using a fan in the exhaust stack that is worth looking at if you're set on a PID offset smoker. Commercially available systems, I think the Fireboard monitor/blower combo could do it if set up right.