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Buy a new/better smoker.
Excitement over the new toy. New learning curve to get it to do what you want it to do. Modifications that may need to be done.
Win/win situatition.
YouTube is your friend.
You can learn a great deal watching the thousands of YouTube videos on smoking meat, smokers, modifications, recipes, and almost anything you can imagine related to smoking food.
Since it really isn't filtered, you do need to weigh the different opinions and approaches...
No "harshness" intended on my part. Just sharing my experience with the modification process.
Honestly, I wish I had read a post similar to mine before I even purchased my last smoker/grill.
But - good luck on your mods. You are right - when the smoker is free it is definitely a no brainer to...
I actually haven't done ribs yet. This Sunday will be my first Ribs on the Akorn!!
But the grill surface is about 19" in diameter so at there should be room for at least three racks at a time placed flat. You could also put one or two more on the upper secondary rack.
Using some rib holders...
Unless of course you use a ceramic / egg style charcoal smoker. They use very little charcoal even on long smokes because they are so well insulated. The lowest cost ceramics start around $700 - but Char-Griller has a model called the Akorn that is the same shape (egg) but is made of insulated...
There is a certain point in the modification process that you have to ask yourself if you wouldn't be better off getting a new smoker/grill or keep pouring money into a sub-par device that will really never be a great smoker.
For about a year and a half I owned the Char-Griller 5050 duo with...
Another very good option in your price range is the Char-Griller Akorn Kamado grill/smoker. Basically a poor man's Big Green Egg. For only $299 or so, you get about 95% of the performance of the Big Green Egg at less than 1/4th the cost. I have owned a few different smokers in the past and this...
Tru-tel has different grades of thermometers. Their line designed for grilling and barbeque are pretty much like many others out there. The one listed above is for process measurement in industrial/commercial uses. Commonly used in industrial, pulp and paper, food and beverage processing, HVAC...
They are FANTASTIC! They do exactly what they claim on their website. Raise the temperature up to 200 degrees hotter than the standard grates.
And flare ups are almost non-existent!
Tru-tel process measurement thermometers are very accurate. Guaranteed to +/- 1 degree F over the span of the dial. Not cheap though. I just installed the following one on my Akorn Kamado grill. Picked it up at Amazon. To me - it was well worth the $55.
Had the Akorn for about a month now. FANTASTIC grill/smoker!! Well worth the $299 price tag. Basically you get about 95% of the performance of the Big Green Egg for less than 1/3rd the cost. I did add some Nomex gaskets to the top and bottom and it seals perfectly now.
Another great low cost option is the Chargriller Akorn kamado grill.
Basically a poor man's big green egg. For $299 it does about 95% of what the Big Green Egg can do. Super high heat, sealed egg type enclosure, long smokes at low heat, very low fuel usage and most importantly - it produces...
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