offset smoker info

[baby kong]

Gotta get much more info from very experienced ppl about offset smokers. My needs are only for myself, for smoking and bbq ..I don't want a tank... When smoking larger chunks of meat, I want to vacuum seal portions and freeze. For jerky smoking, I want a good sq. inch grill area to do this. suggest please.

 

[Chasdev]

The dilemma all first time offset buyers face is that the good ones cost a ton of money and the cheap ones don't cook worth a darn.
Like you and most everybody else who started the smoking addiction without much to spend, I bought a $200 cooker and did a few dozen cooks (a few came out pretty good) and then tinkered endlessly trying to get it to perform like a $1000 cooker.
Giving up on that I bought a $600 cooker and did a few dozen cooks on it tinkering with it the whole time trying to maintain steady temps in the 225/250 range but ending up having it wanting to run at 275/325 (insisting really) and in any case spending endless hours of fire tending to get top quality brisket AND having to source properly aged wood plus storing it in my back yard (which provided a sweet home for mice, rats, roaches and deadly spiders) and also made me buy a fancy rig to keep the wood up off the ground and covered under a fancy zippered waterproof cover ( which the rats especially liked).
So the moral to the story is; if you buy something you can afford that is low cost and low quality or has low functionality, you will in the long run end up spending much more that if you just bit the bullet and invested in a higher level product and get on with it.
I finally bought a Masterbuilt 560 for $500 more or less and after a heroic struggle to put it together, now have a cooker that I don't have to spend endless hours tinkering with to maintain temps and burns mostly charcoal briquettes with some hardwood chunks added to produce sweet smoke and am pretty much as happy as a clam in a mud bank cooker wise.
What ever you do, try to resist the urge to buy a $200 offset, they just don't cook very well at all.
Best plan may be to peruse the Craiglist and snatch up a used unit if one pops up.
Garage and estate sales also offer some glimmer of hope.

 

[BigW.]

Welcome. If real estate to make jerky is a priority, I'd look at a cabinet style. Will have 4 or 5 racks for meat and are pretty compact. You can get them in electric, gas or pellet and relatively inexpensive.

 

[JC in GB]

@Chasdev has you covered. He is spot on with his advice.

If you want good quality at a low price, you may have to look at a different style of smoker. A Weber Smokey Mountain makes great Q and you can pick one up fairly inexpensively on the used market.

A 55 gal drum smoker is also a good choice for a low budget.

Both of these units will produce good BBQ, teach you the right and wrong way to BBQ, and won't break the bank.

Once you get into BBQ hard and heavy, you will want to buy another smoker anyway. Now is the time to start looking for that higher quality offset. My $0.02....

JC

 

[Colin1230]

Not an off set, but a fantastic cooker, the 18" Weber Smokey Mountain might be just the ticket for you.

 

[bill1]

I was even going to ask what your outdoor cooking history/experience is. If it's near nil, a simple weber kettle with charcoal and a couple wood chunks can make some good food and is a fine entry into the hobby...like many of us you'll keep it forever.

 

[baby kong]

The dilemma all first time offset buyers face is that the good ones cost a ton of money and the cheap ones don't cook worth a darn.
Like you and most everybody else who started the smoking addiction without much to spend, I bought a $200 cooker and did a few dozen cooks (a few came out pretty good) and then tinkered endlessly trying to get it to perform like a $1000 cooker.
Giving up on that I bought a $600 cooker and did a few dozen cooks on it tinkering with it the whole time trying to maintain steady temps in the 225/250 range but ending up having it wanting to run at 275/325 (insisting really) and in any case spending endless hours of fire tending to get top quality brisket AND having to source properly aged wood plus storing it in my back yard (which provided a sweet home for mice, rats, roaches and deadly spiders) and also made me buy a fancy rig to keep the wood up off the ground and covered under a fancy zippered waterproof cover ( which the rats especially liked).
So the moral to the story is; if you buy something you can afford that is low cost and low quality or has low functionality, you will in the long run end up spending much more that if you just bit the bullet and invested in a higher level product and get on with it.
I finally bought a Masterbuilt 560 for $500 more or less and after a heroic struggle to put it together, now have a cooker that I don't have to spend endless hours tinkering with to maintain temps and burns mostly charcoal briquettes with some hardwood chunks added to produce sweet smoke and am pretty much as happy as a clam in a mud bank cooker wise.
What ever you do, try to resist the urge to buy a $200 offset, they just don't cook very well at all.
Best plan may be to peruse the Craiglist and snatch up a used unit if one pops up.
Garage and estate sales also offer some glimmer of hope.

 

[baby kong]

I started with a cheap offset, to see if I liked the process of it, (not being a cheap).. I took maybe 40 solid hours learning before I bought one. I DON’T want the big ones. I don’t brag either about anything that’s awesome that I own in appliances…I have watched my ex with His Bradley Smoker and he friggin repeatedly bought what I call “Pucks”. Not going there, thank you. So , on my own for 7 years, I bought the small riggidy offset to test. I also did forever hours on indoor smokers too, and bought what I wanted, so I can wood smoke (not pellets) by choice, so I can smoke indoors for myself in the winter. . Now, I am with quite a few hours now for a good solid one. Lotsa vids doing “Our smoker does this and on and on..I don’t want to buy one so I can brag like so many and I don’t want or need one that’s the size of oil tanks hauled by a train…. I kinda like the Oklahoma Joe Highland Smoker for the size, it uses wood, no pellets. How thick is the metal ? This company have a lotta cons on reviews?

 

[1MoreFord]

A WSM and a Big Chief Smoker might fix you up.

Use the WSM for larger things and the Big Chief for jerky. I think you can find both at WalMart.

Big & Little Chief Electric Smokers | Smokehouse Products

Shop Big Chief, Little Chief, and Cold Smoke Generators from Smokehouse Products. Trusted by BBQ lovers for quality smokers and accessories since 1968.

www.smokehouseproducts.com

 

[baby kong]

Welcome. If real estate to make jerky is a priority, I'd look at a cabinet style. Will have 4 or 5 racks for meat and are pretty compact. You can get them in electric, gas or pellet and relatively inexpensive.

I

 

[baby kong]

I

re: electric, gas or pellet... I have too many reasons not to have them... taste!!!

 

[baby kong]

Not an off set, but a fantastic cooker, the 18" Weber Smokey Mountain might be just the ticket for you.

So, on this upright, Louise has to keep rotating for different stuff.. I don't want't just jerky...I do wild salmon and full briskets.. bacon, ham also want to cold smoke my yellowfin tuna again ..my .sausage for preserving too. what if I work with tuning plates to create even heat and control my smoke in an offset? I did lotsa homework on Monitoring temperature with a leave-in probe thermometer ..and bought a ThermoWorks ..I hope this is a good choice.. I chose the one, where I could be 90' away with mine because I move around in my house a lot.. I bought because it's icy cold in winter when I smoked a couple times, and didn't want to turn into an ice sculpture..lol

 

[Fueling Around]

You are teasing us with the slow adds of wants.
What do you currently use?

I had (repeat had) a POS (piece of s***) Brinkmann offset that i bought for a charcoal grill as it had a grate in the cook chamber.
I had to add a lot of mods to make it a good charcoal grill and fair offset smoker.
I've looked at the Oklahoma Joe line, but decided to hold as we are moving in a couple years. If wife OK's an offset, I will go New Horizon

I smoke in my Weber kettle. I grill in my Weber kettle. I offset cook in my Weber. You get the hint a Weber is versatile.
I also cold smoke in the Weber. Got a few blocks of cheese I planned to cold smoke, but temps got warmer so may not happen.
I did a few slabs of brined yellow fin earlier this year

A smoke tube or tray makes any cooker into a pretty good smoker.
https://amazenproducts.com/

 

[baby kong]

You are teasing us with the slow adds of wants.
What do you currently use?

I had (repeat had) a POS (piece of s***) Brinkmann offset that i bought for a charcoal grill as it had a grate in the cook chamber.
I had to add a lot of mods to make it a good charcoal grill and fair offset smoker.
I've looked at the Oklahoma Joe line, but decided to hold as we are moving in a couple years. If wife OK's an offset, I will go New Horizon

I smoke in my Weber kettle. I grill in my Weber kettle. I offset cook in my Weber. You get the hint a Weber is versatile.
I also cold smoke in the Weber. Got a few blocks of cheese I planned to cold smoke, but temps got warmer so may not happen.
I did a few slabs of brined yellow fin earlier this year

A smoke tube or tray makes any cooker into a pretty good smoker.
https://amazenproducts.com/

Oh oh. I didn't think ppl saw my post about 2 to 3 yrs ago, on the salt curing I did on a yellow fin loin then cold smoked it.. All I had was a Presto brand indoor smoker... yum yum and ok