propane vs electric

[fishawn]

I have an electric 30" black MES & love it. I have played with the wood ones, charcoal & a good friend has propane. I chose electric & especially the MES due to the ease of use, lack of time & good reviews from the folks on this site. I wheel it out of storage, plug it in & set time & temp.
I love it!

 

[tender loins]

That is what may sway me towards electric, the convenience, plus the Masterbuilt is almost a "set it & forget it." Only problem is I'd have to bring out an extension cord... the 3-burner gas grill I don't have that problem and even fire it up in snowy winters for some steaks or pork tenderloins on occasion. Of course, with the grill's tank hidden behind it's doors, everytime I fire it up I'm always worried I'll run out of gas! I'm still on last year's tank right now on the grill.

I guess for me, each have pros & cons... I could always borrow the tank for the weedburner I bought & never used yet, or have a backup for the grill, or visa versa. But then that would be an initial expense not figured into the propane smoker costs. That's probably another $35 add-on. That closes the price gap between decent gas models and great deals on well-respected electrics.

Would you have paid $40-$50 more for stainless?

 

[ronp]

I just called the electric company about the cost of operating mine. 6 hours a day everyday for 1 month. $10.00, if that doesn't sway you nothing will.

They don't reccomend an extension cord though. I don't see a problem if you get a really heavy duty one, though I am not an electrician.

And yes on the stainless and that is also for a 40 incher.

Another HUGE advantage is it can also be used a a holding oven. Example: 6 hours smoke, 165' temp foil with liquid set smoker at 195 -200 and go to bed. In the AM it will be ready to pull. Sweet!

 

[evandostert]

I vote masterbuilt. How often does the power go out?? once a year, maybe. Propane is a pain. Yes you have to cut large rib racks in half. The capacity is huge. I have fit a couple 7lb butts 2 chickens laying down (I had to squish em down to size) a fatty and 2 dozen abt's in there. I had room left over and tossed in a pack of bacon wrapped dogs for the kids. No heat loss from way over stuffing it came right back to temp. Pulled pork it idiot proof throw in a couple of huge butts in there the night before bed wake up should be about ready for foil. Your done by lunchtime or perfect timing for an afternoon bbq. Would you fall asleep with a propane box running on your deck?

 

[tender loins]

Thanks for all replies. I found an internet coupon for free S/H on the Masterbuilts, if the coupon code works, I may go that way.

Today I was grilling some chicken breasts and ran out of gas. The breasts were just about done so kept the lid closed, took the empty for a trade-in at the local convenient/corner store for an exchange, stood in line (4-5 people in front of me) & got to the counter; they tried scanning in the code and put the wrong one in ($53.99.)

Then they rescanned the correct code and it came out to almost $25 with tax. I was in a hurry to get back grillin so said OK.

Anyway, they couldn't find the KEY to the Blue Rhino cage! So after almost 15 minutes, I went somewhere else. It was $21.74 exchange at the 2nd place.

This has just dulled my liking for propane. The only thing keeping gas in the competition is that the Walmart nearby has a GOSM for $100 + tax. If they gave me a "clearance deal" on it I may still bite.

 

[guvna]

i remember reading somewhere that propane, wood and charcoal offer a different reaction to meat because they make a flame. this is something you can't do with electric. not sure if it's true, or if i'm regurgitating that correctly either.

 

[bull]

I reccoment an electric Cookshack smoker, I have 2, both my kids got them as wedding gifts and they still tell me it was the best gifts they recieved.

They are very cheap to operate, very well insulated and produce great products.

Mike

 

[tender loins]

So, you mean the smoke is different because there's no flame with electric? Is that true? no flame at all?