Rookie ISO Advise

[wellison]

Hi All,

First off a quick intro. I'm middle aged divorced father with a hefty child support bill. In this day and age I find myself needing roommates in order to get by. While I'm very grateful that one of my old friends and his girls are renting a room to me for cheap. Most of their "bbq" and even their meats in general are very dry. The steaks come out almost like cardboard.

I kicked them off the grill last weekend and grilled up some nice ribeyes, did a nice slow cook using a very basic rub that I threw together with what they had available and hopefully have now shown them what good meat is supposed to be like.

I want to do more. The last couple of years of bad meat have really got my hunger up for some good meat. I'm talking pork butts, briskettes etc...

The trouble is I've never bought a smoker before and I'm not sure where to start. I've done some research online but still am unsure as to what I should get.

I live in an apartment however they are fine with our propane grill so I'm sure they would be okay with an open flame smoker. I live near Portland Or. so I'm in the pacific northwest and deal with about 9 months of rain a year. I'm probably only going to smoke once or twice a month so I'm not going to get a lot of practice with the fires so I'm leaning towards either propane or electric. Due to the weather I'm thinking I will need an insulated unit? Also as stated above due to my child support I need some fairly inexpensive.

Does anyone have any advice for a rookie like me?

 

[scarbelly]

I see this is your first post. Please do us a favor and update your profile with your location then swing by Roll Call so we can give you a welcome  

I would suggest you look at an MES  Electric unit with the conditions you describe above. 

 

[chef jimmyj]

I own a Masterbuilt Electric Smoker (MES) 40 and am very happy with it. Here is a link to Amazon for MES models. For a guy on a budget and feeding a small group either of the first two 30 inch smokers will do although the second is the model that is popular around here...JJ

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...ilt+30+electric+smoker&ie=UTF8&qid=1345535678

 

[daveomak]

Wellison, morning.......  If your grill will run at a temp say 160 ish, the addition of the Amazing Pellet Tube smoker may be what you are looking for.... Todd designed them to work with several gas smokers...  Putting the meat away from the burner and having the AMNPTS smoking with your favorite flavor of pellets will add the dimension of smoked food....  Just a thought....  The AMNPTS is something you can use in the future also, with other smokers, so it is not wasted money....   It can be used to cold smoke cheeses in your grill with the heat off also... Pretty versatile unit and easy to use.....   

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...iew-charcoal-weber-kettle-spares-heavy-q-view

PM TJohnson and ask him questions.... or phone him.... his number is in his advertisement on the forum...   Dave

 

[wellison]

Thanks for the advise, sounds like I'm heading in the right direction. The MES units are the type that I have been looking at. I was also reading about the AMNPTS last night and planning on playing around with one of those as well.

I notice that everyone is leaning towards the Electric version over the Propane. Is there any specific reason why? That's probably been one of the things that I've been hung up on the most.
 

 

[daveomak]

wellison, evening......  My grill uses propane..... I hated running out of propane in the middle of a cook.....  So, I hooked it to my 500 gallon storage tank.....   My MES 30 never runs out of electricity..... and electricity cost 1/2 of propane here also....   Dave

 

[chef jimmyj]

You are on a Budget...Electric is a lot cheaper to run on long smokes. You live in a Cold Wet Climate...Electric smokers are Insulated and as long as the Electronics are covered, are not affected. Although Electric Smokers don't get Chicken Skin crispy...It don't matter, you have a Grill you can crisp the skin on. Apartment Complexes allow Propane until there is a Fire in one of the Apt's, then they go Electric Only except 1st Floor Apt's. Happened where I live...An Electric Smoker is more easily controlled at temps below 200*F where many types of Cured Sausages are smoked. And if you get the MES with RF Remote, you can adjust the Temp of the Smoker from Inside the Apt, on cold snowy days, no " in and out " 10X tweaking a Valve...I was right where you are a year ago, asked the same questions and basically got the same answers we give you now. I LOVE my MES!...JJ

 

[wellison]

Thanks for the advise everyone. Think I have my mind set on what I'm going to get. I'll be sure to post pictures when i get my first smoke done. Thanks again, I can't wait to get smokin.

 

[smokinhusker]

Hello and welcome! You got some great info above and I too have an MES40. Wanted it for the ease of those long smokes and it makes the best jerky. I burned my element up so I'm waiting on a new one, but I wouldn't trade the MES