Smoked Burgers

[mule86]

Am hosting a party this weekend and was thinking of smoking my burgers instead of gas grilling.  I have a WSM and have a year and a half of smokes under my belt, just never done burgers.  I don't want to ruin them since it's my first go, so I'm looking for any advice.  Figuring on smoking at 225-250 tops to around 165 internal.  I'm using 80/20 ground beef and may sprinkle some seasoning/rub on them before putting them on. 

How much time can I expect for the burgers to take?

I don't figure it should take more than a few hours so I was going to use just a full chimney of Stubbs and then throw a small chunk of Hickory or two on the lit coals.  I figure that should get me through two hours?  I've only ever done the Minion method.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[SmokinAl]

Depending on how thick they are, they should be ready in a couple of hours.

 

[shiz-nit]

Smoked burgers are very good and one thing we serve when vending here lately. Get the smoker to 225 and stabilize her, added burgers and smoke until internal temps reach 150 degrees... Around 1 hour up to 1 1/2 hours. Add cheese then continue to smoke until internal temps reach 160 to 165.

 

[meateater]

1 1/2 to 2 hours like Al said. If you want to try something awesome try a stufz burger. Just click on the link in my signature. 

 

[raptor700]

All the above sounds good

Especially the STUFZ burgers!

 

[mule86]

Will the burgers dry out on the smoker? 

I've only used the Minion Method on the WSM before.  Other WSM owners, would a full chimney of lit charcoal be enough to maintain 225 for an hour or two?  I'm assuming it would be but like I said, have never done it before.

 

[cowgirl]

I like the reverse sear method, Smoke low for an hour then give them a sear over a hot fire or grill.  How ever you do it, smoked burgers are killer!!

 

[shiz-nit]

Will the burgers dry out on the smoker? 

I've only used the Minion Method on the WSM before.  Other WSM owners, would a full chimney of lit charcoal be enough to maintain 225 for an hour or two?  I'm assuming it would be but like I said, have never done it before.

On drying out you should be okay, I see you will be using a WSM correct. When we served them at a fund raiser last month we kept it kind of simple with just a basic rub and some Worcestershire sauce. Then let the meat set out on the counter for around 30 or so minutes to let the meat come up to room temp so they will cook even all the way through. We also put them in some aluminum tins uncovered this way they could soak in their juices. Just before we served them we threw them on over a hot charcoal grill to give them some nice grill marks and texture.

We kept them simple and basic but man they were Da’ Bomb!!! And they sold out pretty fast.  

 

[vision]

Can't you smoke them to 145 or so? Why take it all the way to 160-165?

 

[captturbo]

All the info these days tells folks to cook them to those high temps. I guess I'm a risk taker because I love nice rare burgers. What I do is start out with two big burgers (Cosco meat) and I cut them in half to make four smaller burgers. Then I add a sprinkle of rub to the tops of all of them. After that I put chedder cheese on two of them and take the other two and put them on top of the cheese. Then I form them up nice so they won't leak and put them in the 225* smoker. Generally at about 45 to 50 minutes later I'm taking off the most incredible smoky cheese burgers(IMHO) that the world has seen or tasted.

Now the safe way to do this is to grind your own meat for your burger and I intend to go that way once I find a good deal on a commercial grinder like I did when I bought my Hobart 1612 slicer. Takes time to accumulate all the stuff for my meat habits.