Smoker for a sausage bar

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sunf

Newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2016
9
10
Russia
Hello, I'm opening a craft beer bar with sausages in Russia. And of course I want to have at least one hot smoked sausage in the menu. Could you please help me to choose the right smoker? Number of seats approx. 80, I think that I will need not more than 25-30 lbs of smoked sausages every day. 

Unfortunately, as you have probably heard, our economy is doing really bad (and exchange rates too), so my budget is pretty limited - let's say $1000 plus taxes and transportations costs. 

I thought about electric smoker, but many people say that the flavor will be not really good. So my most probable choice is simple and popular Weber Smokey Mountain 18,5 (cause it's much easier to keep lower temperature in that model than in a bigger one). 

I wasn't able to find any information about indoor use of this smoker. I can guess that it could be prohibited by US laws. In my country if it's not an open fire, you may use charcoal smokers indoors (if you have proper ventilation system with necessary features installed). 

So is it a good choice? Can you suggest me any other smoker which is suitable in my situation? 
 
First question is. Is this fresh or cured sausage that you want to smoke?

The WSM would be good for fresh sausage, but it would be really hard to get the temps down low enough to smoke cured sausage.

For cured sausage I would recommend a (MES) Masterbuilt electric smoker. Very easy to control the temp at any level.

And with the addition of an Amazen pellet smoker, you will get the smoke flavor you are looking for.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/

Al
 
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Thank you for reply, Al. Pellet smoker isn't a good choice in my country cause it's difficult to find good pellets (all of them are made for heating houses, not for grilling and smoking). 

What do you personally think about flavor electric smokers make? Many people say that they are not as good as charcoal or wood (pellet) ones. I cannot try it here (cause smoking is popular here and almost nobody does it), so I read articles and all of them say different things about it. 

And btw - is MES reliable enough - we will be using it quite hard. 
 
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Thanks to all of you. Finally, I have chosen this one: http://www.trapeza.ru/goods/47617/

It's Russian made (which means that it is considerably cheaper than any American smoker especially when you think about delivery price and taxes) and it's for commercial use. The load is approx 35 lbs and price is about $1000. Will see how it will be working. 
 
Looks like a cookshack clone! What about converting a used food warmer or proofer to a large electric smoker? That is in essence what the one you referenced is.

That might be the least expensive option and handle the volume you are talking about.  If pellets are not an option, can you get hardwood sawdust?  The Amazn pellet TRAY also burns sawdust quite well.  One or two of those in a large converted food warmer can smoke a lot of sausage (I'm talking about cured smoked sausage that is grilled to reheat right before serving which would probably be perfect for a commercial application). The advantage of the converted warmer is It can be made to work with whatever your local electric standards are and there are a lot of examples on this site You could also have a locally welded large sized grill made up to finish these and fresh sausage on.  A grill does not have to be more than a long,wide and flat metal box open on top to hold the lit coals with a grate at the top.  You could use either charcoal or hardwood for your heat (hardwood would require a small separate area to get to the lit coal range.  There is nothing like the smell of fat dripping on real hardwood coals!  That is a plus. 

I would think you could make a good quality converted warmer and locally welded large grill for easily under $1000 (I'm thinking $1000 US so figure the local equivalent).

Just a thought.....
 
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