I'm a stick burner guy at heart, and that's what I've been doing 99% of my smoking on for the last couple years. I have no intention of changing that as I love the fire management aspect of my cooks and the flavor is unbeatable IMO, but I have recently got into sausage making and want something specifically for that purpose. I'm looking for something that has the capability to keep super low and consistent temperatures between 120 and 170, as that is going to be REALLY difficult to do on a stick burner (I'm using the appropriate amounts of cure#1 as recommended for cold smoking or "warm smoking" sausage to keep the nasties away). I've been watching a lot of videos on the "two guys and a cooler" YouTube channel which seems to be one of the most informative channels around for general sausage making, and he is using the Smokin-It 4D WIFI for this same purpose so it must be good and I really like the size of it and the fact it uses a PID controller.
I can't seem to find info though as to what type of fuel is best for this smoker, wood chips, wood chunks, pellets etc. The only experience I have with an electric smoker is that my very first smoker many years ago was a Masterbuilt MES30 which eventually died. The recommendation I got here on this forum many years ago for that smoker was to get an Amaze-N pellet tray instead of using wood chips in the built in tray, and I did find that it worked well, although I did have some problems with the tray going out from time to time which was annoying. I know now that it was because the MES was not providing enough oxygen inside to keep the tray going. My next smoker was a Pit Boss Pro 1100 pellet smoker which I found lacking in smoke flavor and the tray just would not stay lit in that at all, but a smoke TUBE worked great and I now have a couple different size tubes as well as my original tray.
So... I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with this particular smoker, the 4D WIFI, what kind of fuel you are using, and if a Amaze-N tray or tube works well in them. Again, this will be used exclusively for smoking sausage, basically a warm smoke starting at around 120 and gradually bumped to 150-160 over about 6 hours.
Any real world opinions or feedback on this setup would be greatly appreciated!
I can't seem to find info though as to what type of fuel is best for this smoker, wood chips, wood chunks, pellets etc. The only experience I have with an electric smoker is that my very first smoker many years ago was a Masterbuilt MES30 which eventually died. The recommendation I got here on this forum many years ago for that smoker was to get an Amaze-N pellet tray instead of using wood chips in the built in tray, and I did find that it worked well, although I did have some problems with the tray going out from time to time which was annoying. I know now that it was because the MES was not providing enough oxygen inside to keep the tray going. My next smoker was a Pit Boss Pro 1100 pellet smoker which I found lacking in smoke flavor and the tray just would not stay lit in that at all, but a smoke TUBE worked great and I now have a couple different size tubes as well as my original tray.
So... I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with this particular smoker, the 4D WIFI, what kind of fuel you are using, and if a Amaze-N tray or tube works well in them. Again, this will be used exclusively for smoking sausage, basically a warm smoke starting at around 120 and gradually bumped to 150-160 over about 6 hours.
Any real world opinions or feedback on this setup would be greatly appreciated!
