The Lost Cajun

[cajunrich]

Smokin Fellers!

Been smoking a few years (about 15). Lurking here a while and finally decided to join because I need some advice. Its time for a new smoker but I want smokething that will add to my plate with new abilities. Not really into the tend wood all day job anymore (I started that way). While fun, challenging and engaging my needs are changing with a new born at home. ME time is getting less and less and the novel thought of setting going fishing and returning sounds great. I think gas are electric would fit my needs well. Currently we live in south Florida and looking to leave, its time get to a different pace of life. Not enough camping and outdoor fun that I would like to raise my little one with. What do you think?

 

[wolfman1955]

CajunRich,
Welcome, from southern Ohio, to the best forum on the internet if you are looking to learn how to BBQ/smoke/brine/cure/inject. Well you get the picture if you can do it to something you put on a plate to eat then someone here has probably done it then smoked it. Use the search bar at the top of the page and you will be led to the answer to most every question you can think of. If you don't find the answer there then just post it and someone will chime in with their opinion on the subject.

IMHO if you are looking for a true set and forget it smoker you can't go wrong with a pellet grill/smoker. I love my Yoder YS640.
A MasterBuilt Electric after the appropriate mods is also a good option.

Just in case you were wondering how this site works.
Here is a link to a FAQ for the site.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/faq
Lots of good stuff there on how to get around here.

Always remember the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask!!
Keep Smokin!!!
Wolf

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a nice sunny, windy and cool day in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything 

Gary

 

[rgautheir20420]

Hey there. It all depends on what your price range is as far as what people are going to suggest. Also, how much meat are you usually cooking? These 2 things will narrow down greatly what you should be looking for. 

From my personal experience (and that of 1000's other here), I have an MES30 Gen #1 which is selling for $149 and free shipping right now @ Sam's for Black Friday. This is a digital electric model from Masterbuilt and goes from 100 to 275. You can do all the sausage you want with it as well as anything else. You could probably get 20lbs of shoulder in it also. Biggest thing I've loaded in it was 10 lbs of sausage though. I added the AMNPS (about $35 shipped w/dust or pellets) to it and it's now the perfect set it and forget it smoker for under $200. I could set the temp and fill my AMNPS and smoke for 12 hours without touching a thing. BTW, I've not modded my MES at all and it works perfectly. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/30-in-electricsmoker/prod14810261.ip?navAction=

If you price range is a bit higher ($300-$500+), you may try looking at the Smoken It line of smokers. Lots of people here have them with great reviews. http://www.smokin-it.com/

If you can go higher, you'll get into the Yoder type pellet poppers. However, I think there are cheaper versions like a Traeger also. http://www.traegergrills.com/

Either way, good luck and you'll find everything you're looking for here!

 

[tbrtt1]

Comment ca va, cher! Got a few of us cajuns around this forum. Welcome.

Electric, pellet or gas will be your best bet for fire and forget. 

Pellets will give you a smoke ring but the consumable is the pellets which you will obviously need plenty of, depending on the severity of your smoking addiction. Some can also get hot enough for searing steaks and what not.  

Electrics, for the most part, are very efficient with the smoking wood and are very good for long, slow, cook while you sleep kinda smokes. I do my long smokes for brisket and butts overnight. And almost any electric above a Brinkmann will be insulated, which could be very helpful depending on where you move. Purists will scoff at you but at least I don't have bags under my eyes after a night of smoking (I use a Smokin-It #2)  

Gas can be very much like an electric but will give you the smoke ring. There is the consumable of the propane (or if you have natural gas capability) and perhaps the small risk of blowing out in windy conditions but this is probably rare. Some say that gas smokers gives everything a slight hammy type flavor. I have gotten that a little from my gas grill when I smoked using it, but it could have been some other factors at play when I have done that. 

 

[themule69]

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David

 

[cajunrich]

Thanks for the welcome! That is a good deal on that mes. Thanks for the heads up. I am strongly considering electronic because it's so had to get good sausage in southern Florida.

 

[cajunrich]

MES arrives at home today! Burn in tonight. Something smokey this weekend.

 

[tropics]

Welcome to the forum CajunRich Good luck with your smoker check out the MES forum