To Charcoal Smoke or Gas or Electric?

[severeidaho]

I have a Big Chief that I use specifically for Beef Jerky. I am on the hunt for a Smoker that I could smoke Butts, Ribs, Briskets and I am not sure whether to buy a Charcoal, Gas or electric Smokers. My pick will be based on Price, Recomendations, etc.

I know the old school way is to go Charcoal. But will I be buying Charcoal like crazy just to smoke a Butt, brisket, etc? With a smoker like this one below

What am I looking at as far as Charcoal and Wood to finish a Butt (12 hours)?

Then there is this one-

Its electric and for only 20 dollars more, but what is the comparison for Taste compared to Charcoal. Will the length of Smoking a Butt be the same as charcoal? With electric am I going to be more succesfull in keeping the temp where it should be?

Or this one......

Its runs on Gas, I imagine keeping the temp where it should be is quite effective. But will I again lose out on taste compared to charcoal. Will the length of time be the same for a butt (12 hours).


The three I included here start from $40.00 for the charcoal, $60.00 for the electric and then $99.00 for the Gas smoker. What I want is a long lasting effective yet inexpensive Smoker that I can use to do just about anything on, whether it be chicken, pork, beef, fish and wild meats.

I truly appreciate all opinions and recommendations.

-gerrit

 

[flash]

You could go thru 13 to 18 lbs of charcoal if that butt take 12 hours to smoke.
I have two charcoal smokers (ECB), one converted to propane (GOSM). I would take either of those two, over electric. I am getting use to the propane GOSM conversion. Easy to control the temps. Most of the Electrics I am familer with seem to have issues with higher or lower temps being achieved.

 

[vince]

I'm old and like lump charcoal.just me, I am learning how to used less and still get the job done, In the past grilling and when I got my first smoker only about a month ago, I overheated it and used more charcoal then I do now

 

[ronp]

http://smokingmeatforums.com/forums/...threadid=19182

I have the 40' and love it. I also serves as a holding oven and can cut your smoking time. When foiling just set temp and forget.

Good luck!!!

Ron

 

[richoso1]

What Flash said.

 

[travcoman45]

I have a gas GOSM, love it, will taste suffer? Ask anyone in the hollar an they will tell you diffenetly not! You can add a couple hunks a charcoal ta the wood pan to hep with the smoke ring, otherwise much a yer taste is gotten from seasonins an the smoke. I'd go with gas anytime. Built my own electrics which er nice fer cold smokin, I've never bought an electric so can't tell ya much bought them.

Charcoal is very nice, takes a bit a tendin an has a higher learnin curve then gas will. However, I won't say it ain't a good choice either.

Gas is the most convienient in my book. Good luck, choose wisely!

 

[fishawn]

I have a 30" Masterbuilt electric. It is perfect for me with not a lot of time. This thing you just tell it what temp & for how long & you are done.

 

[dirtman775]

It all depends on what you are trying to do.
do you have the time to do charcoal or wood? if not then gas.
lookin for a quicke, then gas
dont want to be bothered with all the tendin then, yup you guessed it , gas.
I have a cgsp and find it very difficult finding time to smoke, kid's, wife, job ,2nd job, did i mention the wife? just kidding. but the reward of having the time and being able to do it to completion is worth the wait

 

[teleburst]

Just bought the red Brinkmann electric. One thing I found was that it's hard to go low and slow. I ended up with a well done 3.5 pot roast in about 5 hours. Obviously, I should have gone a lot less, but my goal was a longer cooking time. So, obviously this smoker is hotter than I wanted. The smoke was perfect though. I used three foil bundles of chips, one of mesquite, one of hickory and one half and half.They were each about the size of a softball, so I didn't have to use a lot of chips, although I did toss on some random chips right on the lava rocks for the last hour.

I'm going to experiment with opening the feed door and cracking the top some to let some of the heat bleed off and see how that works. If that works, I think I'll love it. I don't see why it shouldn't work, once I find how wide I should open the door and crack the lid. If I end up with less smoke in the end, I'll just double up on the chips, especially since I used so little to get the result that I got.

Yes, I've only have one experience with it, so take this with a grain of salt. Had I known how thoroughly it would cook, I would definitely have cut the cooking time at least in half. Don't know how this would work with brisket though, so I'm going to work on regulating the temp down to about 200 degrees.

PS, the roast was delicious despite being well-done.

 

[abelman]

I have a Masterbuilt vertical (7 in 1). I love it. I use charcoal mainly but it can be used as a gasser as well. Take out the water pan and it can be used as a grill with charcoal and or gas as well.

I sometimes use the gas as an assist in the colder months when I'm fighting outside temps. It's very efficient and I get a lot of mileage out of the charcoal. I just did a 9 lb butt, that took 13 hours. I used 1 and a half charcoal chimneys and added gas assist on the back end.

I love the added smoke from charcoal as well as making it very easy to control temps. In the winter, I use sand in place of water and that makes it very easy to keep temps up and control them. Thanks to Flash for that bit of advice.

 

[laughingpanther]

I have an electric Char-Broil that I just got. For right now,sometimes I'll still use a charcoal smoker just as quick as the electric, but I do like the electric for long smokes. A turkey or huge hunk of pork would go through a good bit of charcoal. Also, I work as a home caregiver and need a smoker I can just start and forget until it's time to check the meat. I can't spend much time tending to a fire when I have to tend to a medical situation.

 

[big_rob]

Gas for grilling, Charcoal for smoking is the way I do it.

 

[keith54]

I have a Meco 5031 h20 charcoal smoker. A couple of weeks back I bought an old turkey fryer burner at a garage sale for $5. Made a few mods and now I can switch back and forth between propane or charcoal in less than a miniute. Just depends on what I'm smoking and how much fussing I feel like doing that particular day. This can be done to any veriticle h20 smoker, and its so simple I was able to do it! If anyone would like me to post pic's...just let me know.

 

[luv2camp35]

I have the Brinkmann square vertical that started life as a charcoal unit. I have since modified to propane as I was having problems with heat control. I do have the option to use charcoal with a quick 5 minute changeout. (see link in signature).

And like Travcoman45 said....simply throw some charcoal in with the wood chunks and you will get flavor/smoke ring if that is what you are looking for. I use my charcoal chimney to start the chunks/coal mix going and I am generating smoke within minutes of lighting up.

 

[bigwayne]

I see you got the charcoal one, which makes sense given you already have the big chief for the easy set it and leave it occasions. You can do a lot more than jerky and fish in the chief.

 

[deltadude]

I work 12 to 15 hour days, I mostly work graveyard getting off at 5-7am. So my smoking is about convenience, simplicity and results. I have the MES 40". Lets go through my smoke for today. Sunday I worked (a 6 day week), got off at 3 am monday, dropped by Win Co (open 24/7), nothing looked decent so grabbed some chicken thighs, some pizza mixings. I started playing poker online, and was stuck a few $$$ hundred so didn't go to bed. My wife asks me to smoke a fryer she had thawing in fridge. While playing poker and drowning my losses with cold beer, I get the chicken in brine, going for asian flavors.
The plan, smoke the thighs and fryer, make pizza for appetizer coarse, with hosin glazed thighs, garlic potatoes, stir fried mixed veggies, using the weber gas grill for the pizza, finish/glaze the thighs, potatoes, and stir fry.
At noon my daughter and I were hungry, so I grilled us a couple of hamburgers. DISCOVERY, both my LP bottles are either empty or almost empty (my son living at home likes to grill, and used up LP not mentioning needed refill). I can't stay awake any longer so off to get a nap and start Smoke at 4pm.
Wife wakes me at 6pm. She doesn't want to wait till 8:30-9 to eat. So change of plan, start the smoke on chicken thighs and fryer, make 2 pizzas instead of one and pizza is main coarse. One problem, no LP! Love my weber kettle, still got 1/2 bag of briquets.
Now the fun starts:
1. Start MES pre-heat, soak some wood chips, boil water. 5 minutes.
2. Prep chicken, 15 minutes
3. Start charcoal briquets in starter 30 minutes
4. Put chicken in MES, add wood, set temp 170deg. 5 minutes
5. Prep pizza toppings, including sausage, onion, garlic, olives, tomatoes, bell pepper, mushrooms, pepperoni, 3 kinds of cheese, (cheated used bottled sauce). 15 -20 minutes.
6. 7pm started grilling pizza, my MES chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes unattended!!! My taylor remote probe died, so I can't monitor internal temp of chicken unless I open MES, but I know it will take around 2 hours so I will sample temp then.

(somewhere in here I added 2nd 1/2 cup of soaked wood).
7. 7:40 serve up 2 pizzas as dinner for 4, plus salad.
8: 8:30 after dinner, chicken had been smoking almost 2 hours. Temp check thighs at 170-175, and fryer at 165.
9. The briquets in the weber were still hot enough to glaze and finish thighs. I removed thigh skin, brushed on Hosin sauce, and glazed.
10. We each had a post dinner appetizer hosin glazed chicken thigh, YUM.

Why the big long story. My work schedule prevents me from being able to run around and gather up supplies during the day. 2 out of 3 smokes are based on whatever I happen to pickup at the store either the day prior to the smoke or day of (unless I'm cooking for special occassion). That means I don't get to prepare and plan and gather.

Electric is THERE (unless power outage), my LP wasn't.
I could have also been out of briquets, easily solved by running to store. LP refill place already closed and not a convenient drive.
Conclusion: Electric is most dependable fuel, unless power outage.

After I put chicken in MES set temp, I basically didn't have to worry about the smoke any more, except to remember to add wood.
Conclusion: I can't talk about other electric smokers only the MES. The MES is truly a "set it and forget it smoker". Heck I did all that tending stuff, when I used to smoke on my weber kettle, yeah its easier on a decent charcoal or gas smoker, but not by much. I had planned to get a WSM, considered one of the best backyard charcoal smokers made (even some big BBQ teams use em). 2 problems, on long smokes you have to keep adding fuel, and not enough capacity. See capacity below.

In the above story, I used about 1 cup of wood chips.
Conclusion: I have done about 10 smokes on my MES, I have a 5 lb bag of hickory wood chips. So far I have used only about 50% of the bag. Electric smokers don't consume much wood, so a small savings on cost.

I mentioned capacity above, the MES 40" capacity is awesome for a backyard smoker. 4 racks, I could cook 4 or 5 racks of ribs on one rack (whole racks, not cut or coiled), 2-4 whole chickens on 2nd rack, 3rd rack 2 small butts and a whole brisket (depending on size). I would still have a 4th rack for ABTs or something else. We have 2 or 3 big BBQs a year, so capacity is a factor for me.
Conclusion: GREAT capacity, did I mention cost of operation? 8 to 10 cents an hour. NO other type of smoker can compare, except wood, if you owned your own trees, but then you got the labor for harvesting and cutting to use.

Results, what does the Q taste like? The first party my new MES cooked for, almost 20 people, 10 racks of ribs both baby back and st.louis cut spares, the girls were asking for 2nd and 3rd helpings. Comments like, "professional quality", "man, you can really taste the smoke", "so tender", etc. When the day was over I was happy with my MES purchase!
Conclusion: If there is a difference in taste between a decent charcoal or gas smoker and the MES, most people are not going to know the difference. None of my friends hang out at BBQ joints or go to smoking competitions.

Clean-up is easy on the MES, just scrub the racks with meat stuff off in sink, and then put in dishwasher. Wipe out any drippings that have pooled. I foil water pan and drip tray so just simply stick in dishwasher.

Bottom line, I'm happy with my electric MES, it fits my lifestyle and cooking needs. The question, what fits your needs?

I wish you the best, enjoy the purchase process, and hopefully you will be enjoying great Q soon too!

 

[lcruzen]

What the criteria you've described gas might be your best choice. I have a GOSM that I've been using for several years. I've done many butts, briskets, birds, ribs, fatties, and a few non traditional items. It is a great all around smoker and very convenient to use.

I also have a Char Broil Silver Smoker that I burn charcoal/wood as fuel and is my preferred piece of equipment to use but it takes a lot more time and attention.

Keep us posted on what direction you go.

 

[ron50]

I own both a CCSV (propane) and a WSM (charcoal). While I enjoyed both I can honestly say I enjoy the WSM more. With the propane I'd be playing with the controls more. Even though charcoal sounds like a lot more work it hasn't proven to be at least for me.

I made a charcoal basket out of expanded metal (thanks Steve and Rich) and using the minion method I can let the smoker go for at least 8 hours on a single load of charcoal. I also haven't used the same quantities of charcoal others have. I think I went through about 10 lbs or so on my last butts. Other then an occasional tweak of the vents and adding some water to the bowl I don't think I did much for the first 8 to 10 hours of my 13 hour smoke. Temp pretty much stayed within 225-240.

All that being said, I haven't noticed much difference in taste. There is a slight taste difference between gas and charcoal but I can't say it is a difference that would make me buy one over the other.

The bottom line is you can smoke well with any of the smokers you mentioned and I think you will be happy whichever one you choose.

 

[tender loins]

Which is the most economical, gas or electric? I'm stuck deciding between The $99/$138 GOSM and the $188 Masterbuilt Electric. I'd rather go with whichever is cheaper TO USE.

Any idea?

Thanks.

 

[bbq bubba]

Wow, may have to change this to the gas and electric forum...
Thank god theres still some of you that know how to burn charcoal!

Learn your smoker.
That unit runs at 240* all day, perfect smoking temp.
You just overcooked your roast.
Use chunks instead of chips, put sand in the pan and don't crack the door or lid, not necessary.