Which to buy Smoke Hollow Electric or Gas?

[bananasa]

Brand new to the world of smoking, i narrowed my search for a smoker down to to

The Smoke Hollow 30" Electric

or

The Smoke Hollow 34" Gas

I live in south florida where the weather is normally rather nice and warm. I dont plan on smoking too much stuff, it would really just be for my wife, son and myself.

Which direction is better? Electric or Gas? I read the gas Smoke Hollows normally need to have some things replaced in order for it to work correctly.

How long does an LP tank last for smoking?

Im really looking for something easy and inexpensive to operate. That produces nice smokey flavor.

We plan on smoking: chicken, beef, pork, sausage thats about it. No seafood or turkey.

Im leaving shortly to pick one up, so any help would be appreciated asap...

 

[bananasa]

I ended up getting the propane version. After I saw the difference in the smoke / water pan etc...

Its all setup and I am about to season it. Hopefully that goes well and we can start some pork for pulled pork later tonight.

 

[fire it up]

I would say go for the gas over the electric.
With gas you can raise the temps quicker and hotter.
Either of them you could hold a steady temp with but I think gas would be a better choice.
As for propane tanks, when I run the propane smoker I keep it at about 300 and can run it for about 15 hours worth of burn time before running low.

Guess you made you decision, as I was typing you posted that.

Good luck with it!

 

[bananasa]

Im about to season the smoker, i read some conflicting info...

Is this the best way to do it?


1. Spray or wipe the inside of the smoker with pam/veggie oil (stay away from burners)

2. Put soaked wood in wood pan

3. Line water pan with foil + fill almost to the top with water

4. Run smoker at 225ish degrees for 2 hrs

 

[fire it up]

Spraying is easier to get a complete coating that rubbing with something like crisco but the crisco will give a slightly better coating, but either will work.
No need to soak your wood for this or even a normal smoke, you can and it won't really hurt but it is an extra step that only takes the wood longer to begin smoldering.
With the water pan foil is a good idea, not that it doesn't anything special as far as temps go but it makes clean up a whole lot easier.
225 seems a bit low to season in just 2 hours, I would try and run it at about 300 with steady smoke flowing, and don't try to get a thin blue on this, for seasoning you want some good smoke flowing out of the unit.

 

[bananasa]

Thanks for that... I have it on Med/High and its right around 300 at the moment. I have Alder in there and boy does it smell good. I cant wait to get some meat in there later today!

 

[gunner69]

I've got a SH No. 6... After your seasoning run..Turn it down to low and make sure you can get it to smoking temps... I ended up having to email SH and have them send out a new regulator assembly for mine because I couldnt get it to run under about 275 w/o throttling the tank valve. They were very understanding and basically said they try to oversize their regs to idiot proof them and prevent making a Fuel/Air Bomb.

 

[lu1847]

I have a smoke hollow (elec.) check your thermo. mine was off 40-50*. best to check with several different ones.