your advice wanted.

[brett_s]

I'm thinking of upgrading from my el cheapo coleman bullet smoker. It works nice, but I'm just limited to how much I can put into it at once. I would like to upgrade, and would appreciate your oppinions on models before I buy. To me, a side firebox makes sense, maybe it's over rated and I don't know any better.

The first disclaimer is that I really don't want to break the bank buying one. approximately $200 would be a limit.

I've found two so far that are under $200 and are interesting looking.

Brinkmann Smoke King Deluxe, model 805-2500-1 $199

Char Griller super pro $169.99

What are your oppinions on these models? Is one better than the other? Are there some models I should be looking at other than these? Anything would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brett Schmahl

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Brett,
I'd highly recommend that you take a look at the Webber bullet smoker. I don't know the current price but I'd say that the $200 will probably be in the ball park. Anyone who has ever had one of these has nothing but raves and it's versital enough that not only is it a great smoker for getting into the business but many professionals use it in competition. I really can't say eough good things about it. Perhaps some of the others will have some thoughts too.

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Brett,
To follow up..... I just found the site I was looking for in the above post. Go to www.virtualweberbullet.com and look the information over. Also, if you're interested in pork (ribs, butts etc.) look through the links they provide on the site. There are some really great articles.

 

[Dutch]

Fla. Bill, I think Brett wants to increase his product output by going to a smoker that has a larger surface area. Although he could get the Webber bullet and use it along side the ECB. :D

Brett, I have a BIL that has the Char Griller Super Pro and he puts out some good grub (ribs need a little work but he's impatient!) He bought a rotisserie attachment for his unit and his smoked rotisserie chicken is to die for (we have a deal- On family cookouts, he does the chicken and I do the ribs and anything else-works out great).

 

[johnnyreb]

i would go with the chargriller, more space for meat

while the wsm is good, if you have alot of meat you will have to take the top rack off to get to the lower rack, seems like to much trouble to me

 

[larry maddock]

yo bill,
if you had time ,
you should look at the propane heated
great outdoors smoky montainsmoker

that will be my next purchase if my electric one ever wears out.

wally world has cheap in online catalog.

 

[brett_s]

Thanks for your input guys. I was hoping someone would have some experience.

Crazyhorse, when you say the "WSM is good" what do you mean, WSM? I'm not up to speed on the abreviations.

Larry, I will check out the one you recommended. "great outdoors smoky montainsmoker". I'm not familiar with who makes what, I'm just starting to learn about life beyond the bullet smoker.

what ever I get, i want to have the ability to access all the meat at once. The Bullet smoker style drives me nuts if I'm making more than one thing at once.

Any more thoughts and suggestions???? I trully appreciate all the info you can give me.

Brett

 

[heidi]

I would go with the Char-Broil Silver Smoker.

http://www.charbroil.com/smokers/index.asp

That is what I have. It is my first smoker and I have had great luck with it. I picked it up at Wal-Mart for $109.99. Not bad I thought. It hold a lot of food and pretty good temp. control. Just click the Char-Broil Smoker link and feast your eyes. Good luck, Heidi

 

[larry maddock]

the g.o.s.m.s. i mentioned can roast or hold 325 degrees.

very convienient as you can regolate the temps .

but if you want to bbq also HEIDI gave a real good choice.

every char-broil product ive been around works well.

 

[Dutch]

Brett, WSM is for Webber Smokey Mountain, this unit is a bullet style smoker like the ECB (el cheapo brinkmann).

 

[cheech]

Take a look at "saving big money at Menards" This time of year in Michigan there are great deals on what ever you are looking for in smokers.

 

[brett_s]

Well, I pulled the trigger and bought one......and the winner is.....Brinkmann Smoke King deluxe. I bought the assembled floor model for $160. I couldn't pass the deal up, and besdies.....it looked cooler :roll: .

Well I got it home and wiped it all down with vegetable oil like they said and ran it just like they said to. 225 for several hours, followed by 350 for an hour, and then a cool down period.

I noticed a few things durring these period.

1. None of these cookers are designed for operation in Wisconsin durrring the winter. It was probably about 20 out that night. Nice and calm. A very nice evening. I had a heck of a time getting it to maintain 225 degrees in the cool. Lots of wood and coal. 350 was almost impossible untill I walked over to the nearby furniture factory and picked up a shopping bag full of 1" square oak cuttofs and threw the whole bag in the fire. That got it going.

2. Very uneven heating in the smoke box.

3. Crappy fire box design.

So I being the creative one, figured I can overcome this.

A. I cut a 1/8" piece of plate steel, welded on some angle iron for reinforcements and welded another 1/8" plate on top of that. Basically I have a flat plate, 1 inch air gap, and another flat plate. This sets in where the "cooking" grate for the firebox was. In theory, this will do two things. It will keep the heat and smoke from rising above the cutout in the smokebox where its supposed to go. By keeping the heat from rising above this, it will not escape into the large overhead region of the firebox which will allows the cover to get real hot and waste all the heat. It is easily removable for summer.

B. Made a baffle from the fire box to the smoke box, in order to bring the heat directly below the water pan in the center.

C. Created a nice heavy duty charcoal pan for the firebox. 3"x3" x1/4" angle, heavy duty expanded metal bottom. This will allow me to keep the coals where I want them and help control the fire. The charcoal rack they give you is pathetic.

D. Haven't done it yet, but I thought a nice row of firebricks in the bottom of the smokebox would help even the heat out a little.

That's about the mods I've made so far. I'm going to try it out again this weekend to see if the heat situation is better.

If it doesn't than I'm off to plan b, which is to determine a method to insualte the smoke box to prevent it from loosing heat.

Anyone else have anythoughts?

Brett