want to jump into bbq smoking | The Boneyard

want to jump into bbq smoking

husky99

husky99

Joined
Aug 17, 2011
Messages
9,593
Reaction Score
42,882
Looking into smoking bbq. I have zero experience. Read online start with a electronic smoker. Any advice, websites, or tutorials to checkout.
I was gifted a meater probe and love it.. seems to be a must have for smoking
 
husky99 said:
Looking into smoking bbq. I have zero experience. Read online start with a electronic smoker. Any advice, websites, or tutorials to checkout.
I was gifted a meater probe and love it.. seems to be a must have for smoking
Expand ...

Get a good Pellet grill. A good one. Very easy to use. Excellent entry point.
 
Electric are nice for true ease of use. I just replaced mine with a propane smoker, which works great and I like it better than the electric one I had but does take a little more hands on approach.

If you want to spend the extra go with the pellet smoker/grill, they are phenomenal. The only reason I did not get the pellet one was I already have a charcoal grill so I could not justify the extra cost to only use it as a smoker.
 
.-.
WE probably have a long thread somewhere on this topic and types of smokers, it's worth searching out.

OT: - Smokers found it
 
JustbrewitMan said:
I was worried when I read the thread title...suggested you were going to literally jump into a smoking BBQ.

Which I would believe would be a plausible activity for some of posters on here given the occurences of the last 48 hours...
Expand ...
My thoughts exactly.
 
husky99 said:
Looking into smoking bbq. I have zero experience. Read online start with a electronic smoker. Any advice, websites, or tutorials to checkout.
I was gifted a meater probe and love it.. seems to be a must have for smoking
Expand ...
I started with a Masterbuilt electric. Now have an ugly drum style charcoal smoker. Electric is certainly the easiest way to go.

One option that might work well and be fairly versatile is the Weber Smokey Mountain. If you can use a kettle grill you can use it. Works similarly to my Ugly Drum but has easier access points.
 
Traeger for set it and forget are tough to beat. I have the Ferrari of grills (Kamado Joe) and it’s amazing for smoking, but it does everything. Little more work, but I’ll eventually have multiple smokers. I like the off set smokers as well (Oklahoma Joe’s) but there are tons of brands like that.

Depending on your climate, make sure you get one that is nicely insulated as maintaining temperatures becomes more difficult

Egg style grills - Kamado Joe is best and has tons of accessories
Pellet - Traeger, Pit Boss
Offset - Oklahoma Joes, Yoder (pricey)

I follow Aaron Franklin, Mad Scientist BBQ, All Things BBQ, How to BBQ Right, Meat Church BBQ, and a few others.

Check out bbqguys.com or Google/YouTube those I just mentioned. Hope this helps
 
.-.
huskyfan224 said:
Traeger for set it and forget are tough to beat. I have the Ferrari of grills (Kamado Joe) and it’s amazing for smoking, but it does everything. Little more work, but I’ll eventually have multiple smokers. I like the off set smokers as well (Oklahoma Joe’s) but there are tons of brands like that.

Depending on your climate, make sure you get one that is nicely insulated as maintaining temperatures becomes more difficult

Egg style grills - Kamado Joe is best and has tons of accessories
Pellet - Traeger, Pit Boss
Offset - Oklahoma Joes, Yoder (pricey)

I follow Aaron Franklin, Mad Scientist BBQ, All Things BBQ, How to BBQ Right, Meat Church BBQ, and a few others.

Check out bbqguys.com or Google/YouTube those I just mentioned. Hope this helps
Expand ...
Thanks
 
HuskyHawk said:
I started with a Masterbuilt electric. Now have an ugly drum style charcoal smoker. Electric is certainly the easiest way to go.

One option that might work well and be fairly versatile is the Weber Smokey Mountain. If you can use a kettle grill you can use it. Works similarly to my Ugly Drum but has easier access points.
Expand ...

I have two WSM's

I love them and use them a lot even over my Traeger pellet and my BigGreenEgg for pure smokes. WSM is NOT a novice introduction for smoking. Way too much work for someone who doesnt know temp and time are the most important components. A GOOD pellet controls temp for you. You need to be a fire (and charcoal and wood) temp management artist to make the WSM sing. And if you are , it sings beautifully. As good as anything. But that is a ton of work and a lot of ruined meats on the learning curve. Ive found that most dont even want to move on from a good pellet. And hell. I use my Traeger more and more every year as I get lazier.
 
huskyfan224 said:
Traeger for set it and forget are tough to beat. I have the Ferrari of grills (Kamado Joe) and it’s amazing for smoking, but it does everything. Little more work, but I’ll eventually have multiple smokers. I like the off set smokers as well (Oklahoma Joe’s) but there are tons of brands like that.

Depending on your climate, make sure you get one that is nicely insulated as maintaining temperatures becomes more difficult

Egg style grills - Kamado Joe is best and has tons of accessories
Pellet - Traeger, Pit Boss
Offset - Oklahoma Joes, Yoder (pricey)

I follow Aaron Franklin, Mad Scientist BBQ, All Things BBQ, How to BBQ Right, Meat Church BBQ, and a few others.

Check out bbqguys.com or Google/YouTube those I just mentioned. Hope this helps
Expand ...


Mostly a good list. On grills and sites

Remove Pit Boss and Oklahoma joe pellets. (unless you have your own surface temp and meat probes on your own) Because neither of those is even close to their actual built in temps on their offerings.

on the web the holy grail is:
amazingribs.com


thats the only site you REALLY need to do this right. In every aspect.
 
I am still new to smoking food myself. I went with a green mountain pellet grill. Similar to traeger. Never had any issues and works great.
 
August_West said:
I have two WSM's

I love them and use them a lot even over my Traeger pellet and my BigGreenEgg for pure smokes. WSM is NOT a novice introduction for smoking. Way too much work for someone who doesnt know temp and time are the most important components. A GOOD pellet controls temp for you. You need to be a fire (and charcoal and wood) temp management artist to make the WSM sing. And if you are , it sings beautifully. As good as anything. But that is a ton of work and a lot of ruined meats on the learning curve. Ive found that most dont even want to move on from a good pellet. And hell. I use my Traeger more and more every year as I get lazier.
Expand ...
Yeah, that's fair. I didn't have faith I could manage temps on my oil drum smoker until my friend showed me his sister unit during some smokes (he built both) and how rock steady it was once you got it where you wanted. But it's definitely a bit of an art. Things like exterior temp and wind will mess with it.
 
.-.
HuskyHawk said:
Yeah, that's fair. I didn't have faith I could manage temps on my oil drum smoker until my friend showed me his sister unit during some smokes (he built both) and how rock steady it was once you got it where you wanted. But it's definitely a bit of an art. Things like exterior temp and wind will mess with it.
Expand ...

Yes to the external factors! None of that is above anyone's intelligence here. I'm not trying to make it sound like rocket science. But there is a lot trial and error and maintaining temps on wood/Charcoal and it just seems people dont have the patience for it. Because you should take any device like a Barrel or a WSM, and do at least 3 8 hour dry runs without meat (or cheap meat) to get the hang of fire maintenance before you throw a packer brisket on there!
 
August_West said:
Yes to the external factors! None of that is above anyone's intelligence here. I'm not trying to make it sound like rocket science. But there is a lot trial and error and maintaining temps on wood/Charcoal and it just seems people dont have the patience for it. Because you should take any device like a Barrel or a WSM, and do at least 3 8 hour dry runs without meat (or cheap meat) to get the hang of fire maintenance before you throw a packer brisket on there!
Expand ...
I did beer can chickens as my starter smokes on mine, with a small half rack of ribs. Pretty idiot proof. And yes, didn't do a brisket until I felt comfortable. Hell, with the price of brisket now, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable unless I had a perfect weather day.

To your point as well: it's a time commitment. Especially a brisket. You've got to be available for a lot of hours, even if you Texas crutch it. That's often the challenge for me.
 
HuskyHawk said:
To your point as well: it's a time commitment. Especially a brisket. You've got to be available for a lot of hours, even if you Texas crutch it. That's often the challenge for me.
Expand ...

Yeah. My last couple were on the pellet set it and forget. Came out great. Could come out a bit better on the WSM or Egg or Barrel, but I wasn't committing 14 hours at that time to fire maintenance. And if you don't commit, it comes out worse. I don't crutch Brisket in foil. Sometimes I use nothing, sometimes butcher paper. Always a mid cook call on the look of Brisket 1/2 way through. But I'm a bark fiend. Crutch softens it too much (for me, others prefer it different)
 
Get used to looking through the meat section at your local grocery store and when there's a good buy? Stock up. Especially the way meat prices are right now. Case in point, I picked up 3 corned beef briskets for 5.00 a piece the week after St Patty's Day and I'll make my own pastrami with them whenever I get the urge. You can get similar deals on ribs too if you keep your eyes open.
 
.-.
HuskyHawk said:
Yeah, that's fair. I didn't have faith I could manage temps on my oil drum smoker until my friend showed me his sister unit during some smokes (he built both) and how rock steady it was once you got it where you wanted. But it's definitely a bit of an art. Things like exterior temp and wind will mess with it.
Expand ...

This seems like what i do not want to start with.
 
husky99 said:
This seems like what i do not want to start with.
Expand ...
Yes, August is right. I have friends who love their Traeger pellet smokers, but they do cost more than the electric Masterbuilts.
 
If you want to get your feet wet with a Kamado the Char-Griller Akorn is cheap. It is also hard to tune in temps and doesn’t keep a perfect seal - so you get what you pay for. Makes good food, though, both smoking and grilling. Mine is on its last legs after 5 or 6 seasons but I’ve learned enough on it that I plan to upgrade to a big boy Kamado for Summer ‘23.
 
Love my komodo kettle grill for smoking. For this month and partially next I've been smoking on my weber charcoal grill. That bad boy is basic, but with proper venting I can get 3+ hours smoking at 250. But I'm only smoking chops and chicken.

Love the komodo for the big stuff. I have the Vision model which is a Komodo Green Egg knock off, but works just as good. It seals perfectly, great vent control and cooks evenly. Only had it a year so I will eventually start using other accessories/tools for overnight smoking this summer. The Meater is my best friend for whole chickens (beer can, smoked or even the rotisserie) and pork shoulders on the komodo. With wifi/bluetooth I'm able to keep the lid closed for hours. The rotisserie is a game changer for a large basket of wings and whole chickens.

Damn I think its time to get going here in CT.
1648757928990.png
 
Any cooks here using injectors? I am ready to start but not sure what and how to get started.

Does it make a big and noticeable difference? And if so what exactly are the benefits and what meats do you use it for?

Also do you still need to marinate meats using the injector, or is the time shortened?

 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,485
Messages
4,577,586
Members
10,487
Latest member
husky62


Top Bottom