Looking to buy smoker???

[Harmonica Bear]

[reinhard1]

hey great meeting you and your bbq partner at the grill off. the sweet smell of grills can easily make you fall off the diet wagon. you guy made a great event, i wish i could have stayed longer but the grandkids wanted to go to the park. thanks for inviting me to come. loved all the grills of all sizes. good people. good luck.

[Harmonica Bear]

[Harmonica Bear]

Chad and myself (center, camo hat) with some helpers

our ribs

[Jim Almquist]

Lot of really nice setups !

Those ribs of your look great and now the old stomach is starting to growl

[JimBuck]

Holy smokes! Thanks for sharing the photos. That looks like a blast!

[Ralph Wiggum]

Cool! The guy with the red and flamed grills with huge tables built around them lives down the street from me. Iron Moose Grills, I think they're called.

[McGurk]

our ribs

That is some INSANE pullback on those ribs!!! How'd they turn out? Whenever I get massive pullback like that, they're typically too done and mushy. I get about a half inch when I like to pull them to rest.

[reinhard1]

i was there and the rib that harmonica bear was nice enough to give me for a try were tender. these were baby back ribs but a larger size than you would see normaly in a grocery store so my guess is they required longer cooking time. you see the same pull back with beef back ribs and they are still tender. he had a great sauce too. good luck.

[Big Dave2]

McGurk, I hear you on the pullback. Thats the first thing I thought when I saw the picture. I have made ribs that ended up with that much pullback that were fine but my best ribs always have about 1/2 inch to 1 inch of pullback at the most.

That being said, I certainly wouldn't turn down a rack of Harmonica bears ribs if he offered them to me!

[McGurk]

I doubt I'd turn my nose up to anything there, either, as they look great! Just an observation, I guess, and from only a couple of the racks. The rest look more like I'm used to. They look like spares to me from the pic, but I tend to be wrong a lot!

One tip I'm trying to stick to is to always buy the smallest racks in a store, as they will be the easiest to get tender. I also keep an eye out for "shiners", which are exposed faces of the rib bones from the butcher getting a little to close when trimming them. No offense Reinhard!!!

[Harmonica Bear]

I beleive you are correct on the grill name. There were 4 guys from that group that showed up, one of them finished 2nd.

As far as our ribs went, compared to last years ribs (which were basically horrible) this years ribs couldn't have turned out better. We tied for 5th on the blind judging and finished 2nd in the People's Choice losing by one vote, $%#$@&!!! Out if the 27 teams that showed up, we were quite plaesed where we ended up.

It was a great event for sure.

As far as the pull back goes, yes it was more than we would have preferred too. They certainly weren't mushy and still held onto the bone. I beleive it was result of our cooking process which is a basterdization of an already basterdized Momofuku Chicken Wing recipe by Chef David Chang (the long version). We didn't start with room temp ribs, which resulted in roller coasting the temp in the pork fat prior to smoking. They turned out good and tender, and for those ribs and compared to others, that was feat in and of itself.

[reinhard1]

they were pork back ribs. when i first looked at them i thought some of them were beef back ribs on the smaller size. but i think when you do an event you want to get the best deal and the larger pork ribs are cheaper. proccesing of ribs have been done right at the plants for years and i seldom had to cut our own backribs out of the porkloin except when we were out of boneless pork loins to cut boneless chops for an add. but the ones we did bone out usualy came home with the butchers. good luck.

[corncob]

My wife saw the pic with the "Passin Gas" apron on, and says "how did you get your picture on there? ".......Dead ringer.

[reinhard1]

i thought you did a great job. and i'm glad you placed where you did, now i wish i could of stuck around and been that one vote you needed. good luck.

[Big Dave2]

Good job on placing 2nd!!!!!!!!!

Maybe we should have an FM cookout, I would love to get a taste of them ribs!

[reinhard1]

went through this thread again this morning. i have a plan to build my own smoker. i have a char griller and like it. last year i wish i had another one. so, i thought i'd build my own. got a membership at sams club the other day and as soon as i see anything resembling a grill i gravitate toward it. i saw this smoker that looked like all i would need to compliment my char griller. it's called a Masterbuilt electric smoker. digital controls and has a remote control to boot. i checked the ratings and for the most part people like it. anyone out there have one or an opinion on it? it costs $299. thanks good luck.

[dirtking]

Reinhard - I have the Masterbuildt electric smoker and I really like it. I have done fish, chickens, turkey, ribs, pork butts - everything has turned out really well. I like the electric - set the temp and add wood as needed. The one you are looking at is probably a little fancier than mine - I paid about two bills for mine. (no remote, not stainless)

[reinhard1]

i'm thinking this is the 40 in. model. it has the digital controls on top. did not see the remote but it says it has one. looks pretty easy to clean up after also. my wife gives me the look since i already have the char griller, a gas grill and two other smaller charcoal grills. i told her one more smoker and thats it . good luck.

[Juneau4]

RH1

Why don't you build one? I know theres some complete plans on this site.

[reinhard1]

i was going full bore on buiding one and then i see this with all the bells and whistles. have to go to sams again today, i'll see if i can wald past it. yea right. still leaning on building one but there it is staring right at me. good luck.

[Juneau4]

Sometimes it's cheaper and easier to just buy what you need (want). Then again the wife doesn't always agree with the wants and need bit.

[McGurk]

Never used one, but it looks like quite a unit if it's the 40" with a dig display and remote. Couldn't be much easier, and at a pretty good price as well. There is something to be said for saving yourself a bunch of time and headaches by just buying what you want. It isn't all that pretty and it isn't all that easy, but I really enjoy my home-made UDS!

[reinhard1]

i looked at it again today. i primarily wanted to build my own because i wanted to hang my linked sausage when i smoke some this year. so i needed something taller with room to hang a good batch. i can do most everything else i believe in the char griller. this unit does look good and has pretty much what anyone needs. i like the see through large glass and the ability to keep a constant temperature. you dont have to open the door to add wood chips for you can load it from the side. you pull out the container for the chips, fill in some new chips, push it back in and then turn the container over and it dumps the chips on the burner container. still deciding. kind of like a kid with a new toy. good luck.

[KEN W]

I have the Cajun Injector smoker.They bought out Masterbuilt,so the smokers are the same.The one you are looking at is taller than mine.But mine cost half as much.I have 4 racks,plus 2 jerky racks and a rack with hooks on to hang things on like sausage or use the top as a rib rack.It also is digital and comes with a heat sensor probe to put in the meat and be able to read it w/o opening the door.

I wouldn't pay to much attention to the window on the front.It will get steamed up from the water pan or covered in soot.So you won't be able to see much in there.That looks like the only differences for twice the money.

These smokers are VERY well insulated.I have made sausage in them when it was snowing and the snow did not melt off the top.

If you plan on making sausages.....stay away from propane smokers.They can't get the heat down low enough.All sausages should be smoked and cooked at no higher than 175 degrees.Otherwise all the fat will render out onto the bottom of the smoker.

These smokers are so efficient that you use only 2-3 oz. of wood.