Time for a smoke

[Jim Almquist]

Sorry no help with me choosing an electric smoker but.... I did just finish up about 15 pounds of country style ribs on the Weber. They had them for $1.29 at Super1 and they were very meaty so I had pick up a couple of packs. They are darn near as good when heated up in the oven for a meal during the week. The upcoming forecast  dose not look for long smokes. Vac-u Pac and freeze until another day.

[Grainbelt]

The birds look good.  I put a water pan under mine with onion, carrots, celery and the neck and giblets and the ends of the wings. Made some tasty gravy.

For an electric I have the Masterbuilt made for Cabelas with 6 racks and solid door. I use it mainly for jerky and sticks. I'm going to build a offset smoker next spring. I found a 175 gallon upright propane tank that should work well.

[bobberineyes]

I'm thinking the pellets go under the pot!!... or wait did I say pot??

That's the thing, I usually do jerky, hang bacon slabs  and sausage in the smoker where chickens and whatever gets smoked on the offset. 

Edited December 3, 2017 by bobberineyes

[rl_sd]

1 hour ago, bobberineyes said:

Great job gents, Turkey and the bullheads look mint!! Well here's my dilemma.  I do lots of different smoking on my two big charcoal units but now and then I'll break out the old but faithful l.p. smoker,  (which is about 20 years old). The regulater took a dump and I'm having troubles finding a replacement,  I'm not quite comfy on cutting the gas line, adding a new one thinking it will work. Sooo i have the green light to go smoker shopping, what's everyone's thoughts on electric models.. brands, pros and cons??? Pretty much greek to me!!

Or what kinda rig you running rl_sd?

I couldn’t justify spending the money on the high dollar units ( traegers, gmg, rec tech, etc.) Not saying that all the whiz bang features like Bluetooth, dual probes etc, isn’t worth it for some.... but for me $600-$800 is a lot of money for a grill. I was split between a camp chef and a pit boss.... Both had about 500 sq inches of cooking area and were in that $475 range. My dad ended up getting a Big Horn from the local runnings on sale for $300. I don’t have a runnings really close to me but was able to get one from http://ruralking.com for $350 with free shipping. I usually do one big smoke every Monday (30-50 # of meat) through out the summer and use it a few nights during the week and weekends on small stuff. I have had zero issues and am pretty confident that it uses the same smoke box as the pit boss brand

38 minutes ago, RebelSS said:

On the second one, is that tube thingie where the pellets go? 

Great.... now everyone is going to get Dutch Elm disease from under cooked pellets!

[RebelSS]

8 minutes ago, rl_sd said:

 

Great.... now everyone is going to get Dutch Elm disease from under cooked pellets!

  

29 minutes ago, bobberineyes said:

I'm thinking the pellets go under the pot!!... or wait did I say pot??

That's the thing, I usually do jerky, hang bacon slabs  and sausage in the smoker where chickens and whatever gets smoked on the offset. 

 

I take you as more of a charcoal and wood kinda smoker guy, boober....

[delcecchi]

Nah, you can make stuff nice and tender though without cooking it to death, with a few hours of smoke before or after.   You guys are always wrapping the meat in paper or foil to finish the cook.   Well, sous vide does the same thing only 10 times better.    And don't be telling me smoke penetrates foil...

And the anova circulator like I have is on sale for 99 bucks, or at least it was a couple days ago.   Use ziplocs or you probably already have a vacuum sealer.  

Edited December 3, 2017 by delcecchi

[rl_sd]

Hopefully today will be one of the last decent days of the winter. I’d rather be sitting in a shanty on 8”of fishable ice, but instead I decided to do a little smoking.  HyVee had ribs on sale... so that’s what was goin on the smoker.. I usually like baby backs, but the spare ribs were the ones in the sales add ( although two racks of regular priced B. backs found there way into the cart). Not sure how many of you have vacuumed sealed ribs for the freezer, but if you thaw them and warm them through in the oven they taste just like they came off the smoker.  Thinking a few of these half racks may make it into the wheel house this winter!

[RebelSS]

58 minutes ago, delcecchi said:

Nah, you can make stuff nice and tender though without cooking it to death, with a few hours of smoke before or after.   You guys are always wrapping the meat in paper or foil to finish the cook.   Well, sous vide does the same thing only 10 times better.    And don't be telling me smoke penetrates foil...

And the anova circulator like I have is on sale for 99 bucks, or at least it was a couple days ago.   Use ziplocs or you probably already have a vacuum sealer.  

I was hoping you'd buy me a vacuum sealer for Christmas.... 

[PurpleFloyd]

3 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

Depends a lot on what your budget is but this one is very popular with electric smoker users and has a lot of bang for the buck:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Masterbuilt-40-in-Digital-Electric-Smoker-with-Remote-and-Window-20075315/206995535?cm_mmc=SEM|THD|google|D24+Paint&mid=sESWFyjNs|dc_mtid_8903alh25183_pcrid_48288740857_pkw__pmt_b_product__slid_&gclid=CjwKCAiA3o7RBRBfEiwAZMtSCeknguEGPirJb7Yk8GBxszNJWkewFezJEEigmiP2Huky-mMQz7jkAhoC1A8QAvD_BwE

 

 That is the exact model I have. They work good but I added their cold smoker accessory because I don't feel that they give off enough smoke with the standard tray for my taste.

 

 

 

[Big Dave2]

2 minutes ago, PurpleFloyd said:

 That is the exact model I have. They work good but I added their cold smoker accessory because I don't feel that they give off enough smoke with the standard tray for my taste.

Yep that seems to be a pretty standard complaint and fix according to the internets.

[RebelSS]

WHOOPSIES!!!  

[Big Dave2]

12 minutes ago, RebelSS said:

 

You going to smoke the moose and squirrel with this or does it souse vide?

[RebelSS]

WHOOPS!!! Wrong thread!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!  It's yer fault, anyway!  Can't do moose and skwirrel right now; Del's busy with a camel and the souser......

[bobberineyes]

13 hours ago, PurpleFloyd said:

 

Have you tried the smoke tube with it for extra smoke?

[Grainbelt]

I like to use the tray, keep the vents wide open so it'll keep burning. The pellets are normally in a tray over the top of the burner, but the burner doesn't run all the time when the insulated cooker is up to temp.

[bobberineyes]

I believe that's the same model FF had on sale for 199 on black Friday,  I knew I shoulda grabbed one. I do a lot with the smoking tube but the gas smoker and charcoal grills usually win the battle for oxygen and the tube goes out. I'm not sure what the cold smoke accessories do but running the tube with no heat is what I intend anyhow.

[rl_sd]

8 hours ago, bobberineyes said:

Have you tried the smoke tube with it for extra smoke?

I have ran a smoke tube in the pellet grill and it definitely gives more smoke. I also have a 10year old 30” masterbuilt the the heating element rotted out of.  I have it back up and working now, but had a heck of a time finding a replacement element. I figured that it was probably from the wet chips getting dumped on the hot element repeatedly.  I decided that with the new element I would run the smoke tube for smoke and use the element for heat only

[bobberineyes]

Perfect!! Great advice rs_ld!  It's amazing how the users come up with better ways of using products!!

[Big Dave2]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ROPJ1M/ref=asc_df_B007ROPJ1M5291242/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B007ROPJ1M&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167145798705&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2235562060597003786&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019869&hvtargid=pla-309734814916

This is what is supposed to be the best accessory for the MES-40.

[huntnfish]

I have one of the low end Bradleys and I would not recommend it. It has worked ok but there have been a few little things that always pop up. This summer I was going to smoke a few pork butts and plugged it in to make sure it got to temp like I always do. Worked fine. Fast forward a couple days to me up at 1am getting everything cranked up to go on. The thing wouldn't heat up. I ended up taking out the main heat element and cleaning the terminals. Not fun at 1am especially when you get volunteered to bring the meat for a family reunion. The pucks are good and bad. I like that I can stack what I need in there for a 3 hour smoke but I also don't like having to run all over town to try find them. There are more stores carrying them nowadays though. It does well cold smoking in cooler temps with the main heat unplugged. If this one wasn't given to me and I was going to buy one I would go with the master built. 

 

My next purchase will be a pellet grill. I'm kicking myself for not picking a pit boss when Runnings had them on sale a few weeks ago for $300. I don't know how well they are as a smoker though. 

[Mike89]

had my pit boss since spring and I like it very well, if that helps...

 

I just have the small 340 and I'm thinking about upgrading all ready...

[smurfy]

i just need to get over my cold feet and start using the smoker i got!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[huntnfish]

1 hour ago, Mike89 said:

had my pit boss since spring and I like it very well, if that helps...

 

I just have the small 340 and I'm thinking about upgrading all ready...

How well does it work for smoking? I haven't done the necessary research on pellet grills to know a whole lot about them. 

[Mike89]

when you set on smoke only it's only at about 140 to 150*, so I have eggs, sweet corn, meat loaf, roasts, and other things.  I did a prime rib roast for turkey day for myself and loved it....  the reasons I'm thinking about upgrading is a bit larger one and one that I can place a winter insulated cover on it...

[PurpleFloyd]

On 12/4/2017 at 8:21 AM, bobberineyes said:

Have you tried the smoke tube with it for extra smoke?

Yes. It helps but the cold smoker gives more smoke and I modded mine by attaching my old CPAP machine to the bottom of the cold smoker with a ball valve to control the air supply and I can get an amazing amount of smoke from that. However the temp gets a little high when cold smoking so my next move involves an aquarium air pump to reduce the air volume.