smoker grill

[Egon]

Pete:

Picture of a die hard wood fan's grill/smoker.

The grill part is obvious. The smoker section is the tall portion behind the bald guy. Fire for the smoker section is under the grill portion. The smoke heat is controlled manually by the amount of wood and air added. Requires constant attention. [ ie. lots of cool ones ]

This was back in the Alberta two week summer.

Egon
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BB_TX]

Bird - Do you know where you can buy wood around here specifically for a smoker. The New Braunfels instructions recommend different woods for different meats and fish such as pecan, white oak, apple, cherry, etc. Hickory, mesquite, and generic oak are easy to find. Have not found a source for the others. Don't intend to cut down my pecan trees just to smoke some meat.

 

[bmac]

<font color="blue"> One of my "drool" catalogs is Cabelas, and I always take a gander at the electric smokers in there...like the cookshack and also they have one in there called a "bradley". I am wondering if anyone has tried the Bradley? It has a hopper for these pressed wood bisquettes and feeds one in every 20 minutes. Gimmick or cool? </font>

It was actually seeing this one in the cabela's catalog that got me drooling for a new smoker. Not one to jump on something without a little internet research, I then found the CookShack. The biggest drawback to the Bradley is the fact that you have to use those biscuits. And they aren't cheap. Also, the motorized mechanism that feed the biscuits is a potential source of failure that the ones using chunks of wood do not have. Also, there are smoking experts that say smoke penetration into the meat occurs only during the first hour or so. Feeding biscuits every 20 minutes throughout a long cook would be wasteful (if the Bradley does this - I'm not sure) So, while they are cool and I don't think they are a gimmick, I thought the CookShack was a better product.

 

[Bird]

Nope, Bill, I don't know where you can buy the different woods for smokers. I've only used hickory and mesquite myself and of course you can find them anywhere. Down in the country, I had a neighbor who used to have a big 4th of July barbecue and party and had two big old smokers that were only used that one time a year. In addition to several beef briskets, sausage and chicken, one year we included one goat and several of my rabbits, but he also had a couple of hundred pecan trees and used pecan wood from limbs that either fell or that he had pruned from them. It sure was good barbecue, but I don't know whether it was because of the particular kind of wood or not.

 

[Chuck52]

A good source of smoking wood that many overlook is crabapples and Bradford pears. Both are essentially the same as apple wood so far as smoking goes. I guess most folks don't have huge old Bradford pears like I have in my yard which drop limbs during heavy blows, but there may be lots of crab apples that need trimming. The limbs of 1 inch or larger are fine for smoking purposes, though you couldn't make the whole fire with them. I use that stuff for smoking in my charcoal grill, and I also have a lot of black cherry, also from a windfall this past spring. It is a nice mild smoke.

Chuck

 

[JPinnell]

I have the New Braunfel's Bandera model. It's now made by Char-Broil and is carried at Home Depot, Wal-Mart and others. It'll cook a lot of meat (50lbs) at once, but does take a lot of tending and fuel over 8hrs. There are a few mods that need to be done to get it in better shape all of which are covered here along with other tips.

I usually use Red Oak splits or Hickory Chunks. If you don't have trees shedding limbs often enought to get your wood I've had excellent luck using dried hickory nuts in the shell with charcoal. A walk through the woods should give you plenty if you beat the squirrels to them.

Most meat won't absorb smoke flavor after reaching 120? temp so switching to charcoal or even propane for the last hrs won't matter much.

You should check out the Weber Smoky Mountain if you plan to only smoke smaller quantities of meats. They do an excellent job and are under $200 @ Amazon. They also fit snugly in a car trunk for camping and such where the big guys won't. I'm considering getting one for the smaller cooks.

- JP

 

[GareyD]

Been looking for a new smoker...wanted a stainless model, tired of burning up the little Walmart models...I found this one made by Vermont Castings at Sam's this week

Stainless outside, powder coat inside, 5 meat shelves, cast iron wood/smoker box, brass propane burner, porcelain water pan.

Most models I have found like this are $800 and up...this was $325

Have already done chicken, fell off the bone and the breast juice ran off your chin /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In the attached picture, taken today, there is 30 lbs of Boston Butt smokin with White Oak and Hickory...should be eatin around 7:00 pm tonite....can't hardly wait.

PS...I have found the little bags of apple, cherry and others at TSC and Walmart, Ace Hardware and a lot of sporting good stores...they cost a lot for a pound of sawdust /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

GareyD

 

[Moon]

Good stuff guys!
Originally I wanted a smoker big enough to do a whole pig. I expected to see some of the 55 gallon drum homemade ones. A guy I used to work with made one of those but I never saw it and didn't have a place for one at the time; so I didn't pay much attention to the details.
How mush of a pig can you fit on your grills? 1/4 1/2 etc ....
and approx. how many does it feed.

Thanks,
Moon