Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I like the simplicity of setting the draft doors on the BGE or type in pit/meat temp in the BBQ Guru and forgetaboutit. Once set I know its not changing so I really have nothing to monitor

 

The cure is on! 1 Cajun spice and 1 peppered as supplied by @PerazziMx14. So I told the old lady (clean up crew) that tomorrow I will make pig candy. So post up your recipes, so I don't have to dig back thru the thread.

 

This is doable with the GMG app.

 

It is already there, just upgrade the software.

 

I was almost going to buy the Vision Grill at Sam's Club, but I just had to stop by Costco to see what they had. Sam's Club's Vision Grill is $549.99, and has a removable ash tray which is pretty cool, but it doesn't include the heat deflector (conveggtor for BGEs). The Costco Pit Boss doesn't have the removable ash tray, but includes the heat deflector, so it's ready for indirect smoking out of the box.

Both are comparable to the size of the BGE XL, and both come with the rolling stand AND grill cover. Advertised usable cooking area is 662 sq. in.

Be ready to have 3 full sized men to go with you when you buy it. The package weighs 135 KG (~300 lbs) and three of us had trouble getting it in and out of my truck.

 

The ceramic plate setter off the BGE is more than a heat deflector. Flip it so the legs point down and you have a killer pizza stone for baking breads, pizza, calzones, Stromboli's etc..

 

@scottalot

Have you ever thought about a WSM? I got a load of coal to go 16+ hours a few months back in my 18.5”. I wouldn’t be worried to much about control down your way. I have wind and cold issues with it here, but it still does well for the most part. They are pretty much set and forget once you learn it and dial it in.

I did two butts overnight. Set it up, started it, put the meat on, went to bed. Woke up at 6-7, looked at the remote thermometer, it was still chugging along at 230ish.

They are man portable, can be stored in the shed, easy to clean, etc.

I love mine since picking it up used. Just an option.

 

In ceramic you can put meat on and go away for the weekend. Nothing against WSM's but in the end of you really use it a lot a ceramic will save you money in the long run with its efficiency. I can easily cook for 32 hours and still have enough charcoal left to go almost another 8 hours. So when I burn $10 dollars in charcoal a WSM user would spend $25 for the same burn time.

I buy at a minimum of 600 lbs of charcoal a year. At $23 per 40 lb bag = $345.00 a year. Since the WSM uses 1-1/5 times more charcoal to get the same burn time it would cost me $345 x 1.5 = $517.50. So every year it would cost me an additional $172.50 per year to operate the WSM.

If you are a more casual user it still would be hard to save $50 to $75 a year.

For the record bun time are all based on running a 225* but even grilling at higher temps ceramic is still more efficient.

 

@scottalot has a garage full of charcoal stored. I bet he could smoke every day for a year in the wsm and not need to buy any more!

 

Of if he goes ceramic he won't have to buy charcoal for 2-1/2 years

 

The weight of the ceramics turns me off. I like being able to move mine around easily, and take it across the yard to put in the shed if needed.

 

MES30, is everything you're wanting. It will need a AMAZN smoke generator, factory chip delivery system sucks IMO. BTW electricity is extremely cheap....

 

He’s addicted to buying it when on sale, and can’t resist, even though he has 8,000 lbs already!!!

Someone posted this picture of his garage a few months ago.

 

Ceramics aren't panacea but for me the pluses out weighed (no pun intended) minuses. I keep the BGE in the garage and the driveway, garage and back patio are all on the same plane so I got nothing but smooth rolling around. If I had the BGE off pavement I'd have had to make an all terrain cart.

 

If I had that ability, I’d probably get one. Sadly I have about 60’ of grass, downhill slope, to the shed.

 

Fingers crossed he loaded up on the royal oak lump in the left side of the picture.

 

From this morning. You can see the shed back there, and the house is up and to the left.

 

I have an MES 30 and while it is good at some things producing the same quality low and slow that come off a charcoal fire it will not.

 

I bought a MES 40, never even took it out of the box. Decided I could just finish longer cooks in the oven if needed after several hours on the charcoal and smoke. We gave it to the wife’s dad for Xmas that year.

 

I mostly just use mine to cold smoke cheese. Don’t even turn it on, lol. Just fire up the Amazn smoker tube in it.