Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I don't want to cheap out and be pissed off at the performance, but my budget is realistically sub $400-500

 

In a couple hours.....a whole lotta awesome!

 

$400 will get you the biggest wsm. It also gets you in the range for a ceramic kamado cooker, although not in the range of a big green egg. Some people love those style grills and you can have a multi tasker that can grill or smoke. Go look at the smoker buyers guide on amazingribs.com to see some good advice on what you can get.

 

Look at a pellet grill. Multifunctional. High temp low temp smarter than the average bear.

 

Verdict: flat was cooked about perfectly. Point still a little underdone. I should have gone with my gut, cut it apart and cooked it a bit longer. Still good, just a little bit of chew when I would have liked that last bit of connective tissue rendered into liquid gold. Still, I'd rather see it this way than too dry. Smoke was a little light, which makes sense since I cooked for 90 minutes on the fire before I started the brisket. Seasoning was right. Really juicy. Overall I give it an eight.

 

No burnt ends??

 

Plugged the electric smoker real quick and made some spare ribs

 

I don't usually do them since I finish in the oven and not on the smoker. One of the biggest issues with my otherwise-awesome setup. I can't re-stoke the fire without takin everything apart. So I usually just smoke for the 6 to 8 hours I get out of a half chimney of charcoal and then finish in the oven. I guess you can make burnt ends in the oven but I don't think they would be as good.

 

Well hell! We need to change this!

 

FTMFW!

 

Nope The Smokey Mountain is perfect.

 

Yup love love love my WSM. I have the 18.5

 

Or what I did was get the 18.5 WSM then used the remaining cash to buy upgrades/accessories like, wireless maverick thermometer, wsm stainless door, etc

 

I got the 22.5 at a return warehouse store for $200. There was nothing wrong with it and weber warranties all the things.

I have several mods on my wish list, like the kids hinge , door , gaskets, and maybe wheels or a cart of some sort.

 

the gaskets are next on my list for sure, damn leaky bastard

 

Yeah every time I think about buying them, I have a big cook coming up and they wouldn't arrive in time, so I skip buying them.

 

i forget until I'm cooking, ill order them eventually, maybe. might have to build a windscreen first, i can't keep it at 225 to save my life.

 

best thing to do is put the gasket before any cook while its clean. it will stick better which is what i did for mine.

 

Too late for that. =D

There's nothing in a smoker that dawn and a scotch brite pad can't get off, especially around the lid.

I've heard that with the steel door, you may not even need a gasket.

 

steel door with the gasket will be super tight but my gasket was already installed before i purchased my SS door. Super tight to where I had to make my own door lock/knob. but for sure no leak. Stainless door will last for years and years also. Not flimsy like the stock door