Smoker choice?

[truthbedamned]

Ok....So Xmas eve I trashed my smoker while trying to burn my house down. Forgot to remove the brisket tallow while heating up the ham and the whole thing caught on fire. Was time for a new one anyway. I am leaning towards the Camp Chef XXL pro. It is the only vertical pellet smoker with a chip tray. (heard lots of complaints pellet smokers don't make enough smoke)

Would appreciate others thoughts. Up to 1000.00 dollars. Everyone has their limit.

 

[HeHateMe]

I smoke things on the weber kettle but heard their weber upright smoker is gr8. Have you ever considered just building one out of bricks and wood?

 

[truthbedamned]

I smoke things on the weber kettle but heard their weber upright smoker is gr8. Have you ever considered just building one out of bricks and wood?

I am trying to get away from having to stay up all night tending the temp and smoke. My old one was a propane smoker. It had a thermostat that regulated the temp but you still had to watch the wind didn't blow the flame out. Didn't go to bed until 4 AM during the brisket cook. Was a conehead the next day. Thus trying to burn the house down

 

[HeHateMe]

I am trying to get away from having to stay up all night tending the temp and smoke. My old one was a propane smoker. It had a thermostat that regulated the temp but you still had to watch the wind didn't blow the flame out. Didn't go to bed until 4 AM during the brisket cook. Was a conehead the next day. Thus trying to burn the house down

View attachment 33420

I want to build one that has the heat sub ground in bricks and then feeds into a wood outhouse type chamber. Like some little house on the Prarie chit but better materials.

 

[truthbedamned]

I want to build one that has the heat sub ground in bricks and then feeds into a wood outhouse type chamber. Like some little house on the Prarie chit but better materials.

That would be a true smoker......But man the work. Want to know how to build a smoker? Watch Alaskan mountain men.

 

[Szlachcic]

I use old, Bandera vertical wood smoker, it does well. Its heavily modified so maintaining even 225-250 temp is not difficult. Use oak, pecan wood only.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I am trying to get away from having to stay up all night tending the temp and smoke. My old one was a propane smoker. It had a thermostat that regulated the temp but you still had to watch the wind didn't blow the flame out. Didn't go to bed until 4 AM during the brisket cook. Was a conehead the next day. Thus trying to burn the house down

View attachment 33420

I have a Masterbuilt, but mine is a lesser model. I've had it for maybe 6 years and it is still going strong. Before interest rates went through the roof, the wife and I were going to upgrade to a bigger home, and I was going to upgrade to probably this:

Grilla Silverbac Alpha Connect Wood Pellet Grill | Grilla Grills

www.grillagrills.com

A buddy of mine has that one plus a Weber Kettle smoker, and it's rare that he doesn't have one going during the week. I have another buddy who has a Rec-Tec which is similar to a Grlla. Rec-Tec seems to have better customer service, as in, if you have a problem you'll end up getting a call from the president of their company.

Weber has a pellet smoker, and you can never go wrong with that brand.

I have heard nothing but bad things about Traeger. A lot of criticisms I've seen stem from their internal parts and how well they hold up. Those concerns were from 3-4 years ago, so maybe they've improved.

 

[truthbedamned]

I have a Masterbuilt, but mine is a lesser model. I've had it for maybe 6 years and it is still going strong. Before interest rates went through the roof, the wife and I were going to upgrade to a bigger home, and I was going to upgrade to probably this:

Grilla Silverbac Alpha Connect Wood Pellet Grill | Grilla Grills

www.grillagrills.com

A buddy of mine has that one plus a Weber Kettle smoker, and it's rare that he doesn't have one going during the week. I have another buddy who has a Rec-Tec which is similar to a Grlla. Rec-Tec seems to have better customer service, as in, if you have a problem you'll end up getting a call from the president of their company.

Weber has a pellet smoker, and you can never go wrong with that brand.

I have heard nothing but bad things about Traeger. A lot of criticisms I've seen stem from their internal parts and how well they hold up. Those concerns were from 3-4 years ago, so maybe they've improved.

I never had an issue with my Masterbuilt. I have had 2 of the propane models. I think I am just getting old and no longer want to do the all nighters.(lazy) I use my Weber for BBQing so no need for the horizontal. Plus I built my BBQ area to fit a Weber BBQ table....Weber fits inside and a vertical smoker so I am limited on space.Like @HeHateMe my son uses his Weber to smoke as well as BBQ. Made a killer turkey for Xmas day.

 

[FozzyBear]

Ok....So Xmas eve I trashed my smoker while trying to burn my house down. Forgot to remove the brisket tallow while heating up the ham and the whole thing caught on fire. Was time for a new one anyway. I am leaning towards the Camp Chef XXL pro. It is the only vertical pellet smoker with a chip tray. (heard lots of complaints pellet smokers don't make enough smoke)

Would appreciate others thoughts. Up to 1000.00 dollars. Everyone has their limit.

depends on you and where you live i guess.... custom builders around? can you watch the youtube and build one yoself? how often do you smoke and how much volume do you really need? wanna use the firebox as a charcoal/wood grill at times? you gonna be a lazy arse and not clean yo shit again.. having to buy another one?

buy a cheap oklahoma joe highland offset for 349... do a temp gauge mod and add two on the bottom left and right of the main chamber door.. can use the firebox as a small grill to cook a few things if you dont wanna smoke ... cheap enough to burn out and buy another...

also, **** pellets.. be a man andat least use some chunks if youre not gonna get a big ass pit style split log smoker

 

[truthbedamned]

depends on you and where you live i guess.... custom builders around? can you watch the youtube and build one yoself? how often do you smoke and how much volume do you really need? wanna use the firebox as a charcoal/wood grill at times? you gonna be a lazy arse and not clean yo shit again.. having to buy another one?

buy a cheap oklahoma joe highland offset for 349... do a temp gauge mod and add two on the bottom left and right of the main chamber door.. can use the firebox as a small grill to cook a few things if you dont wanna smoke ... cheap enough to burn out and buy another...

also, **** pellets.. be a man and use at least chunks if youre not gonna get a big ass pit split log smoker

Hence why I want the XXL Pro that has a wood or charcoal canister that sits on top of the pellet igniter. I have been smoking for 40 years. I am tired of the "stay up all night" crew.

 

[FozzyBear]

Hence why I want the XXL Pro that has a wood or charcoal canister that sits on top of the pellet igniter. I have been smoking for 40 years. I am tired of the "stay up all night" crew.

well if you wanna be a lazy arse and pretend to smoke.. get ya an auto feed pellet smoker ya soppy pussy.. why you asking if yo mind already made up

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I never had an issue with my Masterbuilt. I have had 2 of the propane models. I think I am just getting old and no longer want to do the all nighters.(lazy) I use my Weber for BBQing so no need for the horizontal. Plus I built my BBQ area to fit a Weber BBQ table....Weber fits inside and a vertical smoker so I am limited on space.Like @HeHateMe my son uses his Weber to smoke as well as BBQ. Made a killer turkey for Xmas day.

My problem has always been keeping the temperature over the course of a smoke, which means constant monitoring and the all nighters. That's why I prefer the electric. Set it, forget it. At that point the only thing you have to get up for is the temperature probe, and those you can set alarms for with the wifi models.

 

[truthbedamned]

My problem has always been keeping the temperature over the course of a smoke, which means constant monitoring and the all nighters. That's why I prefer the electric. Set it, forget it. At that point the only thing you have to get up for is the temperature probe, and those you can set alarms for with the wifi models.

Do you have issues with smoke? Electrics seem to be last in smoke

 

[truthbedamned]

well if you wanna be a lazy arse and pretend to smoke.. get ya an auto feed pellet smoker ya soppy pussy.. why you asking if yo mind already made up

Pretend to smoke? Never mind.

And I asked to get others opinions. I respected yours until you turned into an ass.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Pretend to smoke? Never mind.

And I asked to get others opinions. I respected yours until you turned into an ass.

I've never had a problem getting smoke, I have a problem getting bark.

 

[FozzyBear]

Pretend to smoke? Never mind.

And I asked to get others opinions. I respected yours until you turned into an ass.

for sparta bro...

 

[FozzyBear]

I've never had a problem getting smoke, I have a problem getting bark.

this is the trade off.... easy to do wiff the chunks... sounds like a temp problem though

 

[truthbedamned]

I've never had a problem getting smoke, I have a problem getting bark.

I as well. My brisket was the first time I actually got the bark I wanted. Then I destroyed the smoker....lol

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

this is the trade off.... easy to do wiff the chunks... sounds like a temp problem though

I think it's a Masterbuilt problem. The guys I know with the Rec-Tec and the Grlla don't have a problem getting the bark.

 

[FozzyBear]

I think it's a Masterbuilt problem. The guys I know with the Rec-Tec and the Grlla don't have a problem getting the bark.

I wouldnt know too much about pellets.. i grew up around offset drums n yuge barrels/tanks so im biased.. ive never had any really good pellet smoked food.. peeps ive been around with pellets always hitting their meats with dirty smoke with their finicky set ups...