As a result of many of the recipes posted here i'm looking at either buying or building a smoker.

Can you guy's post pics of the smokers you are using with an explanation of how/why they work so well.

All advice appreciated and thanks in advance.

Paul.

Paul,

First off how involved do you want to be? Do you want to tend a fire for most or all of the cooking time? Or, do you want to load the smoker and come back and get your smoked food out?

Tom

Do yourself a favor and get a pellet fed cooker,traeger,mac etc. you will never have anything but perfect BBQ.well worth the investment. I cooked competitively for years and now just for family and friends and you will not consider it work

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TWall:
Paul,

First off how involved do you want to be? Do you want to tend a fire for most or all of the cooking time? Or, do you want to load the smoker and come back and get your smoked food out?

I'm not sure yet.
This is something that has interested me for a long time.
The recipies in this forum have piqued my interest and encouraged me to take the dip.
Whenever I cook I tend to be involved.
I've looked through the internet and see all types of smokers available.
Stand-up cabinets, round chambers with attached heat drums, pellet fed cookers etc.

It's a veritable mine-field for the beginner !

quote:

Originally posted by gerryb:
Do yourself a favor and get a pellet fed cooker,traeger,mac etc. you will never have anything but perfect BBQ.well worth the investment. I cooked competitively for years and now just for family and friends and you will not consider it work

The trouble for me is that whenever I buy a "proprietary" type system like that they tend to go out of business or stop supplying.
I'm talking about the pellets now.
I don't even know if they are available in Aus, they most probably are and I just haven't seen them.
I'll certainly look into them.

Are the resultant flavors as good as smoked with wood/coals.

More q's.
# wood v's coals.
# 3mm steel v's 6mm
# size of cooker ??

My head is spinning

All you need is a gas grill with two or three burners. Wrap your wet wood chips in aluminum foil and poke holes in the "pillow" with a fork. Smoke the meat indirect by placing it over a cold burner and putting the wood chips over a live burner hot enough to produce smoke. Use two pillows. Then cook indirect @ 225 degrees F until tender. Put a pan of water under the meat to give humidity to the grill and keep the meat moist.

I'm not too lazy to use a stick-burner. I have a built-in Texas Pit Crafters PM 500 BI.

http://www.texaspitcrafters.com/bi-smokers.html

The key is the wood being used. If I had easy access, I would use only pecan. I don't, so I have scoured the Internet to ensure the woods I do have easy access to are on someone's recommended list. It is therapeutic smoking this way.

If all I was going to do was smoke meat by adjusting a pre-set temperature, and have chemically bonded sawdust (fuel) fed into the device, then automatically turned off when a temperature probe said the meat was done, I would give the piece of meat to my wife and let her cook it in the oven while I watch football.

If you don't put in some effort, you're not really smoking meat.....it's smoking itself.

Kensco... I think the same way you do!

My smoker has an upright cylinder for a smoke chamber and holds 6 round racks..I run charcoal, oak, hickory,and apple wood in the offset fire box.

Works great for whatever I want to smoke! Some how using pellets and electronic controls just don't seem right to me..

Zee

you could look at something like this , maybe

https://www.trademe.co.nz/spor...4086aa7b4a657402244d

Paul
I made mine out of a 250 gallon propane tank.
Put the firebox on the end, lower than the body of the tank and welded angle iron inside for the shelves. Cut 2 holes in the end opposite the firebox and welded 3" pipe in the holes for the smoke to escape from.
This is what it is capable of

Screw all that wood burning stuff! Did it for years, all I did was drink too much beer and waste a lot of time.

I got a "Cookshack Smoker" and have never looked back. As much smoke or as little smoke as you prefer. Constant temps, no up and down.....

I gave my wood smoker away.

And what's wrong with drinking too much beer and wasting time?????

I think I just shorted out my keyboard.

quote:

Originally posted by Hogbreath:
Paul
I made mine out of a 250 gallon propane tank.
Put the firebox on the end, lower than the body of the tank and welded angle iron inside for the shelves. Cut 2 holes in the end opposite the firebox and welded 3" pipe in the holes for the smoke to escape from.
This is what it is capable of

quote:

Originally posted by Hogbreath:
And what's wrong with drinking too much beer and wasting time?????

.

quote:

The key is the wood being used. If I had easy access, I would use only pecan. I don't, so I have scoured the Internet to ensure the woods I do have easy access to are on someone's recommended list. It is therapeutic smoking this way.

Well, if you weren't tied down changing diapers, you have "easy access" to all the pecan you could ever use on my place.

Every time I see one of those beautiful smoked briskets I start salivating. I can almost smell the great smokey aroma emanating from it.

Wife got me a Bradley smoker for Father’s Day probably 10 years ago. After you get the hang of it
(patience) it works very well.
Only down side is it uses proprietary wood discs or pucks. I suppose I spend $4-5 or so on these discs when smoking a full load in the Bradly.

I've never tried Pecan. I've used mesquite when I lived in TX. Tried the local oak there as well and it left a bitter taste in the meat. Here in CO, I use the local oak and it is outstanding.

Any kind of fruitwood is good, apple, cherry, apricot is great. I smuggled some mopane from Zambia I'm saving for a special occasion.

I use hickory or pecan for beef, fruitwood of some sort for everything else except salmon( alder for it). Works for me!

I'm going to be trying a new wood for smoking soon; persimmon. By virtue of too much rain and borers I'm losing a big persimmon tree on the back of my property. Sounds like it is as good as apple. https://growokc.com/products/persimmon-wood

I built one out of an old Norge refrigerator.The old kind that was still lined w/ porcelain. Screwed wood on either inside walls to hold the bars to make the shelves.Built a metal pan for the bottom to hold the chips.Drilled a hole in the door to allow air intake + regulate it with a section of hard drawn copper w/ a V cut into the bottom so by moving it in or out you regulate how much oxygen gets to the chips/coals.On the inside of the door I installed a pipe w/ 90deg. turn down to direct air only to to the middle of the chip/coal pan.Of course there is a dampered stack +as well as a HVAC thermometer inserted into the door. To keep the door airtight,I used a heavy bead of silicone caulk (on 1 side only!) then covered the bead w/ wax paper + sealed the door shut for 24 hours. You now have a gasket that fits your door. I have used this also to make valve cover gaskets.GE silicone will withstand 600 degrees. Just remember to remove the wax paper.I have been able to smoke 4 large turkeys at a time. I like pecan also but after cutting down some of my dead peach trees I've found a great flavor in peach wood.Kensco,keep us posted on the persimmon use.Lord knows we have enough of them growing wild around here.

My smoker weighs a bit over 900 pounds, its a 42 inch pipe section about 3 ft. long..homemade job. Has firebox at one end and a smoke stack at the other, I can set the smoke with a lid on the smoke staks that can allow any amount of smoke to escape..Its on wheels and the fire box is heavy enough to make it move around pretty good, One strong man can move it on cement or pavement. none of which I have except on the patio...I use mesquite wood to cook bar-B-Que..Bring a new load up from Texas every 4 or 5 years..

I can't post pics on AR but could send them to your email if you are amind to build your own.

I've got a BBQ pit/smoker made from a 500 gal.propane tank that is mounted on a trailer. This is great for cook offs or big parties but not something one will fire up for a couple of burgers or chickens.Last time I used it was for my sons wedding in 2010. It did feed the masses.

Oh,it is for sale BTW!

Gatogordo,
A pox on you, you live in mesquite heaven and wanting pecan, however you could go to the Brownwood area and get all the pecan you want. they have pecan grooves all along the river there. I guess they will still let you cut and haul off the dead trees..
Ray

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Gatogordo,
A pox on you, you live in mesquite heaven and wanting pecan, however you could go to the Brownwood area and get all the pecan you want. they have pecan grooves all along the river there. I guess they will still let you cut and haul off the dead trees..
Ray

Well, first of all, there ain't a mesquite tree grown that barbecues as good as pecan IMO. The quality of mesquite as barbecue wood is grossly overrated IMO. This is not to knock mesquite, it makes some fine Q. However the reason it's so widely used in W. Tx Q is primarily because that is all there was available.

Second of all, you are nearly as close as I am to "mesquite heaven". It's a damn long ways from NE Texas to the hearest mesquite trees. Texas is a big place.

Third of all, I am overgrown with pecan. If I could get some crop to grow like pecan trees, I'd be a jillion air. They are hard as hell to poison out. I am seriously considering planting a pecan platation for my kids. The Chinese love them.

Forth of all, Brownwood is 335 miles from me and I don't know any pecan growers down there, but with current pecan prices they are a happy bunch.

Gato,I agree that pecan +mesquite are great,I also offer the idea of peach. When clearing my orchard for new trees a few years ago,I used the peach + it was top notch for smoking + was damned good eating.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Gato,I agree that pecan +mesquite are great,I also offer the idea of peach. When clearing my orchard for new trees a few years ago,I used the peach + it was top notch for smoking + was damned good eating.

Fruitwood usually barbecues well. Pro Quers often use apple as well.

I like to use pecan...lots of it falling from the trees in my yard. But it does not make a good bed of coals, tends to burn down to ash pretty fast. Great flavor though.

Charles,I soak my chips in water for 24 hours before using + then regulate the airflow into the coals.I installed a pipe in the door that actually went directly to the coals + cut a section of copper pipe that I cut a V notch in the bottom. You can control your air intake by sliding it in or out.I installed a HVAC pocket thermometer in the door.You regulate the thermometer by putting it in a cup of ice water + adjust until it reads 32 deg.That will give you a true reading.

I have a smoker that uses actual pieces of wood, not charcoal.

Wood is all I use.

I should be clear. I start with two chimneys of natural lump charcoal to heat the smoker and ignite the first pieces of pecan, then just pieces of dry pecan from there on. You spoke of soaking chips in water. I only burn dry wood. Soaked chips are for charcoal to me. With real wood pieces you get enough smoke flavor without wet chips.

Charles:

The next time you are in the area, if you have the time, I'll cut you all the pecan you can use, but you have to pick it up and load it. Give me some warning.

Lots of different ways to achieve the kinda same result.I keep the soaked chips on a bed of sand in the removable tray.Not arguing,what ever system you use or I use works for both of us both;we are only trading ideas.

Thank you sir. I am okay for now, it is usually just me and the dog so my incentive is low and the self-pruning trees in the back are keeping me supplied. I stayed in town to watch the OU game this weekend, but will watch the weather and run out next weekend if it is not too wet. Of course, last time I looked they were calling for a week's worth of rain.

I would think that fallen pecan limbs would be too dry but maybe not.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
I would think that fallen pecan limbs would be too dry but maybe not.

They work for me. But as I said, my incentive to cook is pretty low with just me and the dog here. Maybe as the weather is cooling I will get more motivated.

Sorry. For those unaware, Gato is gone. See the hog threads.