Any Meat Smokers Here?
 

I've been making my own fresh sausage for years - bangers, chorizo, italian sausage, brats, farm sausage, etc. I don't use nitrites or nitrates so it goes right into the freezer. I've always been leery of chemical preservatives.
I stepped over to the dark side this year and made some cured Peameal Bacon. Had to use nitirite. So I've come this far and Mrs WD is pushing me to go all the way and get a smoker.
Any meat smokers here? What are your experiences? What equipment do you use.

OT Gift Exchange?

I have a big green egg and have used it on a variety of yummy dead animals and fish.

It really isn't big enough to do large quantities though and a real smoker or pellet smoker would be a nice thing to have. It is very versatile though and makes terrific steaks, burgers and fish.

Check out some of the smoker forums. I have found some great info through them.

I have a traditional style smoker and hardly ever use it. Tending the smoker for as long as it takes to smoke a pork shoulder is a royal pain in the ass. Even smoking ribs takes a half day. Never tried to smoke sausage that I made myself; it's too easy to smoke the store-bought stuff. Smoking salmon or trout would take much less work but a local market sells that and it's too easy to just buy it.

JR

I have had a traditional (R2D2 shaped) charcoal smoker and an electric smoker. The charcoal worked great but was a pain to use b/c it required constant attention.

I bought an electric cabinet smoker but after using it a bit I realized the way it really works is more of an oven than a smoker. The smoke does not actually cook the meat, it just adds flavor. This makes it hard to render fat out but does work well on lean things like poultry or fish. If you want to do beef or pork prepare to be disappointed.

The next one I have my eye on is a Traeger barrel type pellet smoker. A buddy has one and I've had some impressive meat off of it.

I use a propane fired smoker. It works great and no need to babysit it. I have been making my own sausages for 6-7 years now. This year I am planning to make some smoked bratwurst. I am waiting for the outside temp to get lower so that I will not have to worry about possible spoilage before or during the cold smoke process.

Smokers take some learnin'. The variables are manifold. In the last 6 months, I have learned to smoke/cook babyback ribs that I am proud to serve......there were some disasters on the path.

Taint a walk the pork.

I have a BGE and use it for brisket, pork shoulder and ribs. Also, cooked our Thanksgiving turkey which came out very juicy with a light smokey flavor. I follow Aaron Franklin from Austin. He promotes Central Texas style BBQ. Look for his YouTube videos. Once you learn to manage the temps on the Egg through manipulating the vents, then buy an electronic temp controller. Now I can smoke pork shoulders overnight or while I'm at work. I use the IQ 110 controller which cost about $150.

Here you go. Why half step when you can go full bore?.... http://www.goodshomedesign.com/how-to-build-a-smokehouse/

David Klose smokers Houston. He bilt the Johnsonville Brat Tanker smoker. The guy knows a thing or two about building BBQ's.

You are looking for a Vertical unit where u can hang sausage etc in wt a firebox on the side for indirect heat.

I have been through all of this before about how 1/4 and 1/2 inch steel plate retains a constant heat where you do not have to dick around trying to maintain heat.

Let me know if you suffer any unexpected symptoms - wasn't nitrate and it's derivatives once know as 'salt peter' and routinely added to prison food? :eek:
Bill K

I've used a Weber Smokey Mountain (aka Weber Bullet) for years. Its gives great results, holds a lot of meat, and is not terribly expensive. It takes a while to get good at it, but there's lots of online resources. Alternatively, there are a lot of electronic peripheral devices that will basically guarantee a consistent result.

I've also had great results with the Big Green Egg (which is more versatile, as it will cook at high temperatures). However, if I were to upgrade, I'd get one of these:

Yoder Smokers | Pellet Grills

I recently got a Charbroil Truinfrared Smoker, Roaster, Grill. It is basically a propane oven with a small smoker box to ad flavor that also has a grill on top. Temps range from 650°F to 300°F. Am very surprised at how well it does. Especially since it takes a LOT less time to cook even at 300°F. Found one for $125 so figured it was worth a try.

Did my 20lb Thanksgiving turkey using a leave-in bluetooth thermometer and it was cooked in just 1 hours. Wrapped it in foil and a towel and let it set in a cold oven for 30 minutes to finish out. It was wonderful. Had both it and a roast in bag oven cooked turkey at our family dinner and there wasn't any smoked turkey left. It was ever bit as tender and juicier than the oven bagged turkey and also had a smooth smokey flavor (used Applewood) that everyone loved.

Have also smoked a pork butt that turned out really tender, juicy, and delicious. I don't understand how, but it comes out much different than cooking in an oven. They claim it is because it uses infrared heat instead of air to cook so doesn't have the tendency to dry the meat out. As with the turkey once it gets up to temp you remove it from the smoker, wrap in foil and let finish cooking (slowly cool) for 30 minutes.

I also really enjoy leaving it cranked on high, putting a couple charcoal briquettes in the smoker box and grilling. Then every thing cooked on the grill top is just like it was cooked on a charcoal grill without having to mess with lighting and managing the charcoal. Have really gotten into mixing different chips and charcoal for different smoked flavors. Just load up the smoker box, light it, and by the time I've got the meat ready to slap on the grill or drop in the smoker it is hot and smokin.

Instructions say you can not put chips in the smoker box and it cooks stuff like a fryer. The recipe says you just rub the bird down with peanut oil before cooking. But haven't tried it yet. So far I'm enamored with smoking. Have tried doing some burgers with out the smoker chips and even without the smoked flavor they were more flavorful and juicy than my gas grill ever did.

No, saltpeter is potassium nitrite. Curing nitrite is sodium nitrite. It's a necessary ingredient for cured meats.

https://www.spicejungle.com/curing-salt?gclid=CjwKEAiA94nCBRDxismumrL83icSJAAeeETQTGp 7MF3wbhpKLHey70KyVnX1Ux07hf4vy4wyUHq3URoCdi3w_wcB

Yep that's what I'm thinking about. I don't want to cook the meat, just flavor and preserve it. Temps are around 140 degrees as I recall.

Sounds good.

look up traeger...smoking for dummies , can't get any easier

I can do everything from very slow smoking (150ishº) to 700º pizza cooking in my Big Green Egg.

I've got a BGE clone ("Black Olive") and it does very well for smoking and grilling. I bought one of these for the versatility (couldn't justify both a smoker and a grill to the wife, though I tried hard).

I've seen some of the Yoder smokers at a shop here locally - they are certainly very well built.

That's what I have. Large enough for 4 full racks, real smoke vs electric or propane, and I can set it off then leave for a full day of work and come home to dinner. Best of both worlds, I've had mine for two years and probably use it twice a month.

I'm not commenting on what WD has been making at all, BTW

The funny thing is that in Whole Foods and regular grocery stores too you can buy all sorts of bacon and other meats that say "no nitrates or nitrites added". All of that stuff is processed for the most part with celery juice or celery juice powder which contains.... nitrates.

http://firsthandfoods.com/files/misc/FAQ%20on%20Nitrate-Free.pdf
Some other article that I'd read previously talked about the fact that using the natural sources for nitrates may be an issue because one batch of celery juice could have a very different nitrate content than another and so you could end up buying no-nitrate meats that have levels that aren't ideal or whatever.

I don't know about celery juice. I do know that you can inject fresh side with flavors (smoke, maple sugar, etc), call it bacon, and then sell it as it fresh meat or freeze it. It's only if you want to preserve it that you need nitrites to control botulism.

Any meat smokers? That isn't politically correct to ask...

Yes, I know. I need to ship some fudge, but I'm totally not going to ask this crowd about how to prepare it. :D:D

I'm glad I'm not the only one that had that thought when they saw the thread title.

I have a big Weber Smokey Mountain and love it. It's basically a set and forget smoker once you get to know it.

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Stumps gravity feed smokers are very popular, but expensive. They have a chute that you put your charcoal and wood into. As the charcoal and wood burn in the bottom, they are replaced with the gravity feed. Insulated and temp controlled if you add the fan/temp controller device. Very nice units.

I have a conventional horizontal, offset fire box, 1/2" thick plate smoker that I modified to make more efficient.

Fire bricks in the bottom of the fire box and smoker sections to hold in the heat. Wrapped the whole smoker section with mineral wool and stainless. I welded in a 4" X 3' length of square tubing as a gravity feed for the charcoal, so I don't have to add it every hour. It's very efficient and smokes ribs, butts, and briskets like a pro.

Wow! Nice smoke ring on that brisket Shaun!

Thanks Craig, this thing does a really nice job in a 12 hour smoke with oak. I want to start smoking fish again, I used to do an orange smoked tuna that was like candy. This spring I think.

Craig - Thanks for posting that note about Stump's smokers. I had never seen those - very interesting.

That looks fantastic but eating that is really bad for you. Like stomach cancer bad. Don't do it too often.

^
Just don't eat the charred part. That's where the benzine rings develop.

Me too.

But I was wondering if they rolled their own or what. And if so, how?

Not sure of the quality nowadays, as they are made in China. I have a much older one that was made here in the States. I have zero experience with the new ones, so I'm not talking down on them, I was simply surprised to find that the original owner sold the company.

Stumps also gets a thumbs up.

After the fat, the charred part is the best part. :) It's not actually charred, way too cool for that, it's just bark. I only smoke 3 briskets a year so I'll be ok. Plus I don't eat any processed food.

We have a horizontal smoker (combo smoker, charcoal and gas grill) and it works well but one side is hotter than the other. If you smoke a lot a vertical would be more consistent for sausages and such. We do jerky, lots of venison, sweet potatoes, ribs and so on with it. Used it a lot in the summer.

Traeger fan here - Sold the Cook shack just cook more poultry now.
It works great with ribs and beef as well.
The wood choices and build in temp monitoring
really make it easy.
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those birds look amazing!!!