Barbecue/Smoker Recommendations

[col klink]

I suppose you could cold smoke on a bullet, but it's not designed for it and would be very difficult to get consistently good results.

Eh? I thought that's what it was for?

The bullet is for hot smoking and is designed to keep heat in. Cold smoking is below 100F and at that temp it's really difficult to keep the fire going. You either have to have a very large volume to dissapate the heat or have the fire elsewhere and cool the smoke before it's brought into the smoking chamber. Or you could cheat and use an electric heating element and sawdust but you're still probably going to be too hot.

The beer can chicken must be tried once.  My favorite roast chicken at the moment is the one where I cut the backbone out, take out my aggressions on the breastbone, air dry for 24h, then roast at 475F in the oven.  However, every summer I become convinced that a grill is a much better thing than an oven for meats.  I'm not sure why - I think it's because you can play around with the fire and it's more visceral than using the oven temp knob.  That and it's outdoors.

What's great about the grill is that you can get the high heat necessary to crisp the skin with little consequences other than discarding of spent coals. For oven roasting you have to get the temp so high that the drippings start to burn and your smoke detectors go off.

[Dave the Cook]

I suppose you could cold smoke on a bullet, but it's not designed for it and would be very difficult to get consistently good results.

Eh? I thought that's what it was for?

Thanks for the link. I shall now have to consider the Char-Griller smoker thingymabobber, since it could obviously do both jobs (and smoked meat is great, but sometimes I want grilled asparagus or a really seared steak).

The Colonel beat me to it. What he said.

I'll renew my plug for the Char-Griller, by the way. I've had it about a year and I still love it. If you've only got room or budget for one grill-type device, this is the one to have. They've been on sale for $100 (sans side firebox) at Lowe's again, as recently as last week.

[Stone]

Its a charcoal grill, and it is great for pulled pork. I find that Webers are very well-designed for slow long cooking over a low indirect heat source.

I would think that a kettle grill (I'm assuming that's what you have?) difficult for smoking because 1) there isn't enough room to keep the meat away from the coals, and 2) it's a pain in the ass to add more coals under the grill.

[Dave the Cook]

Its a charcoal grill, and it is great for pulled pork. I find that Webers are very well-designed for slow long cooking over a low indirect heat source.

I would think that a kettle grill (I'm assuming that's what you have?) difficult for smoking because 1) there isn't enough room to keep the meat away from the coals, and 2) it's a pain in the ass to add more coals under the grill.

Yeah, but you and I are amateurs compared to Ron and Klink. And The Goddess CathyL.

My large (22-1/2) Weber has a hinged grate for adding fuel. But the temperature thing is still problematic for me.

Edited to avoid the wrath of a Goddess.

Edited March 24, 2003 by Dave the Cook (log)

[CathyL]

The trick is to build a small fire on one side of the kettle and put the meat on the other side - so you're cooking via convection, not radiation.

Weber makes a replacement grill for the kettle (the large one, anyway) that has a hinged area on each side. Makes it easier to add coals during a cook.

[CathyL]

Yeah, but you and I are amateurs compared to Ron and Klink.

Sigh. Do I have to say it, D the C?

(Okay, so you beat me to the hinged grill thingy.)

[Stone]

Yes to both Cathy and Dave. I've got a 22" also, and I doubt I have the attention span to monitor the heat with such a small fire long enough to smoke a decent butt. The Bullet is so much easier because you fill it up, and after an hour or so the temp is stable enough to pretty much ignore it.

[Dave the Cook]

Yeah, but you and I are amateurs compared to Ron and Klink.

Sigh. Do I have to say it, D the C?

(Okay, so you beat me to the hinged grill thingy.)

Mea culpa. I have edited my transgression. Begging your forgiveness, oh Goddess.

[Ron Johnson]

I would think that a kettle grill (I'm assuming that's what you have?) difficult for smoking because 1) there isn't enough room to keep the meat away from the coals, and 2) it's a pain in the ass to add more coals under the grill.

(1) The diameter is sufficiently large to keep the meat well away from the heat source as long as you build your fire on the sides.

(2) The grate is equipped with hinged flaps that you can raise to addd more coals so that you do not have to lift or move the entire grate with the meat on it.

This "indirect" method of cooking is actually what a Weber kettle does best.

[col klink]

Smoking takes so long that using a standard weber is a pain in the tukhes and I wouldn't suggest it. Every time you take it apart to add more coals you loose all of your heat. During the summer I use the weber grill to smoke at my folk's lake cottage because that's all I have. I just smoke meats like poultry that can be done in less than a couple of hours. But I've also smoked a beef tongue for three hours without any problems. I'd say that anything that can be done in less than 4 hours and is small enough to fit on half the grill is open game.

[Ron Johnson]

I pretty much agree with Klink. A Weber does not come close to approximating the cookers that I used when I was smoking 'cue in Memphis. But then again, I am not doing 6 shoulders, 12 slabs of ribs, 4 chickens, and 2 legs of lamb at a time.

If you are primarily interested in cooking on the "home scale" then a Weber works as well as anything, especially one equipped with the hinged grate. But, if you are thinking about getting serious and cooking for large groups or entering competitions a Weber is going to be woefully inadequate.

I have regularly cooked shoulder that took 8 hours on a weber with no problem, but that is just one shoulder at a time.

[jeniac42]

Duh, watch me entirely miss the word "cold" in your post. What can I say - it's Monday, I'm tired. I can never decide what I want to do. Smoking and curing and other things you do with meat - all fascinating.

I took a look at the Char-Griller some more and I still think it looks good although, see, I just don't know. I wish you could take these kinds of things on a trial run before you bought. If I remember correctly from the other thread, you have a Char-Griller, col klink? I did some Google searching on it and found some people suggesting it is very difficult to maintain a good temperature in a lowpriced horizontal smoker, at least for rank beginners such as myself. So I don't know. Maybe I'll end up with that, or maybe a kettle grill and a bullet smoker, or...?

[CathyL]

Mea culpa. I have edited my transgression. Begging your forgiveness, oh Goddess.

All is forgiven, my child. But watch it.

Jen, beer can chicken is tasty, but the can is unstable and might tip over. Better (although less picturesque) are ceramic "chicken sitters" to which you add beer and spices. I ordered mine here.

[col klink]

Yup, I have the Smokin' Pro from Chargriller and I've made a couple of upgrades that make life a lot easier. But before you any piece of cooking equipment that's somewhat expensive, you need to decide what your level of dedication to bbq it.

Me? I have no qualms about spending a twelve hour day going in and out of the house every 15 minutes for brisket (especially corned beef brisket) and I love my Chargriller. If you have no qualms about smoking for that long but only have enough energy to check every hour or so, then go with a bullet. Now if you're only going to smoke something up three or four times a year than I'd go with just the grill.

[CathyL]

If you want to cook over live coals, any smoker will have a learning curve; that's part of the fun! Start out with an inexpensive cooker, gain some confidence with temp control and then upgrade to more serious equipment after you get hooked.

[jeniac42]

I was thinking I might just get a kettle grill for this year, do a little bit of small-scale smoking on it and get used to working with charcoal (since I'm not), and then maybe next year get a smoker.

Of course, my employer mailed my paycheck to me for reasons unknown (I always pick it up) and it hasn't arrived four days later, so I might be too busy digging myself out of late-fee hell to buy anything at all! (Sorry, it's been one of those days. The prospect of grilling, even on the gas thingy, is my sole source of comfort today - and of course it will involve copious quantities of beer.)

[CathyL]

Sounds like a plan. Shoulders are great for a neophyte smoking experience: fatty enough to be forgiving of temperature spikes/dips, glorious aroma while cooking (mmmmm, hickory), and time-consuming enough to accommodate a lot of beer-consuming.

[=Mark]

I know I've posted this on other BBQ threads but what the hey!

Online BBQ FAQ

[CathyL]

Me too. Somewhere, Belly is smiling.

[snowangel]

If you want to cook over live coals, any smoker will have a learning curve; that's part of the fun!  Start out with an inexpensive cooker, gain some confidence with temp control and then upgrade to more serious equipment after you get hooked.

We've been smoking fairly successfully over the past couple of years on our Weber kettle. A large part of my more recent success has been due to the advice of the Smoking Gurus on e-gullet. Plus the fact that I am now stay-at-home, so we aren't limited to doing it on the weekends.

But, I fear this may be the last year for our very well used Weber (we use it year round, even in Minnesota). We've repaired the handles just about as many times as we can.

I'm thinking that Char Griller, because I don't want to go with a dedicated smoker -- we also like to grill. Comments? Is there a better choice?

[jeniac42]

Since yesterday I have done an about-face and thought, hey, maybe I'll buy the smoker this year instead and invite people over for beer and bbq, because that sounds like fun. My paycheck finally arrived so if there's anything left after I pay everyone who actually needs money, I might be able to get one or the other and start this weekend (I've got Sunday off).

[Dave the Cook]

There are a few other options out there besides the Char-Griller and Weber lines. Last summer, Cook's Illustrated compared charcoal grills (here's the link; $ registration/subscription required). Their favorite was from New Braunfels. It was promptly discontinued, which is perhaps why I ended up with the Char-Griller. Eventually, I found a specimen of the one that CI liked, but it was a rusty, poorly prepped floor model.

Anyway, New Braunfels has a pretty extensive -- and attractive -- product line, and I believe it's distributed nationally. Their website is here.

Alton Brown liked this one. So do I, but it costs five to six times what the Char-Griller costs. A rare lapse in frugality for AB, IMHO.

[CathyL]

Dave the Cook's so dreamy.

[Ron Johnson]

Why is the char-griller so damned affordable? To be honest that is part of what put me off it. I was sure that it was made from some inferior materials or something. Clearly, that is not the case. What gives?

[baphie]

There are a few other options out there besides the Char-Griller and Weber lines. Last summer, Cook's Illustrated compared charcoal grills (here's the link; $ registration/subscription required). Their favorite was from New Braunfels. It was promptly discontinued, which is perhaps why I ended up with the Char-Griller. Eventually, I found a specimen of the one that CI liked, but it was a rusty, poorly prepped floor model.

Anyway, New Braunfels has a pretty extensive -- and attractive -- product line, and I believe it's distributed nationally. Their website is here.

Alton Brown liked this one. So do I, but it costs five to six times what the Char-Griller costs. A rare lapse in frugality for AB, IMHO.

I got the New Braunfels one that CI recommended and have to say they messed pretty good in recommending it. The construction is completely flimsy and barely lasted the entire grilling season last summer. It got to be totally useless for smoking as none of the interfaces closed tight enough to seal and I had only a vague control over the amount of air passing through. My biggest complaint was that the pan for the charcoal is made of very cheap sheet metal and warped so completely that it no longer fits in the grill easily and make flame control a joke. I think CI just gave it a couple of quick tests and that was all.

I just got a CharGriller and, even before assembly, am impressed with how heavy the box is (cast iron grate and solid metal construction.)

A.