The BBQ Thread

[Boone]

Here are my thoughts - I've used every type you referenced. It's hard to beat a Kamodo whether it's a Big Green Egg or other type for consistency and just overall performance - but they are expensive and it is a fair ordeal to set them up for a cook and use them compared to other options. I love my pellet smoker and it is a decent 'grill' as well. You can decide to BBQ and have that thing going almost immediately. It's the most easily controlled and plug and play option. But it does not produce the same quality of smoked foods you would get with the other options. It just doesn't. Pellet grills are really cool primarily due to the convenience factor (you can usually control your cooks via a phone app). And you can do pretty good BBQ with them. My experience so far is that the electronics are a bit unreliable (especially if you want to do more than just smoke at 225). I've had a Traeger (which I had constant problems with) and I currently have a RecTeq that I love, but I have had a lot of problems with the pellet auger jamming up. When they work, they are great.

I'm going to strongly recommend the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (even though I haven't had one in 10 years). First of all - it will cost you half of what the other options cost. Secondly, it will last a long time. Thirdly, it works best with good old American charcoal briquets. It has a water pan so you can take advantage of that to avoid drying your meat out (and also it helps to get a fantastic bark if you are doing something like brisket). Fourthly (?) it breaks down into sections so it is portable if you ever want to take it along on vacation.

It is just an amazing cooker and you can even grill on it if the mood strikes.

Here is the website for fans if you need further convincing (they have a great forum there as well): The Virtual Weber Bullet Website

You would be excited with a new pellet grill, a new Kamodo, or any of the options. But if you want to do charcoal the WSMC is hard to beat.

 

[Boone]

Doing some steaks on the grill this evening and gonna spice things up with a little grilled fennel and beets (basted with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and some salt and pepper)

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I love 3-2-1 ribs. I do them with St. Louis ribs.

I find the hardest part is getting them wrapped crookedly for the 2 hour braise. If anybody has any wrapping tips/tricks, I’m all ears.

I’ve never tried braising with beer. I use butter and apple cider vinegar. I think I’ll add some beer.

I don't add any liquid.
I just put a few pats of butter, a little brown sugar & pepper jelly & a little more rub on the foil and put the meat side down on that side which provides all the liquid that's needed.
Meat side up for the first 3 hrs, meat side down after wrapping and meat side up for the last hour. I suggest 3-2-1 for baby backs...

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Here are my thoughts - I've used every type you referenced. It's hard to beat a Kamodo whether it's a Big Green Egg or other type for consistency and just overall performance - but they are expensive and it is a fair ordeal to set them up for a cook and use them compared to other options. I love my pellet smoker and it is a decent 'grill' as well. You can decide to BBQ and have that thing going almost immediately. It's the most easily controlled and plug and play option. But it does not produce the same quality of smoked foods you would get with the other options. It just doesn't. Pellet grills are really cool primarily due to the convenience factor (you can usually control your cooks via a phone app). And you can do pretty good BBQ with them. My experience so far is that the electronics are a bit unreliable (especially if you want to do more than just smoke at 225). I've had a Traeger (which I had constant problems with) and I currently have a RecTeq that I love, but I have had a lot of problems with the pellet auger jamming up. When they work, they are great.

I'm going to strongly recommend the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker (even though I haven't had one in 10 years). First of all - it will cost you half of what the other options cost. Secondly, it will last a long time. Thirdly, it works best with good old American charcoal briquets. It has a water pan so you can take advantage of that to avoid drying your meat out (and also it helps to get a fantastic bark if you are doing something like brisket). Fourthly (?) it breaks down into sections so it is portable if you ever want to take it along on vacation.

It is just an amazing cooker and you can even grill on it if the mood strikes.

Here is the website for fans if you need further convincing (they have a great forum there as well): The Virtual Weber Bullet Website

You would be excited with a new pellet grill, a new Kamodo, or any of the options. But if you want to do charcoal the WSMC is hard to beat.

+1 on the WSM..

 

[Boone]

I had forgotten that eating fresh beets will turn your pee bright red. Sort of got my attention at 2 in the morning, lol...

Doing a couple 2 lb chuck roasts brisket style today. We will eat one tonight and will use the other for chili on Monday.

 

[Boone]

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I think I'm sold, I'm going to go with a WSM.

As an aside, we went to Monks for dinner last night with some friends. Man oh man. That is some good BBQ. We got the Piglet, which is a half portion of all of their meats. It is my goal to be able to occasionally match their quality at home. It is some good stuff.

 

[Boone]

The only *downside* I will mention about the WSM... if you are doing super long cooks (I would say anthing beyond 10-12 hours (so we are talking brisket or pulled pork mainly), you will likely have to add charcoal. That's not difficult but there isn't a 'door' you can open to do it. You have to separate the cooker sections to do it. And the best way to do it is to have a charcoal starting chimney and get the 'extra' charcoal going in one before adding it. I only mention this because it is literally the only mildly annoying thing about the design and you don't want to add unlit charcoal to your cook.

Other than that the WSM is awesome.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

The only *downside* I will mention about the WSM... if you are doing super long cooks (I would say anthing beyond 10-12 hours (so we are talking brisket or pulled pork mainly), you will likely have to add charcoal. That's not difficult but there isn't a 'door' you can open to do it. You have to separate the cooker sections to do it. And the best way to do it is to have a charcoal starting chimney and get the 'extra' charcoal going in one before adding it. I only mention this because it is literally the only mildly annoying thing about the design and you don't want to add unlit charcoal to your cook.

Other than that

I've been cooking with 18.5" WSM's for years and easily get 10-12hr cooks with ~241° average temp at the grate.
There is a door to add charcoal, but I rarely need to do so, unless we get into crazy-long cooks, think 14hr+.
I do my cooks with the minion method, so I add unlit charcoal. I've never added lit charcoal but, if you do, folks on the WSM board have used a piece of aluminum downspout, cut in half and poured it in, via the door, kind of like a coal chute.

Separating the cooker sections during a cook is not recommended, especially if you have water in the pan, or a pan catching hot juices. It's also a PITA if you do that with multiple wired probes.

 

[Boone]

Good into. They must have added a door since I bought mine many years ago, that’s good to know. I agree it should’ve a rare occasion you would need to do it anyway.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I think I'm sold, I'm going to go with a WSM.

As an aside, we went to Monks for dinner last night with some friends. Man oh man. That is some good BBQ. We got the Piglet, which is a half portion of all of their meats. It is my goal to be able to occasionally match their quality at home. It is some good stuff.

The Virtual Weber Board is probably the best resource for cooking with Webers out there and has.a section devoted solely to WSM smokers. It's been an invaluable tool for me...

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Good into. They must have added a door since I bought mine many years ago, that’s good to know. I agree it should’ve a rare occasion you would need to do it anyway.

They've always had doors. Are you sure you had a WSM, Old-Timer?

 

[Boone]

Mine may have had a 'door' but you couldn't get to the firebox well enough to add fuel. That's probably the genesis of the coal chute strategy.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Mine may have had a 'door' but you couldn't get to the firebox well enough to add fuel. That's probably the genesis of the coal chute strategy.

You're correct.
I left out one important detail.
I took out the bottom grates in both of mine because I never use them, so there's a little more space if you add charcoal.
I leave the water pan in them, but rarely use water. I use a disposable aluminum pan to catch drippings for greasy cooks. If I do use water, I pour it in the disposable pan. It makes clean-up a snap.
Here's a helpful tip Voice_of_Reason . Double wrap the water pan with heavy duty foil, put a few crumpled balls of foil over that, then wrap more foil over that,(making a small airspace between the layers of foil), that prevents any dripped grease from smoking. I don't know the science behind it, but it works.
The WSM is insanely efficient. You'll be surprised at how much unburnt charcoal is leftover. I reuse it a lot

 

[Ashburn Dave]

If I can only have one smoker then I'm going with a pellet one. To me there is one main question to ask yourself when buying a smoker. How much time do I want to spend tending and watching the fire and or temperature?

If you want the best food and you don't mind tending the fire all night long, then a stick burner or offset is for you. I started out this way but soon went with pellet smokers for their convenience.

WSM's are great but I would add a blower fan to it if you go that way. The fan will keep the temp steady.

If money is no object then look at a gravity fed charcoal chest smoker like a Stumps or Assassin. You can spend a few grand on these though but they are well worth it if money is no issue.

Costco has annual sales on Traeger pellet smokers which is how I bought one of mine.

Good luck!

 

[Boone]

I realize it's just my experience, but having read a LOT online in the last 2 years, I would no longer recommend a Traeger. I had nothing but problems with mine after the first month or so. I know they *used to be* highly regarded, but I would definitely go another route.

My RecTeq has not been perfect, but it is a finally oiled machine compared to the Traeger. Just one guys opinion (but look at web reviews and you will see what I am talking about).

You are definitely right though that you cannot beat a pellet smoker for convenience. The results you can get aren't quite up to more traditional smokers, but convenience has to be a huge consideration as you can literally come home from work, fire it up, and be cooking in 10 minutes.

Btw - we do have a thread specifically for BBQ equipment...

Your Grilling Weapon of Choice?

I've had a lot of grills/smokers over the years. I've pretty much always owned a Weber Gas Grill and, over the past several years, have split time between a Weber Genesis gas grill and a Weber Smoky Mountain smoker. I love the convenience of a gas grill, but the smoker can do things not possible...

www.bgobsession.com

 

[Ashburn Dave]

I've had two Traeger's and both of them had control panel issues so yes, I agree that they are on the cheaper side. If money isn't an issue and you want a pellet smoker, Yoder's are great choices.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

If I can only have one smoker then I'm going with a pellet one. To me there is one main question to ask yourself when buying a smoker. How much time do I want to spend tending and watching the fire and or temperature?

If you want the best food and you don't mind tending the fire all night long, then a stick burner or offset is for you. I started out this way but soon went with pellet smokers for their convenience.

WSM's are great but I would add a blower fan to it if you go that way. The fan will keep the temp steady.

If money is no object then look at a gravity fed charcoal chest smoker like a Stumps or Assassin. You can spend a few grand on these though but they are well worth it if money is no issue.

Costco has annual sales on Traeger pellet smokers which is how I bought one of mine.

Good luck!

I've gone back and forth over the years about pellet smokers but I have too many cookers now That said, don't be surprised one day if I end up with one, but the Holy Grail for me is the Big Green Egg. I'm just to damn cheap to lay out the $$$ and I have an Akorn Auto Kamado, w/built in blower, that works very well.

I've never seen the need for a blower with a WSM as they hold temps steady but, admittedly, there was a little learning curve with the adjusting the vents for dialing them in. Once they're dialed in it's pretty much "set it and forget it" I suggest doing a few cooks on it and then deciding on whether or not the purchase of a blower is warranted. I only have experience with the 18.5" models. You would maybe want a blower on the 22" because they're fuel hogs and are supposed to be great for very long lower temp cooks. The 18"s are from the early 90's(wood handle, no thermometer in the lid), and a later model that I bought off of FB marketplace a few years ago. *The older one held an avg grate temps of ~ 241 and the later model, hold them at ~ 250 and hold those temps easily for 10-12 hr cooks, which I rarely exceed. I gave the older one to our youngest a few years ago and he uses it all the time.

*Full disclosure: I installed door and lid gaskets on both of them which helps keep temps steady. Out of the box they can run a bit hot, but a little hot, until you get a few greasy cooks to help seal everything.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I realize it's just my experience, but having read a LOT online in the last 2 years, I would no longer recommend a Traeger. I had nothing but problems with mine after the first month or so. I know they *used to be* highly regarded, but I would definitely go another route.

My RecTeq has not been perfect, but it is a finally oiled machine compared to the Traeger. Just one guys opinion (but look at web reviews and you will see what I am talking about).

You are definitely right though that you cannot beat a pellet smoker for convenience. The results you can get aren't quite up to more traditional smokers, but convenience has to be a huge consideration as you can literally come home from work, fire it up, and be cooking in 10 minutes.

Btw - we do have a thread specifically for BBQ equipment...

Your Grilling Weapon of Choice?

I've had a lot of grills/smokers over the years. I've pretty much always owned a Weber Gas Grill and, over the past several years, have split time between a Weber Genesis gas grill and a Weber Smoky Mountain smoker. I love the convenience of a gas grill, but the smoker can do things not possible...

www.bgobsession.com

Awww.....damn! I must be asleep at the wheel, (keyboard?), I didn't realize that we had a BBQ equipment field....

 

[Boone]

I bought a blower for my Big Green Egg and it melted (the fan inside it was plastic if you can imagine that!). Waste of money. I agree there is a learning curve on vent controls but once you get familiar I find it very easy to control temps on the large BGE without a blower. The only time I have had problems is when I have overfilled on lump charcoal and the fire ends up too close to the placesetter (Conveggtor). I have never come close to using all of the charcoal in a single cook even with 12-15 hour cooks - they are so efficient. I did replace the original cap/vent with one that has a disc style vent (with rain cover). I find it easier to manipulate.

Like I have said before, I love the BGE for real smoking of large cuts of meat (mainly brisket and pulled pork).