Hey folks... I'm just barely starting with smoked meats, and all of a sudden I realize I should have done this a LOOOONG time ago.
I smoked a chicken about two weeks ago, without great results. I realized afterwards that my design of the smoker wasn't very good at all, and that I was relying on the grill dome thermometer. Well, a week of research at amazingribs.com followed by the purchase of a good dual-probe remote thermometer turned it around. I did a 4.5# pork shoulder last weekend and my wife's reaction was "so when are you doing another???"
Right now my rig is about as basic as one can get -- a propane grill with cast-iron wood chip trays that go over 1 burner while the other two burners are turned off, but it can hold 225 without a problem (though likely a big fuel waste). But I'm learning. I'll be doing a brisket this weekend or next, probably an overnight smoke while I make a batch of beer starting about 2AM alongside it. (Need to make use of time when my kids are asleep, right?)
I'm thinking I need to get some better equipment, though. My current rig is very capacity-limited, with only a single 16" x 18" cooking surface once I limit it to 1 burner. But I listen to, and agree with, the guy at amazingribs.com that says buying a cheap offset smoker is a bad idea. And I don't have $2000 for what I want.
That said -- he's got one "cheap" offset smoker on his site that gets a silver medal for value:
Brinkmann Trailmaster 57" Vertical Smoker
Available for $269 from Home Depot, and from everything I've read, a few simple mods should help make it nearly airtight and a pretty good rig. And with 5 ~18.5" circular racks, capacity shouldn't be an issue.
Thoughts? Anyone worked with this smoker?
I smoked a chicken about two weeks ago, without great results. I realized afterwards that my design of the smoker wasn't very good at all, and that I was relying on the grill dome thermometer. Well, a week of research at amazingribs.com followed by the purchase of a good dual-probe remote thermometer turned it around. I did a 4.5# pork shoulder last weekend and my wife's reaction was "so when are you doing another???"
Right now my rig is about as basic as one can get -- a propane grill with cast-iron wood chip trays that go over 1 burner while the other two burners are turned off, but it can hold 225 without a problem (though likely a big fuel waste). But I'm learning. I'll be doing a brisket this weekend or next, probably an overnight smoke while I make a batch of beer starting about 2AM alongside it. (Need to make use of time when my kids are asleep, right?)
I'm thinking I need to get some better equipment, though. My current rig is very capacity-limited, with only a single 16" x 18" cooking surface once I limit it to 1 burner. But I listen to, and agree with, the guy at amazingribs.com that says buying a cheap offset smoker is a bad idea. And I don't have $2000 for what I want.
That said -- he's got one "cheap" offset smoker on his site that gets a silver medal for value:
Brinkmann Trailmaster 57" Vertical Smoker
Available for $269 from Home Depot, and from everything I've read, a few simple mods should help make it nearly airtight and a pretty good rig. And with 5 ~18.5" circular racks, capacity shouldn't be an issue.
Thoughts? Anyone worked with this smoker?