Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: JW_Halverson on January 17, 2012, 01:35:27 am
-
I know the Surgeon General is against it, but I want to start smoking again. I just love it, and so does everyone around me.
So. My question is what brand of smoker do you use and why? I had the use of a 30" MasterBuilt electronic with digital temp control, a timer, and a nifty little feeder tray for adding chips. I thought it was pretty decent, got great results.
Anyone have any input for me on the subject?
-
I have the manual feed type. There is nothing like ground Jack Daniels barrels for smoking. The flavor transfers nicely to the wood.
This isn't the same but it is close.
-
Mine's just a no-name, but it gets the job done ;)
I always use willow for smoke, gives the meat a flavor you can't find anywhere else.
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/IMG_00651.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/IMG_00641.jpg)
EDIT - BTW, I know you're not looking for a smoke house, just being a smart ass...
-
I have a big green egg and love it. We use mostly apple pear and cherry wood on Boston butts, pork loins, and whole chickens. From spring until fall it gets used 2-3 times per week.
-
Mine's just a no-name, but it gets the job done ;)
I always use willow for smoke, gives the meat a flavor you can't find anywhere else.
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/IMG_00651.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/IMG_00641.jpg)
EDIT - BTW, I know you're not looking for a smoke house, just being a smart ass...
Good thing that thing aint close to me!! I would have to raid it!!!! nice!
-
Dad and I got our hands on one of those heavily insulated stainless steel food xporters. It has 10 racks on the inside. We installed a burner from an old stove and a 20# tank.
-
I use a cheap electric. I know it is not very authentic. I have had it for years and it never fails me. Everything from briskets to shoulders to 20 lbs turkeys.
-
JW,
Have you seen the type that uses pellets? Like the heating fuel but made for smoking. The nice thing about them is you can fill them with fuel and let them go for hours without having to refuel them.
-
I'm using a cheap electric one also. Just plug it in and set the temperature and go about your business.
-
Mines a cheap electric Brinkman as well. Up north I only used apple or plum wood (cause I had boatloads of it) and down here I only use mesquite (cause I have boatloads of it). As soon as I work on my hickory staves, I'm sure the scraps will end up as smoker wood. Wonder how osage would work??
George
-
JW,
Have you seen the type that uses pellets? Like the heating fuel but made for smoking. The nice thing about them is you can fill them with fuel and let them go for hours without having to refuel them.
I have looked at those, but you are limited to using their pellets (or in one case their wood biscuits - no gravy either). I like the flexibility to use different woods, or even dried apples as the smoke source.
I'd love to build a smokehouse, but at this time I don't have a piece of ground to put it on. 'Sides, I don't often have that much to smoke at one time.
-
I'd like to have a smokehouse down here tooexcept, it would be full of flys and roaches and no telling what else. It never gets cold enough to kill any bugs here.
-
JW,
I had a big Chief electric smoker but it finally gave up the ghost, too many Pactola trout?
I currently use a Masterbuilt M7P 7-in-1 Smoker, does a great job as a smoker, and you have the benefit off all the other options this tool can be used for. If someone stole it tonight I would buy another in the morning, that is the best recommendation I can offer.
Sean
-
My great grandfather and granfather both used old metal interior refrigerators. Pre-insulated, they cut a hole in the bottom and used an old cast iron skillet as the heat source and used what ever woods they had around, cedar, madrone, hickory chips ..... They always turned out some good stuff.
-
I have a cheap brinkman propane smoker, and an electric from cabelas. Both work great.
FYI, IMO the place I go to drool over smoked food is at smokingmeatforums.com , they have whole sections on the different kinds of smokers. Very friendly and helpful members there, just like PA.
-
i live in south kansas. around here some folks, including myself use osage and mulberry for smoke. i think they both are very good, and they are very plentiful. besides, what else are you going to do with all those bow shavings? i use a cheap smoker with a fire box on the side. smoke up Johnny!
-
Next time I smoke I'm going to give osage or mulberry a try!!!
I made a smoker out of 2 garbage cans and an electric hot plate from the salvation army. Smaller can fits in the larger can and it insulates for use in cooler weather. Work good for me!!!! ;)
-
JW,
I had a big Chief electric smoker but it finally gave up the ghost, too many Pactola trout?
I currently use a Masterbuilt M7P 7-in-1 Smoker, does a great job as a smoker, and you have the benefit off all the other options this tool can be used for. If someone stole it tonight I would buy another in the morning, that is the best recommendation I can offer.
Sean
Pactoilet rainbow carp! Hehe. Your recommendation is pretty weighty.
Pactola is now producing plenty of large northern pike, too. Bait bucket stocking is ruining another blue ribbon trout fishery in the Hills. Horsethief Lake and Lakota Lake are going to be drained, electroshocked to get rid of pike/perch/who-knows-what, dredged and restored to trout. If they liberalize the fishing restrictions I will have to get out a cast net when the water gets low. Better have that smoker by then!!!
-
I know the Surgeon General is against it, but I want to start smoking again. I just love it, and so does everyone around me.
So. My question is what brand of smoker do you use and why? I had the use of a 30" MasterBuilt electronic with digital temp control, a timer, and a nifty little feeder tray for adding chips. I thought it was pretty decent, got great results.
Anyone have any input for me on the subject?
First sentence had me going :o
-
Who? Me? O:)
-
Cam is that really your smoke house? Wow!!! If it is what do you smoke in it? I know meat, but tell us more..
Cipriano
-
Lowell,
Mulberry or osage are fine for your coals but for smoking wood they are the wrong choice, too much resins in the wood leave a bitter taste.
Sean
-
Cipriano - technically it belongs to my dad and his brothers, but dad and I are pretty much the only ones that use it. My dad is retired and has taken to making summer sausage to keep himself busy and make a little coin. We typically do batches of 100 to 150 lbs of meat at a time. Next time I'm back home I'll take a picture of his sausage stuffer. He made it himself out of black PVC tubing that's about 12 or 14 inches in diameter, and holds probably about 40 lbs of meat per load. It's got a plunger that's cranked into the tube on a threaded rod, which pushes the meat out. It doesn't take very long to do 100 lbs of meat with that sucker, maybe 45-60 minutes.
We always use willow for smoke - just go down to the pasture and bring some back from the creek. It gives the meat a nice, very unique flavor. We have relatives that come out from the west coast and they say that they can't find sausage that even compares to ours out there.
All we use to heat the meat while it smokes is a small wood stove, maybe about 1 cubic foot in volume. It depends on what we're making, but usually one stove-ful packed tight with wood is enough. It burns for 2 or 3 hours.
It's mostly used for summer sausage and smokies, but occasionally we smoke jerky in there too. There are some wire-mesh racks that we stretch out across the shack and hang from nails on the sides (you can see one hanging on the left side in the picture). It works well, but takes a lot of work because the jerky still has to be dehydrated after it's smoked. It's pretty much eaten as fast as it comes off the dehydrator :)
Sorry if I'm jacking your thread JW. But I know you'll get over it ;)
-
I'll get over it when the 3 lbs of jerky and the stick of summer sausage arrives. >:D
-
Cam thank you for explaining all of that. Very interesting. My mouth watered like a Pavlov dog just reading it.
Cipriano....
Ya.. Ya.. JW will get over it:)
-
I was back home last weekend and, as promised, took a couple pics of dad's sausage stuffer. Pretty heavy-duty ;)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/P1020802.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/P1020803.jpg)
-
Webber kettle with an "inset" smoker. I went to the local college caffeteria and got them to cut both ends out of a tomato can (commercial) for me. Drilled a few holes.
Highly versitile and smokes enough for our family.
-
never smoked on a large scale.
but enjoy smoking mostly fishes in the weber grill
its really simple and does a great job
-
Well my MasterBuilt digital smoker arrived the other day. They have made some changes to the design since it first came out. For one thing the drip pan in the bottom has an added flange that causes it to tilt to the back so that it will drain the fat and other drippings out the back into another catch basin. I like that.
The stainless steel racks slide out without catching on the rails so they are nice and smooth to operate. I like that.
But then they tack welded this little sheild on the chip loader so that you can barely get any wood chips into the smoker. I bloody well DON'T LIKE THAT. I ran it for 7 hours on some dry rubbed boston butts and ended up with very little smoke flavoring. Time to get out the cutting wheels and my dremel tool. I'm gonna be able to load a proper amount of wood chips by gum!!
That's a nice Cohorn Mortar...I mean sausage stuffer, Cam! Very nice!
-
I just found out that my wife ordered me a new smoker. I get to pick it up this weekend. ;D
-
Wow, your wife wants you to start smoking? She's cool!
-
i have a chargriller barrel smoker.not real fancy but does a great job.i use hickory wood logs for the fuel.i make a mean porterhouse.no one has complained yet.i grill and smoke 3 to 4 times a week all year long.
-
I have an electric smoker it's a "cookout" brand, I used to use my grill it worked good too. I mix osage w/ wht oak chips and get really good results, great flavor.
-
Wow, your wife wants you to start smoking? She's cool!
She knows Im making all my own product to smoke so she doesn't worry to much.
-
Hey,
About six years ago we went to a flute gathering...my wife and I were eating bowls of cerial for supper and a good friend had brought his smoker to the gathering...walked up to us with some ribs and said...have some ribs...just salt and pepper on them...they were to die for...soon as I got home bought my hundred buck propane smoker and we haven't eaten bought deli meat to put on a sandwich since...all smoked chicken, pork loin, ribs, beef. Cook big batches and freeze what we don't eat and pull out enough for each days lunch sandwich...ain't nothing like a smoker.
Rand
-
My next batch for the smoker will be cheese and mixed nuts.
Since it is pretty cold out, I can set the smoker to 70 degrees and it will smoke away. The temp difference between 20 degrees outside and 70 degrees in the smoker insures the heating element will kick on regularly without having to set the temp so high it melts the cheese.
I'll smoke everything but pancakes!
-
I think I have died and gone to heaven. I smoked a whole chicken on the new Traeger smoker tonight. It was so dang good. I think I will smoke some pork tomorrow.
So what is your favorite thing to smoke, and how about sharing the recipe.
-
So what is your favorite thing to smoke, and how about sharing the recipe.
;DBullets, lots and lots of bullets >:D >:D
Seriously, probably fish.
-
Justin,
I like to butterfly a big pork loin. Fill it up with cream cheese and jalepenos then wrap it up with bacon to hold it all in (use toothpicks- it really helps. I smoke it with apple or pear wood and it is one of the best loins you will ever eat.
-
Pork and mullet. :)
-
I noticed someone said that osage will leave a bitter flavor due to resins. Not trying to be contentious but I have to politley disagree. It leaves a very good smoke flavor and we cook and smoke with it regularly. Jimmy and I have a buddy Mike that is a smokin fool and he uses osage alot. When ever Mike is around smokin somethin, we eat like kings.
As far as whats my favorite smoked meat, I would have to say that pork of any kind is tops for me. Danny
-
Fixin to smoke a pork loin this weekend for some friends. Can't wait to dig in. I trimmed up my wild plum a couple of months ago and have been using it mixed with charcoal. Gives the meat a nice, mellow smoky flavor that isn't overpowering.
-
Fixin to smoke a pork loin this weekend for some friends. Can't wait to dig in. I trimmed up my wild plum a couple of months ago and have been using it mixed with charcoal. Gives the meat a nice, mellow smoky flavor that isn't overpowering.
Smoked me some pork loin last night. mmmmmmm I guess I better volunteer to be your friend this weekend. ;)
-
340lbs of sausage this weekend. The shack will be busy.Will post pics of house in action
Thanks Leroy
-
My brother just got a Traeger from his wife for Valentines day. Must be love.
-
I'm about to take out some pork ribs and was going to use osage but just read on this thread that I should not. Thought I read some where else that it was a good smoke. :-\
Now I'm thinking of playing it safe and useing hickory.....unless someone tells me other....soon!! ;)
-
I've never heard of using Osage.
Some people put the green balls around to drive away pests. If it works there likley resins in the stuff that aren't good.
I like Oak, then Maple, CHerry, Hickory, Misquite.... pretty much in that order. Some times I mix it up a tad but usualy It's the Oak and maple drops from my risers and wood carvings.
Oak is nice. Not overpowering. We like it for smoked turkey, Smoked Salmon and Smoked Carp.
-
Thanks Praire,
I ended up using hickory. I know I read somewhere osage was used but I also search "smoking with osage" and found more against it than for using it.
I have never tried oak so that will be next time. I have used apple for turkey and chicken and liked it.
Just wanted ti think osage was good for EVERYTHING!! ::)
-
Lowell I've used hickory and oak and the hickory imparts a sweetness that the oak doesn't have other than that they both work well. Ron
-
Suasagefest 2012 is over. 340lbs of deer and elk. 5 different kinds. It was my first time making a chorizo turned out not to bad. The sausage we did smoke we used apple.
Pics of my humble smoker
Thanks Leroy
-
340lbs...WOW! Man that pic makes my mouth water >:D
Can you snap some pics of your heating element or describe what it is? I can't really make it out in the above photos...I am selling/moving here in the next month or two but as soon as I get settled I'd really like to build me a smokin shack like that one for fish, turkey and deer. Thanks!
-
I would not call that a humble smoker. It looks great.
George
-
That smoker makes me hot and bothered!
-
Heating element is a furnace from a 70's camper one of the gravity kind. Ripped it apart and built a stand for it that holds my smoke pan. It's nice because of the pilot light and thermastat turns off and on by itself. On the top I have a bathroom fan that evens out the smoke and heat kinda like a convection oven. Use a dimmer switch to control speed. Two dampers on opposite sides top and bottom for cross current for more control. It's 4'x4' and has a 3'x6' door. Not bad for for under $100 salvaged most everything form construction jobs I was working on and the guys would give me stuff when they found out what it was building. This one is a little sad compared to the one I left behind when I moved 3 years ago 3'x5' brickhouse and a concrete roof with a built in rottisior
Thanks Leroy
-
Thanks a ton for the detailed pics & description...I'll have to keep an eye out for wrecked campers with stoves and such, great idea! I am preparing to sell the house and move here shortly but I really want to put something like this together at where ever we end up.
-
My older brother made one similar to Cameroo's about 25 years ago and we tried cold smoking some Deer. What a waste of meat. I like smoked meat especially home smoked but eating creosote doesn't interest me
-
Lee..No problem. Smoking critters is one of my favorite things. Ifin you get close to building one when the joy of moving has passed. Feel free to pm me or we'll hijack JW's thread >:D >:D. If he don't like it he can come to my place and I'll feed him sausage till he gets over it.
Mark..Cold smoking is one of the hardest things. You got to play around if you want the heat box inside the house. The eastest and best is to have an exturnal heat box and pipe the smoke in.
The lowest I can set my house at it 80. Little warm for lox but not bad for a dried cured deer back strap.
Thanks Leroy
-
Thanks for the kind offer for assistance...I'll likely take you up on that once the dust has settled. Thanks again!
-
Actually Leroy his smokehouse was like Cameroo but it did have an external fire pit and the smoke was piped in. It was the last time we cold smoked. Haven't used his smokehouse in years.
-
Marc It sounds like your brothers house may just have a tuning issue.Length of pipe or a damper something in that direction.It's to bad a smokehouse lays dormant. If you ever want to get it going again just give it trial runs till your satisfied.
Thanks Leroy
-
Was just at CostCo yesterday and saw wood pellet smokers complete with hoppers! Three different sizes for the smoker in you!
-
Was just at CostCo yesterday and saw wood pellet smokers complete with hoppers! Three different sizes for the smoker in you!
That is where I just bought my new smoker. Been smoking pretty much non-stop since then. Dang, that makes me a chain smoker doesn't it. Maybe that is why I have this nagging cough now. ???
-
The thing that turned me off on the hopper type and the buiscuit type smokers is my lack of trust in the companies longevity....where do I go for hardwood pellets/biscuits that are not treated with chemicals if they go out of business? For that matter, what if I am broke and can't afford factory made stuff like that? Simpler is better in my world.
-
The thing that turned me off on the hopper type and the buiscuit type smokers is my lack of trust in the companies longevity....where do I go for hardwood pellets/biscuits that are not treated with chemicals if they go out of business? For that matter, what if I am broke and can't afford factory made stuff like that? Simpler is better in my world.
I do like simple, that is why I went with the pellet smoker. Simple is being able to dump in a bag of pellets and smoke for 20 hours without having to check on it again. This company has been around for many years, and while I bought the smoker at Costco, my favorite local owned gun store sells the pellets so I can support the little guy.
-
I watched a show on discovery a while back and they were making pellets. They just used heat moisture and compression no chemicals. I'm a chip guy myself.
Thanks Leroy
-
I do like simple, that is why I went with the pellet smoker. Simple is being able to dump in a bag of pellets and smoke for 20 hours without having to check on it again. This company has been around for many years, and while I bought the smoker at Costco, my favorite local owned gun store sells the pellets so I can support the little guy.
[/quote]
With my Green Egg, I can smoke for 24 hours straight (and I have) and get about a handful of ash and never have to add any. Super simple!
-
I have a cheap brinkman gas too I think. Honestly, I have had it for awhile, and it gets used enough that the name is no longer on it. In spring, summer and fall, I smoke pretty much everything.
I love the thing. I typically use hickory or mesquite. If I could get some wood here, some apple or something, I would use that. I have used the hickory shavings from a bow. :) Figured that was a good way to use the whole thing!
Nathan
-
I just bought a 3 lb can of mixed nuts and several pounds of different cheeses. Tonite when the temps drop I am going to pop them in the smoker for a light going over.
Smoked almonds are good, so smoked mixed nuts should be even better! Right?
-
With all this talk about smoking I have been craving some brisket which is pretty much non-existent here in North Carolina unless you go to the comissary on base and get one. So I was gonna buy a 55 gallon drum off of craigslist and make an upright smoker out of it but the wife promptly stated that she would not be eating anything that came out of it, so I went to lowes and bought a brinkman charcol upright. This weekend I plan on firing it up and makin the neighbors jealous. >:D
-
I made mine out of a propane tank and a piece of 20 inch pipe fo the fire box it works great. I can use direct for grilling or indirect for smoking one of the best things I've ever built for myself. Ron
-
Any pics of your setup Ron?
-
With all this talk about smoking I have been craving some brisket which is pretty much non-existent here in North Carolina unless you go to the comissary on base and get one. So I was gonna buy a 55 gallon drum off of craigslist and make an upright smoker out of it but the wife promptly stated that she would not be eating anything that came out of it, so I went to lowes and bought a brinkman charcol upright. This weekend I plan on firing it up and makin the neighbors jealous. >:D
Ah, brisket! Once upon a time it was cheaper than hamburger. I saw some beef brisket in the store the other day for $6.99/lb. Same with chicken wings, I used to buy 'em for $0.49/lb in 10 lb bags and now days chicken breasts are cheaper than the wings!
-
Ok, this wasn't smoked, but I just had to post a picture of my first BBQ of the year. Tenderloin and stuffed potatoes - I can't wait for summer 8)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/cbergerman/640/P1020848.jpg)