All this talk about smoking your food…

[m_ridgeway]

I grill all kinds of stuff, and its always with beer! I've just never smoked anything....other than this fool who jacked my bike when I was 12.

did you pity him

ive been looking getting a smoker as well. been looking at the green eggs. they were recommended to me so its all i know other than the cheapy metal ones.

 

[StromBusa]

You wouldn't happen to have plans would you? I've been wanting to build a smokehouse.

No plans, but I have more pics showing the unit & some payloads It is just like an outhouse in design with a chimney & damper. My buddy built it, I would change something in the design but not sure what (leave off the crescent moon perhaps). Trick is to let some smoke escape so it does not get stale, and to have a volume that lets you regulate temperature. We have slotted racks in the ceiling so we can load our sausages in his garadge then take them out on dowels & load/unload quickly. Cheese requires lower temperatures and some SS screen. (stainless steel). My mother board just fried @ home so prolly end of month I can dig up some pics, I just had the slim jims on my camera from deer season. It is a good trick to make treats in the smokehouse, I also have a small metal bass pro unit with gas fire to do fish & jerkey.

 

[Dan]

did you pity him

ive been looking getting a smoker as well. been looking at the green eggs. they were recommended to me so its all i know other than the cheapy metal ones.

Big Green Eggs are nice and I looked at them when I got my Primo. The only difference to me was the oval design on the Primo seemed to have more usable grill space. Both are great ceramic grills.

I also have a custom welded smoker that's about 9' long and weighs in around 700lbs and I hardly ever use it after getting the ceramic grill.

 

[BigBadDodge]

Mine is electric and so far has worked great, real pricey though (i got it as a gift) Nice thing with electric is it can maintain the heat easier, i'm sure on a charcoal setup once you have it figured out its no problem, My chicken ran 3.5 hours the other night and periodically i'd check the temps and added chips once, rest of the time was spent drinking whiskey and bs'ing with the neighbors

 

[Dan]

Does it use pellets?

 

[Big Bo]

There are lots of units to use as smokers go. Questions to ask yourself.
How often are you going to use the unit?
How much food are you going to cook?
Does size matter?
How much money do you plan to spend on a unit?

A drum smoke is cheep to build and produces excellent results. Compititions have been won using these units. A new drum costs $100 in my area. Valve, black pipe, 90`s & fittings, grill, temp gauge, and building a basket can be had for about $50.

Do you like pulled pork? I put a 10# butt on the UDS at 08:00 one morning. Watched the unit on and off for a couple hours, it held a steady temp of 250*. The son and I left and went shopping, took in a movie, and made it back home at 18:00. At 19:30 we removed the butt from the UDS. My son and I marveled at our work. Wrapped the butt in foil for 45 minutes to rest the butt. MY GOD, we made pigs of ourselves. The bark was fabulous, the bone I wiggled out of the butt. The meat just started to fall away. Wonderful wonderful wonderful cooker.

It all depends how deep your pockets are. I wanted a Big Green Egg years ago when you could buy one for $500. Now they are $1500!! A co-worker bought a BGE for $1500 last week. Anothwer co-worker asked about a UDS. Another co-worker who built a UDS spoke up saying he bought a BGE, loves it, but his UDS gets more use.

I won`t BS you, there is a reason these UDS`s are so popular, the damn things work.




Vertical Drum Smokers

 

[BigBadDodge]

Does it use pellets?

I've just used the small chips, thought about trying pellets to see how well they work but so far the small fine chips stay smoking pretty good. Curious to see what it does on a long smoke

 

[lil charlie]

I think Im going to build my own drum smoker....sounds like a blast!

 

[Malicious]

i dont smoke food... i eat food... call me old fashioned

 

[Big Bo]

i dont smoke food... i eat food... call me old fashioned

Even an old dog can learn a new trick.

 

[highestgrade]

Build your own trash can or uds smoker to start...cheap & easy

 

[red1100cc]

i have a little electric drum. i really like the electric for the ease of keeping the temp stable.
i have used gas and charcoal too.
gas seemed to dry out the meat quicker.
charcoal has a better taste but is easy to overheat and hard to keep stable. with a sweet rub you really don't want to overheat and burn the sugars.
as for wood. your in the land of mesquite. pretty darn good for beef. i use alot of hickory and pecan because i like the way it smells and tastes, great for pork. apple and cherry wood is good stuff too.
:thumbs:

 

[Big Bo]

Red, if that is a Brinkman, the problem is the opening on the bottom. The UDS is a sealed unit. No spikes, no flare ups, no constant watching, just good cooking.

I have had two Brinkmans. Then the UDS came into my life. Might smoke a pair of turkey breasts to make a pot pie. ???

 

[lil charlie]

Big Bo... I joined that website you linked up for the smokers.