What would you consider as the best outdoor smoker?

lasercd

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Steve:

The firebox is the offset part of the smoker where you burn actual wood as opposed to lump charcoal. Its in a separate chamber adjacent to the chamber that holds the meat. There is no direct heating element underneath the meat in an offset cooker.

Cooking with wood instead of lump imparts a different smoke flavor profile. Its not uncommon to see guys who cook with an offset smoker comment that other smokers do not have as strong a smoke flavor.

Ken Golden
 

Greg_R

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Jan 25, 2012
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Greg

My use of compromise is in reference to a firebox type. In that regard I don’t consider
portability any advantage. Area though maybe but the firebox types aren’t given away that’s for sure. The biggest compromise to me is flavor. What you consider a chunk of wood & charcoal selection is where I find the largest compromise. On our unit hunt we used a grill with chips or flavored lump and were greatly disappointed. Temp control was very good as the grill had 4 cast iron burners so lo & slo was easily possible.
I don't doubt your results... "flavored" to me = artificial processing = weird flavors. I also haven't figured out how to get a gas grill to smoke with wood chips with a high degree of success.

Next we borrowed a neighbor’s BGE for a few weeks when they went on vacation. Temp control was good, but the same flavor issues raised their head.
Did you put actual chunks of wood in with the (natural lump) charcoal? I've used some brands of charcoal that make the food taste horrible. I should also note that if your fire temp (not BBQ temp!) is too low then you'll get an off-color smoke that tastes disgusting. I'm sure you're familiar with this concept but I thought I'd mention it for other people who are reading along. With an offset, you can control the size of your fire more easily (add fuel, remove fuel, etc.). With something like a BGE you set up your fuel for the entire cook and it is very hard to reduce the size of the fire if it gets too large. Most people I know light a small number of coals in the middle and let them burn outward during the cook. It definitely take a few cooks to get the hang of it.

Bottom line, if the taste is off IOHO, it’s of little value. Why go through all that trouble if the results seem to be a compromise. Valid? It wasn’t for us.
Agreed, you want to use the equipment that works best for you & your cooking style (and that produces excellent results). I've had incredible BBQ off of all the major styles of cooker, it's really a matter of preference.
 

Greg_R

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Steve:

The firebox is the offset part of the smoker where you burn actual wood as opposed to lump charcoal. Its in a separate chamber adjacent to the chamber that holds the meat. There is no direct heating element underneath the meat in an offset cooker.

Ken Golden
You set diffusion grates inside the cooking area to direct the hot smoke around the meat. An advantage and disadvantage of this method is that the cooking area can have different temperatures. It's an advantage if it's planned that way (sausage cooking at temp A, pork butt cooking at temp B) but it's a disadvantage if you haven't dialed in the setup (one piece over cooked, the other piece under cooked). With other styles of cookers you are pretty much stuck with hot spots (using water trays can be a work around).

Cooking with wood instead of lump imparts a different smoke flavor profile. Its not uncommon to see guys who cook with an offset smoker comment that other smokers do not have as strong a smoke flavor.
Tossing 3-4 small chunks of wood (baseball sized) in with the lump can impart a lot more smoke flavor.
 

Ronm1

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I also haven't figured out how to get a gas grill to smoke with wood chips with a high degree of success.

We had little trouble with only one burner with foil pan and own apple soaked shavings/chips. If we needed to, we would turn on another burner for a short time. We were surprised how well it worked. The one drawback was if you did not want Q, The non-Q's lost out. Gas also appears to bring its own moisture to the party so drying out was never an issue either.

Did you put actual chunks of wood in with the (natural lump) charcoal?

No we only had it for a short time to experiment much. Certainly neet unflavored worked best for us.
 
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lasercd

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You set diffusion grates inside the cooking area to direct the hot smoke around the meat. An advantage and disadvantage of this method is that the cooking area can have different temperatures. It's an advantage if it's planned that way (sausage cooking at temp A, pork butt cooking at temp B) but it's a disadvantage if you haven't dialed in the setup (one piece over cooked, the other piece under cooked). With other styles of cookers you are pretty much stuck with hot spots (using water trays can be a work around).

Tossing 3-4 small chunks of wood (baseball sized) in with the lump can impart a lot more smoke flavor.

Greg:

I'm with ya. I cook with a Primo every night and use the Cookshack for large cooks. It's very common to see guys who use stick burners to comment that when they switch over to cooking with lump and (particularly) pellets that there is less of a smoke flavor profile.

Ken
 

lasercd

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You set diffusion grates inside the cooking area to direct the hot smoke around the meat. An advantage and disadvantage of this method is that the cooking area can have different temperatures. It's an advantage if it's planned that way (sausage cooking at temp A, pork butt cooking at temp B) but it's a disadvantage if you haven't dialed in the setup (one piece over cooked, the other piece under cooked). With other styles of cookers you are pretty much stuck with hot spots (using water trays can be a work around).

A good cook will alway know where the hot spots are - every grill/smoker has them - and compensate. One way to find the hot spots is to lay out a grid of Pillsbury biscuits and see how they bake across the grates.
 

Steve Williams

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A good cook will alway know where the hot spots are - every grill/smoker has them - and compensate. One way to find the hot spots is to lay out a grid of Pillsbury biscuits and see how they bake across the grates.

you use an Fast Eddy" FEC-100 which is pellets so there is no woodsmoke flavor or can you buy pellets that are flavored such as mesquite or hickory etc
 

lasercd

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you use an Fast Eddy" FEC-100 which is pellets so there is no woodsmoke flavor or can you buy pellets that are flavored such as mesquite or hickory etc

Pellets come in a variety of flavors: hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, cherry, etc. Some of them are 100% of a given wood i.e. 100% hickory. Typically pellets have a base of 60-70 percent oak. You won't get a strong of a smoke flavor from a pellet smoker as you will from a "stick burner". Some pellet flavors are stronger (mesquite) and others are much more subtle (apple).
 

Keith_W

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what does Amir's stokerlog add to the Rock BBQ Stoker?

It turns the Stoker from a rudimentary tool to an advanced tool. Without Stokerlog, the functionality of the Stoker would be equivalent to one of the cheaper controllers sold by BBQ Guru. Even those may be arguably superior than a Stoker because they have lid detect and ramping mode (where the controller starts to kill the heat as the temperature of the food reaches the target). What really sets the Stoker apart is its built-in networking and wi-fi functionality. Even the top BBQ Guru model requires a wifi router - it is not built-in.

Without Stokerlog, you would be stuck with the rather rudimentary web-based interface of the Stoker. If you haven't seen it, it looks a bit like this (that is the prototype web interface, but I assure you the interface shipped with the Stoker doesn't look much better!). Amir's program adds so much value to the Stoker that I bought one, thinking that it would work like that on wi-fi.
 

Greg_R

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Greg_R

Refresh my memory again as to what you use to grill.
I have a Komodo Kamado + gas assist (nice when I just want to cook some hot dogs or quickly light a bunch of coals). I had the burner's inlet resized so it would work with natural gas (which my home uses for heating). For BBQ I use lump charcoal + a few chunks of real wood (typically fruit wood).
 

lasercd

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Greg:

Do you have the Komodo on a slab or is it sitting on regular decking? That thing is a beast! (but a gorgeous one)
 

treitz3

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Not at all, Steve. I'm surprised to hear that anybody would add the gas assist on a KK. The only thing that I have been told to use is lump charcoal and wood bits. No chemicals, lighter fluid, regular charcoal [like Kingsford] or anything else that might be absorbed into the ceramics.
 

treitz3

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You can get the temperature to stabilize where you want it to be by adjusting the lower door [draft airflow] which allows the oxygen to get in. I'm unsure about the KK [I can only imagine that they would be the same basic design] but the BGE has more adjustments on the top. I have found that once you have hit the target temperature, keeping it there is very easy provided you have enough lump coal to begin with.
 

treitz3

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The BGE [the one I have] has adjustments on the top. It is basically a cast iron cap that allows for full or partial opening. You can slide the entire thing away or you can slide the top cap around to adjust the opening of the small 5 oval holes. I'm unsure about the KK.

The lower door is the most effective in temperature control, IME.
 

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