BBQ / Smokers

[blackbear]

 The kids want me to start smoking meat and making jerky. Does anyone know about the horizontal barrel type BBQ that has a smaller horizontal barrel connected to it? I wonder how well they work for smoking meat. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Years ago I made a smoker from a 55 gallon drum. That worked for smoking but being able to BBQ or smoke with the same unit would be convenient.

[Graybeard]

I have one and hate it the worst money I've ever spent on such. I knew a fellow with one once before and his turned out about the same but then he made a modification and it seemed to work some better. Mine already had that or a similar mod so I had hopes for it.

My intentions was to use wood in the firebox since I have plenty of trees on my land and it would be free fuel. WRONG. There seems to be no way to properly regulate the heat when using wood. If you try to use enough to keep the fire burning rather than going out it gets so hot it burns your meat and it ends up with a thick coat of black on it. If you don't use enough the fire keeps going out and won't cook the meat. I've never yet found a happy medium and have about given up on it. Mine mostly just sits and rusts.

You can however use charcoal rather than wood and it seems to work OK but not great in my opinion.

Far better is the Brinkman Gourmet Smoker. It's an upright with a water pan and the fire chamber below the water pan. This is the single best meat smoker I've ever run across and is what I use pretty much exclusively.

[DalesCarpentry]

GB can you do ribs in the Brinkman Gourmet Smoker? Dale

[Beers]

Graybeard, those drum smokers do alright w/ wood. You've gotta build up a good fire first and let it burn down to a bed of coals.. You may have to add wood 2 or 3 times to get enough coals. Once you're there then you add wood chips for smoke, they should be soaked overnight first. Then you add your meat.

That being said, I really don't like that type of smoker myself, their only pros are being extremely cheap/easy to build.. while their cons are considerable: Very difficult temperature regulation, not much room for smoking in any kind of volume, they require a relatively huge amount of wood to use properly, and you simply cannot cold smoke w/ one. Not a great trade off, they make a poor smoker and a worse BBQ.

I'm also not a fan of water smokers, however. I'm trying to smoke meat, not prepare smoke flavored steamed meat.

The best cheap, small scale smoker I can think of is as easy to make as it gets. You need a clean 55 gal drum, a cheap single element electric burner, 12' of dryer vent tubing, a 12" x 18" piece of tin, a 10" x 10" piece of tin and some 1/4" rebar. A cheap oven thermometer is handy.

Just poke some holes in the barrel for the rebar, at appropriate heights to hang your meat from. Cut out the bottom of the drum. Make a hole for the dryer tubing somewhere around 2" from the bottom and attach the tubing to the drum. Bend that 12" x 18" piece of tin into a hood for the element, and attach the hood to the other end of the tubing. Set the drum up on bricks. You're done.

You can hot smoke w/ it just by putting that element right under the barrel, then set that 10" x 10" piece of tin on it, and put your wood chips on top. It will take some trial and error to find the setting on the element that will smoke the chips w/o igniting them. You can regulate air flow/Temperature w/ the lid. (wear an oven mitt if it's been on for a while )

To cold smoke w/ it take that piece of dryer tubing and situate the hood somewhere lower than the drum, and put the element under the hood instead of in the drum. That's it.

As for a BBQ.... Grab a shovel and bring home some cinder blocks. You'll never need another one. 

[superdown]

I highly recommend the Orion cooker for ribs and big chunks of meat and poultry. or the plain old Luhr Jensen big chief for jerky and fish. the Orion is absolutely awesome http://orionoutdoors.com/products/cooker/ i have had just about every style smoker there is and these are the only two i still own. superdown

[Cowpox]

Beers knows his way around a smoker.  I would like to add that we have had great luck with a barrel cooker/smoker at our hunting and fishing camp. Time taught us to quit thinking of it as a fire place, and burn the wood on the ground, then use a shovel to move the coals to the cooker as needed. We have even used it to make great smoked fish by loading a small pile of coals in the small end, then laying a couple of fresh cut, green branches on the coals to generate smoke. About foot long, 2 inch diameter chunks work well. The more we use it, the more we have learned.  I really like the food from it better than our gas grill at home.

[blackbear]

Everything tastes better at camp.

[williamlayton]

Smokers are not inexpensive--though many do pretty good jobs with these well made small ones.
A good smoker is made from pipe--stainless or carbon. This helps keep a regulated smoke temperature more even. It is the heat from the smoke that does the cooking and, that said there are locations within the smoker that work better for different cuts of meats.
The wood should be well cured but the argument about water soaking it is one that will never be ended.
It is the wood or the type/types of wood used that give the meat its different flavors--pecan (pacon in Texas)  oak, mesquite, or some others are the preferred down here.
It takes a good 12 hours too smoke a brisket---the slower the better---it is the smoke ring you are looking for, for flavor and the slower the better. At 12 hours you should get about 1/8th too 1/4'" of smoke ring.
No sauce--down here-- it ruins good meat. A rub is OK and they are various and the secrets of them are  more guarded than a good looking wife.
Cook the brisket with the fat side up--in my opinion--gets more juices into the meat don'tcha know.
The heat from the smoke does the cooking and it does not take a lot too keep it smoking properly.
Blessings

[blackbear]

My favorite wood is apple. Most of my smoking experience is with fish, Sunfish especially. I live too far north to get much apple wood but it works well. Sunfish have just enough oil and are small enough to smoke in a day.

[greg916]

I used a Chargriller last fall to BBQ some deer shoulders. I liked it so well I plan on buying one. We used a regular grill to make coals, then transferred them to the smoker box.

My favorite BBQ smoker is a 250 gallon oil drum that my brother welded up for me. Like Cowpox says, don't build your fire in the BBQ, but rather use coals. I burn my wood in a 55 gal drum that has rebar through it about 1/4 of the way up and a cutout to allow me to retrieve the coals. I usally use a combination of hickory and oak, but really like apple when i can get it.

I also have an electric upright. Great for convience. I like to use apple juice in the water pan instead of water.

[rockbilly]

I have used the drum with the off set box for years with no problem.  Like Beers said, you have to get a good bed of coals and then add the wood chips as required.  To keep mine going for long periods I would burn wood in a separate pit, then add the hot coals as required.  I have also used the Brinkman, it is a good set up if you don't have a crowd for dinner.

My large pit, trailer mounted, is 42inches in diameter and 10 feet long, with 1/2 inch stainless steel rods made into a cooking surface.  It has a butane system added for fire starting and to continue cooking when the coals have played out.  It has two  additional stainless steel tanks attached to the back side of the fire box for hot water. This can be drained directly from the bottom of the tank, or accessed through a faucet on the front of the trailer by using air pressure.  The flues are thermostatic controlled to maintain an even heat.  This pit was originally built for a guy that owns a catering service and cooked for very large crowds.  I can do about 25 briskets or large racks of ribs at a time , they smoke for about two hours they are put in an aluminum pan, covered with foil, the gas is set at about 200 degrees until I am ready to serve.  The grill use to come in very handy when cooking for a Squadron of hungry Airmen.

A WORD OF CAUTION ON MAKING A GRILL YOURSELF.................Be cautious of the drum you use, try to find one that has contained cooking oil, or some food product.  Never use ANY drum, or one that you know contained a herbicide, insecticide, petroleum product, lead or mercury substance.  I know of several cases where folks have got very ill by eat meat cooked in a homemade cooker.  I also know of one case where an entire family, Husband, Wife, three children and an Uncle died for eating meat cooked in a drum that had contained an insecticide.

[williamlayton]

THAT is a smoker.
I like too go too these competitions just too see the rigs. Some of the boys put a lot of time and thought into their project.
Blessings

[rex6666]

Williamlayton
You are correct about the smoking and the wood. I like to go to the cookoffs also, you
can see some awsome cookers.
I got old and lazy a few years back and bought an "ole smokey" it is an electric up right barrel
set my skillet full of wood on the burner, pan of water, two turkeys turn it on medium to low
heat about 10-11pm go out about 8am jerk out the turkeys and stay out of my way.
It is all closed in so it uses less wood does not go out, does not flar up, like i said lazyman cooking

[myronman3]

best one i ever had was one i made from an old refrigerator.  i used charcoal to heat, and apple wood to smoke.  i made some killer ribs in that thing.  put them in at 6 am and eat at 6pm.   mmmmmmmmm........

[deltecs]

I have one and hate it the worst money I've ever spent on such. I knew a fellow with one once before and his turned out about the same but then he made a modification and it seemed to work some better. Mine already had that or a similar mod so I had hopes for it.

My intentions was to use wood in the firebox since I have plenty of trees on my land and it would be free fuel. WRONG. There seems to be no way to properly regulate the heat when using wood. If you try to use enough to keep the fire burning rather than going out it gets so hot it burns your meat and it ends up with a thick coat of black on it. If you don't use enough the fire keeps going out and won't cook the meat. I've never yet found a happy medium and have about given up on it. Mine mostly just sits and rusts.

You can however use charcoal rather than wood and it seems to work OK but not great in my opinion.

Far better is the Brinkman Gourmet Smoker. It's an upright with a water pan and the fire chamber below the water pan. This is the single best meat smoker I've ever run across and is what I use pretty much exclusively.

I've got a United States Steel and Brinkmann water smoker.  I totally agree with you on this one.  One is electric and the other is fueled with charcoal.  I have used one since 1989 with utmost satisfaction.