OK, Summer is around the corner and its almost time to smoke butts, ribs and whatever else! I have used a standard gas grill with backburner on low & chips between the Weber flavorbars to make smoke, ribs generally take 3 hours. Thinking about going to a wood fired system. Something not too big but still something that a "Texas Man" would recognize as a BBQ. What do you use/suggest?

I'm gonna cry. I jsut bout a townhouse and cannot ahve gas or charcoal. I was hoping to bring my Weber bullet but "the association" says NO. One woman told me I could get an really good electric grill........ poor woman was trying to help but she has no idea.

Dude I feel your pain. I hope they don't have any rules about cigars! TIme to rally your neighbors together against the grill ban.

Glad to hear that you like Texas BBQ. I am told that my brisket is excellent. My wife is the queen of ribs, but I am sworn to secrecy as far as her recipe goes. I cook with oak wood.

There are several places on the web that sell BBQ pits, but shipping will be very expensive. Hopefully you have a local retailer. I have bought several different brands. They all will work once you get used to them.

I finally had a friend make a custom pit for me. It is similar to the “Long Horn” (http://www.nbsmoker.com/smokers.html). My next pit will have a firebox, grill, and smoker box.

Bobsled........It all depends on your budget and how many people you would typically serve on a given day. There is no right or wrong way to go with a smoker. They all do the same thing and you just need to adjust to it. The only difference is how much you are willing to spend and how big you want it.....I bought a Char-broil brand smoker from Home Depot for $150 and it has worked great for about three years now. Funny you bring up this topic because I chowed down on some ribs and chicken qtrs I smoked on Sunday. I smoke foods year round in my neck of the woods (suburb of Dallas). I usually fire mine up once a week and put enough food in to have some meals later in the week as well.

Make sure you buy a thermometer. It definately helps especially on briskets that take most of the day to smoke. Mine attaches to the smoker and lets me know the internal temp of the cooking chamber at all times.

Mine is identical to the Black Diamond version in NordaP's link above.....it is not real big but big enough for me. It will hold about 12-15 chicken qtrs with nothing else just to give you an idea of how much food will fit that particular model. The fire chamber also doubles as a grill. It is perfect for throwing on a few steaks or burgers when I am not smoking anything or in additon when the extra food is needed.

As nordaP stated......get one that suits your needs best. They will all perform well once you get used to it..........ahhhhhh, talking about this makes me want to fire mine up again and light up a good stick.

Chime in here Stoge.... I know you have some good ideas in this category

Good luck

James

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JamesEIII,

I like the look of the NB & Char Broil...James, is yours the 244 square inch model? How many rib racks can you fit?

I like a mix of mesquite, hickory & oak. adds a neato flavor to my ribs.....I do mostly grilling in the winter (rural nj)and reserve BBQ for spring & summer, but this weekend its a couple of baby backs on the agenda, some guinness, and a couple o' stogies.

bobsled, we can sit here and debate smokers for about 6 months and never come up with what is the best smoker for you.

I have a horizontal smoker, with a seperate firebox, i like it. one of my cowokers just bought a verticle smoker and loves that. my feeling is to determine what the largest thing that you wish to be able to smoke in it is and then work backwards from there. another important factor to take in to consideration is your space, how much room do you have for this?

example: whole pig, you're gonna need a horizontal smoker with lots of room.

with that said, I really want to build that competition smoker and compete this summer, but I don't think i'll have the time.

Alan

BTW, JimC, you can still smoke in an electric grill. You can soak your chips and place them in a disposable pie plate on the coil and get the desired effect. I would suggest finding out directly from the "association" what the objection is to gas/charcoal fueled grills.

There is more then 1 way to skin a cat, and as long as you get the desired effect, who cares how you get there. Besides, an electric grill will give you more control over the temp, not that I advocate electric cooking.

Alan

Bobsled......ribs are a little trickier to get several on without using a rib rack. It also depends on if they are back ribs or spare ribs. Back ribs are smaller and if I lay them flat on the grate, I can only fit about 4-6. I have to use the racks if I do more than that in which case I can fit 8 or so.

I do wish I had a bigger one at times but you will find that there is a substancial difference in price the bigger you go.

If you have not done so, click on nordaP's link above. My smoker is identical to the Black Diamond version. Look at the specs on that one. That is a real popular style and I personally know several people who have that one.

Here are more links and info than you probably need. http://www.bbqjudge.com/webpages/bbqjc_pitbuilders.htm

Bigger pits require more wood, but give you plenty of space for cooking. The larger pits that I have seen are typically made of thicker steel and tend to maintain heat well, once you get them up to temp.

Smaller pits tend to be “easier” to cook on since you can control the temperature better by using smaller pieces of wood. However, you are limited on cooking space.

As was mentioned earlier, you should definitely make sure that you have an accurate temperature gauge.

You get what you pay for, but a “cheaper” pit will cook just as well as a more expensive one. I have found that the only real difference is how long they last here along the Texas coast. Rust is a real problem here.

My neighbors always seem to find their way into my backyard when I am cooking. So I would recommend buying a pit larger than what you think you need. It won’t go to waste.

The best BBQ I have ever had was from a friend who uses hickory wood only and does not use any chemicals to light it.

Raven, i use only natural wood charcoal for the base heat and small logs, splits and chunks to provide the smoke. no chemical has ever touched my pit, nor will it ever. It scares me that people would do that.

Alan

Home Depot sells the Santa Fe grill:
http://www.charbroil.com/grills/charcoal.asp

And the Silver Smoker:
http://www.charbroil.com/grills/charcoal.asp

I have the Silver Smoker and I am very pleased with it.

all this talk of bbq makes me want to go buy a smoker and start cultivating some skills, I was in Alabama once for business and ate at this bbq restaurant and had this sampler. Well being from PA and never really having been from the south, I thought I knew what to expect. This food was absolutely amazing, I thought I was going to explode after walking out of that place.

quote:

Originally posted by Curt:
Home Depot sells the Santa Fe grill:
http://www.charbroil.com/grills/charcoal.asp

And the Silver Smoker:
http://www.charbroil.com/grills/charcoal.asp

I have the Silver Smoker and I am very pleased with it.

I will 2nd and 3rd the silver smoker Curt. I have one as does my brother in law and we pulled a dual last saturday....our backyards backup to each other and we had them both going......i can tell you that I have fired mine up once a week (year round) for the last 3 years and it works wonderfully!!!!!!!!!

this is a good thread, i'm probably going to pick one of these up, now i just need some good ol recipies to begin learning

quote:

Originally posted by JamesEIII:

quote:

Originally posted by Curt:
Home Depot sells the Santa Fe grill:
http://www.charbroil.com/grills/charcoal.asp

And the Silver Smoker:
http://www.charbroil.com/grills/charcoal.asp

I have the Silver Smoker and I am very pleased with it.

I will 2nd and 3rd the silver smoker Curt. I have one as does my brother in law and we pulled a dual last saturday....our backyards backup to each other and we had them both going......i can tell you that I have fired mine up once a week (year round) for the last 3 years and it works wonderfully!!!!!!!!!

yeah I've been thinkin' bout that silver smoker too. New Humi, some cohiba's, and the smoker, happy birthday, merry christmas, and happy anniversary honey!

So, do ya'all use charcoal and then lots of the lump hickory, mesquite, etc? or do ya do something different for the fire? (Ive been using my Weber Genesis, put the backburner on low, woodchips in between two flavor bars in tin foil, and smoke @ 200, but the smoke runs out real fast and no way to reload). SOOO GOTTA GET the smoker.

I tell ya, I'm just getting into smoking meat, and Sams club has a kick ass smoker...38",304 grade Stainless steel, double wall, electronic ignition W/ variable heat..$598.00 as soon as alan gets back to me with a meeting date for Castros, I'm sure he'll give me some pointers on smokin' a brisket, in exchange for a couple cigars maybe?? Whaddaya say Alan???

Eye, I'll take you up on that. *grin* Check your email.

Alan

quote:

Originally posted by bobsled:
yeah I've been thinkin' bout that silver smoker too. New Humi, some cohiba's, and the smoker, happy birthday, merry christmas, and happy anniversary honey!

So, do ya'all use charcoal and then lots of the lump hickory, mesquite, etc? or do ya do something different for the fire? (Ive been using my Weber Genesis, put the backburner on low, woodchips in between two flavor bars in tin foil, and smoke @ 200, but the smoke runs out real fast and no way to reload). SOOO GOTTA GET the smoker.

bob, I usually use hardwood charcoal or sometimes Kingsford. You just need to fire the charcoal outside the firebox until it is fully ashed. I use a chimney.

For pork I usually use hickory chunks well soaked in a mix of bourbon and water.

For beef, hickory or mesquite.

Here is a greatBBQ info site.