Smoker Reviews: Smoking Meat, Making Sausage, Making Cheese, Making Jerky, Brewing Beer, Canning, Dehydrating

Types of

Smokers

There are several types of commercially available smokers. Which one is right for you? This is not a simple question and there are several thing to take into consideration.

· Do you want to stay with your smoker all day or do you want be able to do chores around the house - to set it and forget it?

· Maybe you want to be somewhat involved in the process but not tied to the smoker all day.

· Do you want your major fuel source to be all wood, charcoal, propane, electric or a combination of several types.

· Would you like this to be an alternate method for cooking in the event of power outages?

· Do you find carrying empty propane tanks back and forth to the distributor inconvenient?

· Do you have a readily available source for large volumes of wood anytime you want it?

· Do you have a place to keep cords of wood?

· Do you live in an area that gets extremely cold in the winter?

· Do you frequently cook for large gatherings or parties?

These are a few of the questions you may want to think about before deciding which type of smoker you want to buy.

There two basic types of smokers Vertical and horizontal. These are then broken down further by size, and type of fuel. I will try to cover a few of each type and mention some of the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Vertical Smokers

Bullet type water smokers:

In this category you have companies like Brinkmann, Weber, Meco, Char Broil, Masterbuilt, Char Griller and more. These smokers are very similar and do require slight modification to perform at their best. The come in charcoal, electric, propane and a combination or all of these. They take a bit more tending than horizontal smokers but are very inexpensive and make great BBQ. They are highly recommended for the newbie that wants to try smoking but doesn’t know if he/she is going to get into it, for those on a limited budgets or for those with limited space. Prices range from $39 to $189 for the multi fuel types.

Description: Description: Gourmet Charcoal Smoker Description: Description: All-In-One Description: Description: http://www.masterbuilt.com/images/products/7in1/large/M7P-smoker.jpg

Brinkmann Gourmet Brinkmann All-In-One Masterbuilt 7 In-One Weber Smokey Mountain

Charcoal or Electric charcoal, electric charcoal, electric charcoal

and propane and propane

Brand	Model	Fuel	Grates	Capacity
Brinkmann	Gourmet	Charcoal	2	50 lbs.
	Gourmet	Electric	2	50 lbs.
	Smoke-n-Grill	Charcoal	2	50 lbs.
	Smoke-n-Grill	Propane	2	50 lbs.
	Smoke-n-Grill Stainless Steel	Charcoal	2	50 lbs.
	Sportsman	Charcoal	2	50 lbs.
	All-In-One	ALL 3	2	50 lbs.
	All-In-One Stainless	ALL 3	2	50 lbs.
Weber	Smokey Mountain Cooker	Charcoal	2	50 lbs.
Masterbuilt	7-In-One	ALL 3	2	50 lbs.
Masterbuilt	7-In-One Stainless	ALL 3	2	50 lbs.
Kingsford	Bullet Smoker	Charcoal	3	50 lbs.

Vertical Cabinet Smokers

Description: Description: Vertical Smoker Heavy-Duty Charcoal/Wood 2 Grate Smoker Description: Description: Electric Smokehouse

Brinkmann Masterbuilt Great Outdoors Camp Chef

Charcoal Electric Smokey Mountain Smoke Vault

propane propane

Brand	Model	Fuel	Grates	Capacity
Brinkmann	Vertical	Charcoal	4	70 lbs.
	Vertical Electric	Electric	4	70 lbs.
	Vertical Electric Stainless	Electric	4	70 lbs.
Great Outdoors	3005	Propane	4	70 lbs.
Great Outdoors	Deluxe Big Block	Propane	4	90 lbs.
Camp Chef	Smoke Vault 18”	Propane	4	70 lbs.
Camp Chef	Smoke Vault 24“	Propane	4	90 lbs.
Bradley	Bradley 4 Rack	Electric	4	60 lbs.
Bradley	Bradley 6 Rack	Electric	6	90 lbs.

Horizontal Smokers (Stick Burners)

Description: Description: Stillwater Heavy-Gauge Charcoal/Wood Smoker Description: Description: http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/4163NHW1HXL._SS400_.jpg

Brinkmann Stillwater Char Griller Pro Lang 84

I’m not going to go into to much detail about these because they are not what I consider entry level smokers. The purest will say this is the only way to produce good BBQ. I don’t agree. It may be all wood but it’s the chef and not the cooker that makes good BBQ. Let’s just say these beauties go from a mere $129 to over $3,495 for the Lang trailer mounted unit.

They can burn charcoal or logs and are not very fuel efficient but they often have a huge capacity and are used often for competition BBQ.

What smoker do I use?

I currently have three smokers The Brinkmann All-In-One which I started with and still use quite often. It has multiple options for cooking and I also use it for steaming corn, boiling ten gallons of pasta and sauce for parties and of course for brewing beer or frying turkeys. A great little all purpose smoker, Steamer, fryer in electric, charcoal and propane all for under $100! I did have to drill about 10 tiny 1/8 inch holes around the top for smoke venting and another 10 around the center ring to make it more controllable.

Read my article on the Brinkmann All-In-One

I also have the Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24” which I love using. I did buy the optional 5^th grate, the sausage hanger, heavy duty cover and have two 20 lbs. propane tanks to keep it going. It is extremely temperature accurate and fuel efficient. Great for smoking meat and veggies or baking pies and cakes in the hot summer without heating up your kitchen! IMHO this is the best vertical propane smoker on the market – no modifications required for a perfect smoke!

Read my article on the Camp Chef Smoke Vault

My final smoker is a Chinese no name offset similar to the Char Griller Pro I picked up for $57 on clearance. Couldn’t resist! I performed several modifications to this unit to make it a smoker and a grill. I is not fuel efficient in the least. I uses enough fuel and wood to keep my Brinkmann going for an almost an entire season in one smoke! I do plan on a few more modifications but you can read about the ones I have done here: Horizontal Offset

ENjoy!

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