Anyone here smoke?

Joined
Feb 11, 2020
Messages
113
Location
West Virginia
Looking to get into it , I don’t know much about it and get some tips on what to get. Any good recipes you can throw out would be great too. Trying to keep it under $700.
 
Let me tell you....

You don't need a $700 plus set up.... Unless you are cooking for a lot of people. Like 15+ people.

If it's just you and your family... Then it can be much cheaper to do that..

A large Weber grill can be used as a smoker.... Easily.

I will post a picture of my set up.

$200 or so and you are good to go.

Drip pan needed too.

And fire size ? Can be small and still work great.

Trust me... I have done this LOTS and LOTS of times.
 
Fire on the right side and drip pan in the middle... This is high indirect heat cooking for cheeseburgers.

Open air vents below the charcoal... Open top vent opposite side of the fire.

For smoking.... Small fire... Cut air supply to 90 percent closed vents below fire.

Use large hickory wood chunks place on the very outside periphery of the fire.

I can make spiral ham and beef ribs and pork ribs on this setup. We have cooked for 20 people with a large spiral ham on this very grill.
 

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I have a few smokers, but what I smoke on primarily is a kettle grill. It's extremely convenient. I put a Lavalock gasket around the lid where it sits on the body of the grill. This ensures I have 100% control over the temperature. I drilled a hole on the same side as the vent tube (smokestack?) on the lid and put in a 1/4" Tel-Tru Thermometer in it. Works great. I have two thin firebricks (bought from either Lowe's or Home Depot) that I laid on the side (lengthwise - if this makes sense) to section off the charcoal. This helps with keeping the temperature even on the side where the meat is to reduce overcooking on one side (although I still rotate mid-way through long smokes). I wrapped the bricks up in aluminum foil so that they won't become soaked with grease. I change out the aluminum foil every so often. If nothing else, a gasket around the lid and a thermometer and you're in business.

There is a youtuber named 'Kettle Pitmaster' that gives a good explanation on how to smoke with a kettle grill. This in my opinion is a good starting point and may be all you need. If nothing else, it will buy you time to get the smoker you truly want. My 'dream' smoker is a Lonestar Grillz smoker. Pellet smokers are convenient, but I have not found pellets yet that give me a flavor that I love.
 
You can set yourself up for even less than $50, unless you are trying to do big volume at once. Also, the water bowl feature on these gives them incredible versatility for making a quality product.

I bought one of these older Brinkman "smok n' pits" for less than $50 maybe 10 years ago. it works great, is small to store when not in use. You can do up to two pork shoulders and two chickens at the same time. In fact was planning on dusting it out after a few years of non-use and doing it next Saturday prior to Father's Day.

 
Let me tell you....

You don't need a $700 plus set up.... Unless you are cooking for a lot of people. Like 15+ people.

If it's just you and your family... Then it can be much cheaper to do that..

A large Weber grill can be used as a smoker.... Easily.

I will post a picture of my set up.

$200 or so and you are good to go.

Drip pan needed too.

And fire size ? Can be small and still work great.

Trust me... I have done this LOTS and LOTS of times.
Just me and my wife mostly , sometimes we have friends over at most a dozen people a few times a year. Usually just 5 or 6 of us on the weekends. The older I get the more I’ve thinned the crowd out that I associate myself with. Thanks for the information. My local hardware store sells trager , the eggs , Webber and a lot of stuff to grill and smoke with but I was kind of overwhelmed on where to start. I’d like to do some briskets , pork , stuff like that. Have a lot of experience on charcoal and gas grills but never ventured into smokers.
 
Fire on the right side and drip pan in the middle... This is high indirect heat cooking for cheeseburgers.

Open air vents below the charcoal... Open top vent opposite side of the fire.

For smoking.... Small fire... Cut air supply to 90 percent closed vents below fire.

Use large hickory wood chunks place on the very outside periphery of the fire.

I can make spiral ham and beef ribs and pork ribs on this setup. We have cooked for 20 people with a large spiral ham on this very grill.
^^^ This is how I smoke fresh pork shoulders on my 34 year old Weber kettle. Low and slow for a shoulder. (y)
 
My dad and I used to smoke turkeys. Loved that. I recently started cold smoking cheese with a smoke tube in a small barbecue. Works pretty good.
 
LoL I thought you meant cigarettes.
Me too.
Coming up on the anniversary of my quitting smoking, June 18th 1950. I asked a friend for one and he refused emphatically. He then lit up and smoked one contentedly. I vowed to myself this would never happen again and I quit. I was 19 at the time and have not smoked since. No craves at all. Best move ever.
 
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