Smoker Recommendations

[Bob_Landry]

DW has the idea that we need a small wood smoker to take along camping, and I have to admit that idea does have merit. Nobody loves a good brisket more that I do. My home smoker is too large to load and unload in the truck, so I'm thinking along the line of a small gas or electric smoker. Actually, I'm leaning towards electric since we are already paying for electric when we camp, it's better to cook on their nickel instead of my propane, and actually the only requirement is something to make the wood smoulder. Any recommendations on a small cooker that won't break the bank?

[jesse_m_jm]

austondog wrote:
Been reading good reviews on Traeger PTG wood pellet grill A little pricey and weighs 40 lbs but worth looking into

I have the Traeger PTG, LOVE IT. I cook on it most every night, and my neighbor never fails to comment on how nice the food smells every night. It's really hard to go wrong with the Traeger, any model, as I have the large one as well. Got the PTG specifically for camping, but it's also nice and easy to just haul to a friends for dinner or something.

If you ever get up towards Portland, let me know, I never turn down an excuse to put more food on the Traeger.

[GrumpyGator]

austondog wrote:
Been reading good reviews on Traeger PTG wood pellet grill A little pricey and weighs 40 lbs but worth looking into

If you're thinking about the smaller Traeger, have a look at the new portable pellet grill from GreenMountainGrills.com. I think it's called the Davy Crockett model. It comes with a real controller and you don't have to pay extra like the Traeger. It also runs on 12v.

[Bob_Landry]

I was thinking electric, but the more I think about it, I'm moving towards gas simply because I can remove the regulator, put a QC on it and run it off the trailer gas system, and be able to have some control over the heat which electric doesn't afford, and I'm not going to deal with the mess associated with charcoal.

I'm using a 30K BTU propane burner from a fish cooker to run my big smoker at home. I set the temp with the gas control, put a pile of hickory in the pan, set it on top of the burner and go to bed. The cooking temp never changes and I only have to go out occasionally and throw on another piece of wood. That's a lot better than trying to regulate heat by messing with vents and dampers. I wish I had thought of that years ago.

[Ron3rd]

I've got the Weber Smokey Mountain also known as the WSM on smoking forums. Works great, built like a tank. Not cheap though. Great smoker if you're in it for the long haul. As others mentioned, the inexpensive Brinkman will work fine too if you know what you're doing.

[SWMO]

Kit Carson wrote:

Big Katuna wrote:
I do good work with the $40 brinkmann electric water smoker you get at Home Depot or Lowes. I can smoke good on a Weber, too.

Can't go wrong with a Brinkman. I have one I have used for years. It is charcoal but I think the electric would do just as good.

Same here. I up around 3 decades with these old standbys. I have a Masterbuilt and a GOSM propane at home, but I've been carrying a one story Brinkman with an electric converter for about 10 years now.
I can go briquettes or electric with it.
My criticism of the electric would be that it is not adjustable and stays around 230 with the water pan, so there is no hurrying ribs or poultry. It will also double as a grill.

[austondog]

Been reading good reviews on Traeger PTG wood pellet grill A little pricey and weighs 40 lbs but worth looking into

[Kit_Carson]

Big Katuna wrote:
I do good work with the $40 brinkmann electric water smoker you get at Home Depot or Lowes. I can smoke good on a Weber, too.

Can't go wrong with a Brinkman. I have one I have used for years. It is charcoal but I think the electric would do just as good.

[Super_Dave]

If you have a small kettle grill, this would be the ticket.

Electric Smoker Conversion

[Bob_Landry]

I've narrowed it down to electric. I want to use the campground's nickel. Charcoal is more hassle than I want to deal with and I don't want to have to sit there and tend the fire. It's going to come down to size and propane isn't off the table, it's just not my first choice.

[wbwood]

I've smoked chicken quarters on the brinkmann charcoal smokers like the electric one posted above and it worked good. I did a boston butt on it and since it takes longer, the ash pan filled up too much. I was unable to remove the ash from the pan as new charcoal would go on top of it. There was no escape for the ashes. The electric would be great in that way.

But the last time I smoked a boston butt, I used my weber charcoal kettle girl. It has charcoal baskets you set to the side and the grate ends flip up to access the charcoal buckets to put more charcoal or wood chips in. And the ash just fell down the through the holes to the bottom of the girl without issue. The weber kettle grill can be used as a grill also.

Not sure of what you are talking about as small. All smokers Or any that I've seen have been a few feet tall. Would have to ride in the back of the truck unless you can dismantle. But then messy.

[rjf7g]

I have this one and it has been fine. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1287362&KPID=996016&pla=pla_996016

[Teamfour]

I would get a Great Smokey Mountain propane smoker. It has a cast iron box over the burner for the wood chips.

Great Smokey Mountain smoker

We used ours for years before moving to professional cookers since we compete in BBQ. You may also consider building an Ugly Drum Smoker (Google it).

[New_Vision]

Google Mini WSM. It is a smoker made using a 32 quart stock pot and a smokey joe weber grill.

[Super_Dave]

I like the stuff I bring to be able to do double duty so I rigged something I could both bbq on as well as smoke on. I added a steel plate over the heat diffusers to put my chips on. When I want to bbq, I just remove the chip plate.