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NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/17/2023 2:55:52 PM

recotte

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Joined: 1/19/2011
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After 16 years of regular use, my Traeger has given up the ghost, and I need to replace it. I know that since I got mine, there are multiple new pellet grill makers and other options, so rather than do a straight replacement with a new Traeger, I'm going to do some research before buying. I know there are some real grill masters here on CT, so looking for suggestions. I'm open to non-pellet grill options, as well, like a Kamado/Big Green Egg. Having WiFi/Bluetooth/app enabled features is not a selling point for me; if the new grill comes with it, so be it, but not really looking for it.

Thoughts/suggestions? Pros/cons?

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Post #: 1

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/17/2023 3:10:08 PM

ChrisinCowiche

Posts: 7845
Joined: 12/16/2009
From: Cowiche, WA
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I got a Z grill pellet smoker ~ 3-4 years ago, cheaper than Traeger at the time, but it has been a workhorse. Current pricing looks about 2X what I paid so maybe they have "caught up" w Traeger on price. We got ours at Christmas close-out pricing at Bi-Mart. CostCo often has Traeger in various sizes and pricing.

My arsenal of outdoor cookers now includes Z Grill pellet smoker, Blackstone flat top, converted woodstove pizza oven, Weber spirit grill, and small portable Weber Q series for the camper. The one that gets the most use is the Z grill.

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RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/17/2023 7:31:24 PM

rogerjanss

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Joined: 9/7/2014
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I’ve used my large BGE once per week since 2009. Still going strong. More art than science do takes practice to perfect. If I ever get a new one I’d go for extra large. Check it out on YouTube!

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RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/17/2023 9:18:19 PM

DoubleD1969

Posts: 3595
Joined: 8/19/2008
From: New Jersey
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Depends how much are you trying to smoke. Lol

I bought a 22” Weber kettle for $100 during the Pandemic. Love it . Not huge. I would say I can smoke:
2-3 racks of ribs, or 6 large short ribs, or 7-lb pork shoulder or brisket using the charcoal snake method. Nothing like using hickory wood chunks and seeing the pretty rosy smoke ring.

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Post #: 4

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/17/2023 11:06:49 PM

recotte

Posts: 6867
Joined: 1/19/2011
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quote:

ORIGINAL: DoubleD1969

Depends how much are you trying to smoke. Lol

I bought a 22” Weber kettle for $100 during the Pandemic. Love it . Not huge. I would say I can smoke:
2-3 racks of ribs, or 6 large short ribs, or 7-lb pork shoulder or brisket using the charcoal snake method. Nothing like using hickory wood chunks and seeing the pretty rosy smoke ring.

I have two Weber kettle grills... a 22" and a junior. Love them for grilling, but too small for smoking. I need space for a whole brisket plus other things going at the same time.

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Post #: 5

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/18/2023 4:34:40 AM

khmark7

Posts: 11415
Joined: 7/6/2008
From: Chicago suburbs
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quote:

ORIGINAL: rogerjanss

I’ve used my large BGE once per week since 2009. Still going strong. More art than science do takes practice to perfect. If I ever get a new one I’d go for extra large. Check it out on YouTube!

I like my Green Egg but I am happy with the size and utility of my medium. An extra large is HEAVY. I use a bluetooth meat thermometer called the Meater. The nice thing about the Egg is that you can use it as a simple charcoal grill or smoker and it is ideal for longer smokes, although I rarely go longer than 3-4 hours. For the medium the largest piece of Brisket I have cooked was around 4-5 lbs. If you want to smoke something giant like 10 lbs you would need the larger grill size.

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Post #: 6

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/18/2023 7:35:00 AM

wineismylife

Posts: 6491
Joined: 11/7/2006
From: Arlington, TX
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I use a Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24 inch. I like it because I can put a full size packer brisket or full slabs of pork ribs and they lie flat, don't touch the sides and allow air between. I have 3 racks (you can buy extra) so can smoke a lot of poundage in it at one time. Propane driven so you can set it and forget it from a temperature point of view. I know exactly where 225F is on the dial. There are three negatives though. The door leaks smoke so you'd need to buy a seal after market. The vents won't fully close (safety reasons supposedly) so you'd need to replace those after market or bend the tabs up so they can spin fully. Finally, the one thing you can't fix is I really, REALLY wish they had a second door for adding wood chunks and water without having to open the main door. Other than that, it's been a workhorse.

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RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/18/2023 9:34:02 AM

Wine Grove

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From: San Clemente, CA
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Ditch the fancy expensive options, get yourself a basic black box Masterbuilt electric smoker (like under $100 via Walmart), use wood chunks and a few chips, and that will get your basic smoking needs covered. For Less than $100 option it will serve you well for many years to come.

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Post #: 8

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/18/2023 11:19:27 AM

wineismylife

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From: Arlington, TX
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Wine Grove

Ditch the fancy expensive options, get yourself a basic black box Masterbuilt electric smoker (like under $100 via Walmart), use wood chunks and a few chips, and that will get your basic smoking needs covered. For Less than $100 option it will serve you well for many years to come.

Until the electric element burns out after two years like mine did.

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Joe

Wine is like potato chips around me...if it's open, it's gone.

MyBlog @ http://www.wineismylife.net/

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Post #: 9

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/18/2023 11:42:34 AM

GalvezGuy

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From: Galveston, TX
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I have had my Camp Chef Woodwind going on 7 years without a single problem. I live in a very humid place with salt air. The environment is very hard on metal but this thing seems to be bulletproof. Plus Camp Chef has excellent support. The only things I have done to it is to swap out the PID for a WiFi enabled PID and cleaned the temp sensor.

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Post #: 10

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/18/2023 4:10:57 PM

rogerjanss

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Or go big: https://www.yodersmokers.com/

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Post #: 11

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/19/2023 4:10:26 AM

khmark7

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From: Chicago suburbs
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Also something to consider is where in your yard you are placing the grill. For reasons stated above some of these grills are heavy and or have a lot of smoke (duh). I have my Green Egg on a concrete/brick back patio that works well because the metal stand it sets in is not easy to move and on a wooden deck it would be challenging (they do sell a specific matt for decks). The larger Green Eggs are really heavy so those things are not something you want to move and you certainly cannot have them tip over because they are fragile (they are sturdy enough to withstand any winds). Most years I leave mine outside through the winter so no problem but don't expect this to be easy to maneuver like a 3 burner Weber grill.

Also, make sure you get the optional equipment, which in my case was the stand (right!) and what they call the Egg Mates which are wooden panels that attach to the sides of the grill so you can put your food down and place your tools. They also have a temperature regulator and some fancy stuff available.

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Post #: 12

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/19/2023 8:40:15 AM

mqvn

Posts: 455
Joined: 12/10/2012
From: West Seattle, WA
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I personally prefer the flavor of actual wood logs or charcoal/chunks versus pellets. Kind of like grilling with charcoal versus propane.

But the tradeoff is convenience.

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Post #: 13

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/19/2023 5:17:57 PM

WineGuyCO

Posts: 3797
Joined: 9/5/2017
From: Living at 7200 ft. in Monument CO
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quote:

ORIGINAL: mqvn

I personally prefer the flavor of actual wood logs or charcoal/chunks versus pellets. Kind of like grilling with charcoal versus propane.

But the tradeoff is convenience.

The other downside to pellet grills IMO is they don’t impart that much smoke to meats. I’ve had a Traeger for 15 years so that’s my experience.

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Post #: 14

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/20/2023 8:18:40 AM

arthrovine

Posts: 386
Joined: 8/31/2010
From: PDX
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Pellet smokers : You know the pro and cons having had traeger.these brands, however, impart more smoke than their predecessors.
MAK, Pit Boss, Rectec, Yoder

OG: Weber kettle: 26”. Or get the 22 and spend the rest of your time wishing you had the 26”. Variety of gadgets to enhance convection. Chicken over charcoal is simply unbeatable. It’s therapeutic to go through the process of hot coal development multi zone creation, etc. facilitates male preservation at dinner parties “relegating” you to the patio for constant grill management with libations…

Kamado: Kamado Joe/primo - (get from costco so warranty is not issue). Most green egg accessories fit these
As well. Avoids the green egg higher price.
I must suck at fire management. I returned mine due to this. Virtually all food I’ve had off these (my cooking and others) Has tasted like dirty smoke to me with the exception of one buddy who’s cooking prowess is amazing

Tons of offset options: No experience and my wood options are somewhat limited here in wet oregon. I also don’t have the time to as a split every 45” or so. This is the purest of the expression.

Vertical with wood or charcoal; Haven’t explored these either yet.

Santa Maria: Live fire cooking with adjustable grill height. Haven’t had much experience with this but is the preferred technique for a with my beloved cut: tritip.

My recommendation? Mak 1 or 2 star pellet and 26” kettle.

< Message edited by arthrovine -- 8/20/2023 8:20:14 AM >

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Post #: 15

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/20/2023 1:39:54 PM

oskiwawa

Posts: 2258
Joined: 2/16/2008
From: Austin TX
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It depends upon what you want to do with it. We have 4 different smokers and a standard grill. An XL Green Egg works great is I just want to do a pork shoulder or some ribs. Offset hardwood charcoal with a couple chunks of hickory. We also have a big offset steel smoker. Plenty of space there for a couple briskets or the equivalent. Biggest disadvantage is that it takes some effort to maintain the smoker over long periods of time such as a 12 hour brisket smoke. I use hickory logs for this smoker. Over 20 years ago I purchased the older version of this Box Smoker. It uses a sawdust smoke generator. Fantastic control. I use this for sausages, turkey breasts, fish, jerky, etc…. I have replaced the heating coil 3 or four times. Uses a standard 200V range burner. Finally, I added to this box a Smoke Generator. This enables me to cold smoke. Use this for fish and charcuterie.

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Post #: 16

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/20/2023 2:05:19 PM

Wine Grove

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From: San Clemente, CA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: rogerjanss

Or go big: https://www.yodersmokers.com/

I gotta say, these Yoder smokers look awesome

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Post #: 17

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/24/2023 4:53:19 PM

recotte

Posts: 6867
Joined: 1/19/2011
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Wine Grove

quote:

ORIGINAL: rogerjanss

Or go big: https://www.yodersmokers.com/

I gotta say, these Yoder smokers look awesome

Those are indeed sweet rigs!

After spending a lot of time reading through reviews and threads on BBQ/smoking forums, as well as the various thoughts above, I just pulled the trigger on a Recteq pellet grill. Consistently great reviews on the quality and consistency of the grills, as well as their customer support. Good temperature range, too, going up to 700F. Ultimately, I decided that the convenience of the pellets outweighs the cons, and it's a known quantity for me. Recteq also has a Labor Day sale going on at the moment, which took a little of the sting out of cost of the purchase. Just the same, it's time for a little visit to the moratorium.

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Post #: 18

RE: NWR: New Smoker Needed - 8/24/2023 6:31:23 PM

jonboy74

Posts: 277
Joined: 7/16/2019
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quote:

ORIGINAL: arthrovine

Tons of offset options: No experience and my wood options are somewhat limited here in wet oregon. I also don’t have the time to as a split every 45” or so. This is the purest of the expression.

The difference in taste is night and day when you do stick burners vs pellet. Yes the trade off is convenience. But if you are only smoking things that take a few hours its not that big a deal.
regarding availability of wood, you can find out who supplies restaurants with their wood burning ovens etc and likely buy from them. That's what I do here in SF Bay Area. Perfect moisture content in the wood and already cut to usable sizes.

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Post #: 19