***Official Gatorchatter BBQ Thread***

Ray Finkle

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cornbread;n252990 said:
hey ray, what do you think is the best set up for under $500
Depends on you man. Do you have or have you ever had a smoker?
 

heavychevy

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cornbread;252990 said:
hey ray, what do you think is the best set up for under $500
While you could go buy any number of off sets for under $500, you'll be chasing temps and may get discouraged plus you'll be buying a new one in 2 years after the fire box rusts out if you don't take good care of it. Go buy Weber smokey mountain. Far and away the best bang for your buck for a quality pure smoker. Weber lasts longer than you will and there are so many inexpensive DIY mods for those things. There are a couple pellet smokers in that range too. I've never used one can't really comment but I've seen some of the more expensive ones from treager put out of good stuff. You need an electrical outlet where your grill will be though and if the power is out aka hurricane season you're kind of up a creek.


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Ray Finkle;n252472 said:
I will never do gas.

664.gif
 

Ray Finkle

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I paid $120 for mine. Its a basic Brinkman offset from Depot. I went with an offset wood/coal smoker because I enjoy the process enough to sit by it almost nonstop for 16 hours if need be. I'll kick back, drink some beers, hang with a few buddies, play some guitar, or just enjoy the peace and quiet that fatherhood doesn't frequently provide. If thats your idea of a good time, I'd recommend exactly what i have. There is more continuous rack space than most cheaper electric or gas smokers. I've also heard good things about pellet smokers but again, not for me at this time.
 

t-gator

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heavychevy;n253033 said:
While you could go buy any number of off sets for under $500, you'll be chasing temps and may get discouraged plus you'll be buying a new one in 2 years after the fire box rusts out if you don't take good care of it. Go buy Weber smokey mountain. Far and away the best bang for your buck for a quality pure smoker. Weber lasts longer than you will and there are so many inexpensive DIY mods for those things. There are a couple pellet smokers in that range too. I've never used one can't really comment but I've seen some of the more expensive ones from treager put out of good stuff. You need an electrical outlet where your grill will be though and if the power is out aka hurricane season you're kind of up a creek.


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I've never had any food cooked from a traeger. I've been tempted to buy a wood pellet grill a couple times but they're kinda pricey and the wood pellets for some weird reason gross my wife out. They look like they're badass cookers though.
 

Ray Finkle

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t-gator;n253461 said:
I've never had any food cooked from a traeger. I've been tempted to buy a wood pellet grill a couple times but they're kinda pricey and the wood pellets for some weird reason gross my wife out. They look like they're badass cookers though.
She should be use to little bits of wood by now
 

heavychevy

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The only BBQ I'd buy new would be an Egg just because of the warranty. Other than that I'd hit up craigslist.
 

GatorJB

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Ray Finkle;n253141 said:
I paid $120 for mine. Its a basic Brinkman offset from Depot. I went with an offset wood/coal smoker because I enjoy the process enough to sit by it almost nonstop for 16 hours if need be. I'll kick back, drink some beers, hang with a few buddies, play some guitar, or just enjoy the peace and quiet that fatherhood doesn't frequently provide. If thats your idea of a good time, I'd recommend exactly what i have. There is more continuous rack space than most cheaper electric or gas smokers. I've also heard good things about pellet smokers but again, not for me at this time.

Funny. That's pretty close to what I have. I have the Brinkman gas/charcoal with offset smoker. The convenience of gas for quick meals is great, but I can still do all the good stuff on the charcoal side.
 

crosscreekcooter

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NVGator;n6878 said:
Nothing special. A Webber Spirit 3 burner and a vertical smoker. The smoker does have the option to use gas on it but I've never used that, just charcoal and chips. It is my first smoker and now wish I had an indirect side smoker instead.


+Another on Amazingribs site. I've got it book marked. TONs of info there.

Thanks CCC for the advice. The problem I have with the vertical is I can't get the damn heat low enough. It want's to stay around 300-325 unless it's burning off the charcoal then it drops real low. You add more charcoal and BOOM it's back up to 350-400.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NV, I was just reading through this thread again and meant to mention this to you before. Two things that will help with more consistant temps with the vertical smoker: If you have a fuel grate that the charcoal sits on to burn, make sure there is adequate airspace below the coals to the bottom of the firebox (at least a couple of inches) because regular charcoal briquets have a tendency to create a lot of burned ash and the red coals have a tendency to "melt" into the white ash and become starved for combustion air. Without correcting this situation, the only response is to add more fresh charcoal and in doing so the heat jumps up too high. The second tip is to use chunk charcoal instead of briquets, as it burns with much less ash and doesn't choke the burn. I had temp consistancy problems with my offset smoker but for different reasons and had to do some physical modifications to the smoker to improve the performance. I want to talk about that with Ray and others that use an offset smoker design to see if they eperienced the same problems.
 

heavychevy

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Made some of my own mash burgers tonight. We haven't been out to Bev's in a while.

The weed burner will get anything ignited even in a monsoon
2e768d75abe3535dd78440690c164a5a.jpg


Two double double onion mashes and plain for the baby
0dbca398db8ab717610bce3b10fa9d22.jpg


Wife got home when I was starving and the meat was coming off. Thought about a pic halfway thru.
fa374774ff9359ad10f8b330bec14454.jpg



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crosscreekcooter

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heavychevy;n257649 said:
Made some of my own mash burgers tonight. We haven't been out to Bev's in a while.

The weed burner will get anything ignited even in a monsoon
2e768d75abe3535dd78440690c164a5a.jpg


Two double double onion mashes and plain for the baby
0dbca398db8ab717610bce3b10fa9d22.jpg


Wife got home when I was starving and the meat was coming off. Thought about a pic halfway thru.
fa374774ff9359ad10f8b330bec14454.jpg



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I like that cast iron skillet thingy youre cooking those burgers on.
 

heavychevy

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It's actually a cast iron pizza stone seasoned up to make burgers and sear off steaks for reverse Sears and blacken fish.


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t-gator

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heavychevy;n257992 said:
It's actually a cast iron pizza stone seasoned up to make burgers and sear off steaks for reverse Sears and blacken fish.


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How is that reverse sear? I've been wanting to try it.
 

heavychevy

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t-gator;n259045 said:
How is that reverse sear? I've been wanting to try it.

The reverse sear is the beezkneez man. especially with 2"+ steaks. Also makes thicker pork chops WAY easier to nail your temps on.
 

heavychevy

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Solid grub there Ray! Do you let your shorties go on a rack all the way or do you throw them in a pot and braise them after a couple hours in smoke?
 

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