Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Non food Related => Topic started by: 02ebz06 on April 17, 2022, 02:54:03 PM
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Wondering if anyone has an electric smoker ?
Been thinking about getting one as they can smoke as low as 100 degrees.
Most I've seen that you have continually load smoke chips. Masterbuilt for one.
Bradley has a stacker you load their hockey puck wood biscuits in, but then you have to buy those from them.
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I have a Bradley 6 rack digital. Really wouldn't recommend it unless adding a PID controller from Auber Instruments. The temperature control that is on it is pretty poor. 50 to 70 degree temp swings are pretty common. I see they have a new 4 rack with a PID controller built in and I would think that should be better. But some reviews mention temp swings also. The pucks are a bit pricey but did work well.
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I had a Masterbuilt years ago that I gave to my BIL when I got my first pellet grill. It was a pain to feed wood chips into it constantly. I've been thinking about getting a new one that uses charcoal and wood chunks but that cheap screw gene kicking in still. Hoping to find a used one.
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The Smokin-It electric smokers are very nice, and you can add on a cold smoker attachment that uses pellets.
Only drawback I see is price.
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I have a 30” master built electric that I purchased for cold smoking. It works fine for that and small items. Feeding it is a pain but it worked when I used it that way.
For cold smoking I use a pellet tray with the mailbox mod.
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I have a 30” master built electric that I purchased for cold smoking. It works fine for that and small items. Feeding it is a pain but it worked when I used it that way.
For cold smoking I use a pellet tray with the mailbox mod.
Had to Google that Mailbox mod. Interesting Idea.
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I bought a small cookshack smokette maybe 22 years ago, it is still going strong. I love it for loner cooks. only goes to 250 I put a few small pieces of wood in the box close the door and wait. It gets used for butts as I can put them in close the door come back in 12-13 hours and take them out to rest.
It is small so not going to be hanging stuff in it well. My racks are 14x14 I think the new ones are 18x18.
I like the looks or the Smokin It smokers and the sizes. I would like to have a 3.5 I think it is. But the cookshack keeps going. I also have a DH65 southern pride I bought in an online auction. it works well, over kill for my needs now. At the time I used it as I did things for work and the space was great.
Not sure if you need insulated but you could probably build something out of a 2 burner hot plate and an Auber controller. Thinking maybe an old filing cabinet or better yet locker or an old holding cabinet.
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a buddy of mine had a Bradley. He wasn't using it, I used it for about a year. Then got the Traeger, then the Gator. This was 14 years ago.
I will say, that Bradley is still smoking and it puts out some great smoked salmon. It's held up better than the Traeger.
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I've used the kind that are a box with a pan of wood chips on a heating element. They do work, and we used the oven to finish the cook. This was in my pre-pellet era.
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I think you will notice a difference in the smoke "flavor" with an electric smoker. I don't think they burn as clean as the pellet grills you are used to.
I had a Cookshack years ago when I didn't know any better about the type of smoke you should see coming out of the chimney. I used to much wood one day and was never able to get the creosote flavor out of the smoker. I sold it at a garage sale for $25 or $50 to get it out of my garage.
I don't know if things changed with them since then, but it was near impossible to get a smoke ring if you wanted that for presentation purposes. They recommended that you put a few pieces of lump charcoal in with the wood to get that chemistry to create the ring. I never got it to work. Smoke flavor and tenderness was very good before I got too much creosote in the cooker.
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I think you will notice a difference in the smoke "flavor" with an electric smoker. I don't think they burn as clean as the pellet grills you are used to.
I had a Cookshack years ago when I didn't know any better about the type of smoke you should see coming out of the chimney. I used to much wood one day and was never able to get the creosote flavor out of the smoker. I sold it at a garage sale for $25 or $50 to get it out of my garage.
I don't know if things changed with them since then, but it was near impossible to get a smoke ring if you wanted that for presentation purposes. They recommended that you put a few pieces of lump charcoal in with the wood to get that chemistry to create the ring. I never got it to work. Smoke flavor and tenderness was very good before I got too much creosote in the cooker.
Take a look at the Smokin-it smokers and the cold smoke add-on.
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I think you will notice a difference in the smoke "flavor" with an electric smoker. I don't think they burn as clean as the pellet grills you are used to.
I had a Cookshack years ago when I didn't know any better about the type of smoke you should see coming out of the chimney. I used to much wood one day and was never able to get the creosote flavor out of the smoker. I sold it at a garage sale for $25 or $50 to get it out of my garage.
I don't know if things changed with them since then, but it was near impossible to get a smoke ring if you wanted that for presentation purposes. They recommended that you put a few pieces of lump charcoal in with the wood to get that chemistry to create the ring. I never got it to work. Smoke flavor and tenderness was very good before I got too much creosote in the cooker.
Take a look at the Smokin-it smokers and the cold smoke add-on.
I have my MAK side chamber I use for cold smoking. I am done buying grilling equipment. I need to sell or throw out about 3 grills.
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I think you will notice a difference in the smoke "flavor" with an electric smoker. I don't think they burn as clean as the pellet grills you are used to.
I had a Cookshack years ago when I didn't know any better about the type of smoke you should see coming out of the chimney. I used to much wood one day and was never able to get the creosote flavor out of the smoker. I sold it at a garage sale for $25 or $50 to get it out of my garage.
I don't know if things changed with them since then, but it was near impossible to get a smoke ring if you wanted that for presentation purposes. They recommended that you put a few pieces of lump charcoal in with the wood to get that chemistry to create the ring. I never got it to work. Smoke flavor and tenderness was very good before I got too much creosote in the cooker.
Take a look at the Smokin-it smokers and the cold smoke add-on.
I have my MAK side chamber I use for cold smoking. I am done buying grilling equipment. I need to sell or throw out about 3 grills.
Wasn't implying you buy one, just wanted you checkout the smoke. ;D
You do have a few smokers. I'm pretty bad at things like that.
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I think those Cookshack Electric Smokers are very good, but I also think you need to know how to use them as they can lay down some serious smoke!
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I think those Cookshack Electric Smokers are very good, but I also think you need to know how to use them as they can lay down some serious smoke!
Agreed based on my failed experience
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I use very little wood. I buy one of those bags of chunks, cut them into smaller pieces. maybe small egg size. I will use chips if doing a lower temp cook or if doing short cook. I have put a few pieces to much wood in shortly after buying it and learned not to over do it.
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Ive smoked lots of sausage using a smoking Tex (same thing as a cook shack) and a Bradley smoker, but my favorite electric now is the MES 40. I use it specifically to finish my smokes after wrapping and for smoking sausage. I use a pellet maze for generating the smoke when doing sausage.
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Is the glass hard to keep clean and how big are the racks on your MES 40?
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Is the glass hard to keep clean and how big are the racks on your MES 40?
19 3/4 inches by 12 inches. If you clean the glass immediately after use it cleans pretty easy, which I do.
z
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Ive smoked lots of sausage using a smoking Tex (same thing as a cook shack) and a Bradley smoker, but my favorite electric now is the MES 40. I use it specifically to finish my smokes after wrapping and for smoking sausage. I use a pellet maze for generating the smoke when doing sausage.
[ Invalid Attachment ]
Curious as to why foil is covering the pans. Do you not want the smoke to migrate into the food??
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Is the glass hard to keep clean and how big are the racks on your MES 40?
19 3/4 inches by 12 inches. If you clean the glass immediately after use it cleans pretty easy, which I do.
z
Thanks. I have to go to Home Depot today so I'll go look at them. Looks like you could get a little brisket in there.
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Ive smoked lots of sausage using a smoking Tex (same thing as a cook shack) and a Bradley smoker, but my favorite electric now is the MES 40. I use it specifically to finish my smokes after wrapping and for smoking sausage. I use a pellet maze for generating the smoke when doing sausage.
[ Invalid Attachment ]
Curious as to why foil is covering the pans. Do you not want the smoke to migrate into the food??
This smoker is used for sausage and finishing my other smokes. The four butts in the smoker were smoked in my GMG Daniel Boone for probably 6 or 7 hours until a nice bark is formed then foiled and finished in the MES. I cant see wasting pellets after I have foiled if I have another means of finishing the cook. In the winter I may use the oven in the house.
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Ive smoked lots of sausage using a smoking Tex (same thing as a cook shack) and a Bradley smoker, but my favorite electric now is the MES 40. I use it specifically to finish my smokes after wrapping and for smoking sausage. I use a pellet maze for generating the smoke when doing sausage.
[ Invalid Attachment ]
Curious as to why foil is covering the pans. Do you not want the smoke to migrate into the food??
This smoker is used for sausage and finishing my other smokes. The four butts in the smoker were smoked in my GMG Daniel Boone for probably 6 or 7 hours until a nice bark is formed then foiled and finished in the MES. I cant see wasting pellets after I have foiled if I have another means of finishing the cook. In the winter I may use the oven in the house.
That makes sense. Thanks.