Electric Smokers

[auburnribs]

Hey ya'll. I'm new to smoking and thinking about buying my first smoker. I was wondering if you guys had any opinions on what type or brand of smoker is best? I am looking into an electric smoker made by Masterbuilt. Any thoughts?

 

[Dawgluver]

Welcome to DC! We have some excellent smokers here who no doubt will be by shortly. Meanwhile, have a look around.

 

[Hoot]

Howdy!
Welcome to D.C.!
I reckon electric smokers would do the trick. My preference is charcoal or wood, which can be used in places where there ain't no electricity. Likely someone here has tried or uses one.

 

[forty_caliber]

I'm with Hoot. Back in the day I was a purist... charcoal or wood only. That's the way to go if your schedule allows it. I just don't have the time anymore.

I'm not sure what your price range is. Traeger is hands down the way to go for an electric smoker. It burns hardwood pellets about the size and shape of rabbit food. Since the fuel is of uniform size temperature can be precisely controlled. The bin holds enough for 10-12 hours of unattended smoke time.

Here is a thread showing the Traeger in action...

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f36/tnt-smoked-chicken-breast-process-69930.html

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[Rob Babcock]

I recently purchased a Smokin-it Model #3 and am pretty happy so far. They do make smaller, cheaper ones too.

If you go with the Masterbuilt read all the reviews you can find. The ones I've read have been mixed. There are complaints about reliability and build quality but I've never seen one so it's just hearsay.

 

[CWS4322]

My cousin converted his charcoal smoker at The Lake to an electric one--that way, when he is out fishing, he doesn't have to keep an eye on the temp. I just have a little all-in-one charcoal/wood smoker. I have only used it once, but am in LOVE with it. I guess the big questions are how often would you use it and how much money do you want to spend on it?

 

[auburnribs]

Thanks guys this is helpful information.

My cousin converted his charcoal smoker at The Lake to an electric one--that way, when he is out fishing, he doesn't have to keep an eye on the temp. I just have a little all-in-one charcoal/wood smoker. I have only used it once, but am in LOVE with it. I guess the big questions are how often would you use it and how much money do you want to spend on it?

Hopefully I will be able to use it at least a once a month. Especially since football season is here. The most I want to spend is $200

 

[Dawgluver]

If I'm not mistaken, I think CWS has a small Smoky Joe. I used one for years, it's not electric, but works pretty well. Folks here have also had great results with the good ol' Weber standard charcoal grill.

 

[love2"Q"]

I really like my masterbuilt electric smoker.. but i do use my charcoal smoker about 75 % of the time..

 

[Mamas kitchen]

I have a char broil tru infrared smoker and it is awesome! Got it for $199 at Lowe's (my toy store/occupation) cooked a 8lb Boston butt on it a couple days ago. Yumm....

 

[Palladini]

I have The Masterbuilt 30 inch electric Smoker with the window in the door and I love it, so do the neighbours! Of all the smokers out there, electric is the easiest to use, mostly a set and forget type of smoker. That being said, every hour to hour and half, you need to add chips to the smoker and masterbuilt provides you with an easy way to that. If you head over to YouTube and enter the Masterbuilt name into the search engine there, you will see just how easy this is. Thus, you have lots of beer drinking times with your friends when using one of these.

 

[mamajamma21]

I bought a masterbuilt 30" electric this year to get myself back into smoking. I like it, but feel that I have already "out grown" it. I don't know if that is more a product of how I escalate things or of the lack of versatility in the unit.

Truth is, I have made some great bbq in this, but for example, I don't feel like I can't really get a good smoke ring on brisket or pork butt without putting chips in every 45min or so until the meat is about 160F degrees. I also don't like that the masterbuilt max temp is 275F, which hurts it's versatility, imo.

If I had it to do over again, I'd save up and get a BGE, which I have fallen in love with. I might even trade by weber propane for that...

 

[roadfix]

If I had it to do over again, I'd save up and get a BGE, which I have fallen in love with. I might even trade by weber propane for that...

Or build yourself an UDS...

 

[CraigC]

If I had it to do over again, I'd save up and get a BGE, which I have fallen in love with. I might even trade by weber propane for that...

Love my large Egg and my Horizon, offset stick burner.