Just bought a cold smoker

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:22 pm

Well, I bought the first stage of a cold smoker, the tool to provide the smoke.

This is not my smoker, but I plan to make something myself. Might use a 55 gallon drum. Not sure yet.

Might be a few weeks, but I'll post my creation once it is complete.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:29 pm

What are you gonna make with that getup?

Prosciutto and lox?

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:40 pm

A question, Indy. I’m considering getting myself a smoker for Father’s Day. My initial thought was that I trust Weber, and I can get their bullet smoker for around $200. I’ve read stuff here and there that suggests that it’s basically a charcoal smoker and doesn’t handle wood very well. Or that you have to have an offset smoker to properly do ribs.

Perhaps you have some ideas, or could hook me up with a link to a good discussion of what to buy. Thanks.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:00 pm

This is the one I got. It works great as a smoker or a grill:

The only complaints I have are that it's not really heavy duty construction, and I would prefer a little more workspace. Also, you have to use a soup can on a glitchy hanger underneath for a grease drain. Not a very good setup for that.

Reviewed here - the picture in the article doesn't have the side box. It was pretty cheap, but it works great.
Scroll to the bottom of the article for more reviews.

http://bbq.about.com/od/smokerreviews/g ... 20807b.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:09 pm

Mikey,

Coincidentally that is the offset smoker I was considering. Home Depot sells it for $170. I already have a gas grill and a Webber kettle. Still would like to hear Indy's opinion of vertical vs offset, and charcoal vs wood.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:41 pm

I don't care what Indy says, though I'm pretty sure he'll agree. You don't want to smoke with charcoal.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:26 pm

Mikey wrote:I don't care what Indy says, though I'm pretty sure he'll agree. You don't want to smoke with charcoal.

Says who? I used to do a pack of Tareytons a day way back when.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:15 pm

Did you end up fighting, or switching?

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:09 pm

Goobs,

I willget back to you on this subject as I do have a good recomendation for you that does not involve a tin foil style smoker from Home Depot. Please hold off on buying one of those pieces of shit. I will steer you to the good stuff.

Will give a lot more info later but in the mean time check out lyfetyme.com for the best smokers. I'll give you the low-down on those smokers. Will send pictures of mine along with my critique of those soon.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:06 pm

Mikey wrote:Did you end up fighting, or switching?

I wound up switching to Marlboros, then Marlboro lights. Then I quit.

Hurry up Indy. This is supposed to be my Father's Day present. For this year.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:44 pm

Now that I think about it, I've got to agree with IndyFrisco on this one.

Why spend 300 bucks on something that works perfectly well when you can drop $1500 to get the same results, and then brag about how much money you spent? It just doesn't make sense.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:42 pm

I'm still considering the Weber bullet smoker. I know that is not "tin foil", and I can get it for close to 2 bills. If I really get into smoking I can always upgrade later. But I'll wait another day or two to see what Indy has to say.

smackaholic · Post by **smackaholic** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:51 pm

Goober McTuber wrote: If I really get into smoking I can always upgrade later.

I thought you said you quit. Whataya gonna upgrade too? Cigars?

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 10:01 pm

smackaholic wrote:
Goober McTuber wrote: If I really get into smoking I can always upgrade later.
I thought you said you quit. Whataya gonna upgrade too?

Poles.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:35 pm

Ok, long weekend. Finally weighing in here.

My deal with offset smokers is that those $200 versions at Home Depot are very lightweight. They are made of like 1/16" metal. Try cooking with one of those in the rain. Here is a picture of the one I have:

It weighs about 500 lbs. When the lid is shut, it is SEALED. Maintining temperature is very easy. And you will never ever need to buy another smoker again. In my last two homes, I have actually poured a pad of concrete so this thing has its own home. Never once used a cover on it either. It's just that strong.

http://www.lyfetyme.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; 20" x 40" single lid grill with firebox. It is about $700. Shipping might run another $200. If that is more than you want to spend, no need to spend $300. Just buy the cheapo $160 version of the Char Broil brand at the Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... yID=500439" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As for smoking with the Weber, advise against that. It is a great charcoal grill for direct heat on steaks. Not so much with smoking. The key to smoking is being able to regulate heat. Doing it with this setup is very hard to do.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:42 pm

I wasn't talking about the Weber kettle. The Weber Smoky Mountain (WSM) bullet smoker does have vents for controlling heat. I’ve read that it doesn’t handle logs well, but I’m wondering how it does with wood chips.

I have my gas grill on the deck, but would probably keep the smoker in the shed. The WSM would be easy to carry up on the deck, the Char-Broil I would just drag over next to the deck.

The WSM:

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:44 pm

Here's the offset I was looking at from Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... =100342154" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:16 pm

Seems servicable enough as a starter smoker. The wood shelf looks pretty cheap and VERY narrow. Not sure if you can put a plate on there at all. One thing about this I do not like, other than the wood shelf, is the firbox that does not have a flat top on it. Having the flat top makes it so nice to put BBQ sauce in a pot on. Keeps it warm as the food cooks. I also do not like the grates on this one. Mine has expanded metal grates. Much nicer in my book.

In any case, as I said before, that one seems like a decent starter smoker. My neighbor bough the Char Broil version. He loved it...until he got good at it. Now he wants one like mine.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:30 pm

If you check out the reviews at Home Depot (yeah, for what they’re worth), the Char-Griller gets much better marks than the Char-Broil. By far. Though the wood shelf was noted as inferior. I could probably fabricate an upgrade.

I still haven’t given up on the WSM, though. I could get that for my starter smoker. Then in a couple of years when the gas grill starts dying, I could justify spending $600-700 on an offset that can smoke or grill.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:36 pm

From my ABT PET, see the thickness of the steel on my smoker.

Either way you go, anything is better than nothing. Good luck.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:24 pm

Thanks for the input.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:34 pm

IndyFrisco wrote:I also do not like the grates on this one. Mine has expanded metal grates. Much nicer in my book.

How do you know? You can't see the grates in the picture. The grates on the Char-Griller are cast iron and fairly heavy duty.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:49 pm

Mikey wrote:

You posted the picture, Mikey. I can clearly see the grates. These are round grates like on most grills. I like the expanded metal.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:02 pm

BTW, I was looking at the CharBroil grill at Menards yesterday, and they do offer an optional attachment that creates a flat space on top of the smoker box. But the CharBroil definitely has a cheap feel about it.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:42 pm

IndyFrisco wrote:
You posted the picture, Mikey. I can clearly see the grates. These are round grates like on most grills. I like the expanded metal.

My bad. I thought you were looking at the picture that Goobs linked.

Anyhow, they may look like round grates in the picture, but they are not on the one that I bought. They're flat cast iron grates, very heavy, in the main cooking area. There are small round grates that you can use in the offset box if you want a smaller grill. I've never used it that way. The setup is actually quite versatile because it has an adjustable coal rack, that you can raise up and down, under the main cooking surface. The thing works great as a grill, either direct heat or indirect because of the large cooking surface. You can easily remove the coal rack completely and use it as a pure offset smoker as well.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:50 pm

Goober McTuber wrote:BTW, I was looking at the CharBroil grill at Menards yesterday, and they do offer an optional attachment that creates a flat space on top of the smoker box. But the CharBroil definitely has a cheap feel about it.

Oh the CharBroil is a piece of shit of the highest order. My bud's is 1 year old and it has major rust, and it will last maybe another year before the rust makes it through the foil...err steel. The one in that picture doesn't look so bad as a starter. Neither does the Weber Bullet. I think Mikey's one looks like it may give better and more surface area to cook though. You can probably fit 2 rib racks in there allwing for up to 6-8 racks cooked at once.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:35 pm

What I decided to do for now is to buy the Pro BBQ bullet smoker:

On sale at Sears for $69.99. I’m sure that the Weber bullet is better, but it’s also three times as much money. The Pro BBQ has a couple of features that are missing on the Weber, such as a thermometer and handles. I also found a website where folks have come up with modifications to improve it.

My wife is totally down with stuff I do on the grill, but I’m not sure how she’ll be with stuff I can do in the smoker. So it makes sense to start out cheap. If she really likes a wide range of BBQ stuff, then I can upgrade to a nice offset smoker, something way nicer than Mikey’s.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:25 am

Good luck. If you need any smoking tips, let us know.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:25 am

Well, once I get done putting together 40 or so sets of nuts and bolts on this fucker, I'll do just that. Hard to believe that with all of the parts involved that were packed up in China, it appears that the only things I'm missing are two washers. And what I'd like help with initially is a basic rub. I do have Steve Raichelin's BBQ Bible as a reference. I plan to start with ribs which I've done before in the oven and finished on the grill, and a pork butt.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:37 pm

My rub. This is enough to liberally rub down about 2 racks of baby backs or a rack of spare ribs.

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cayenne (or more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons ancho chili powder

I have some 1 gallon jelly jars with clamps. I actually have a couple different rubs that I make huge batches of and keep sealed in the airtight jelly jars. Last time I just measured all these out individually then weighed them each so I can now make the big batch based upon weight quickly rather than mess with the measuring spoons.

My other rub I keep in stock is for beef such as beef ribs, steaks and hamburgers. I don't have the exact rub recipe here, but it has pretty much the same ingredients with a few little differences. It has coriander whereas my pork rub does not. Couple other ingredients too.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:17 pm

Goobs,

Found this online if you are ever interested in cold smoking with your setup.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/coldsmoker.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:32 pm

Seems like an awful lot of work just so you can make your own bacon.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:03 pm

I was thinking more along the lines of once you decide to move on, if you do, to something bigger, you could convert your old one to a new one. Of course, the contraption I have on post 1 of this thread looks a lot easier to install and you could do it on your existing smoker while only having to drill a 5/8" hole and tighten a couple screws.

My main reason is to cold smoke cheese, some meats (to be cooked fully later) and vegetables (olives, asparagus, etc.)

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:42 pm

This is were the electric shines.

And in the end, you're still torching up wood. Easy to keep the temp down, good for poultry and cheese... and especially fish.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:16 am

My cold smoker is part electric. I plug the air pump into the wall.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:21 am

Dins,

Going out on a limb here. In reading the Bradley Smoker forums, many of those use their Bradley to smoke salman. MANY swear that hot smoking previously frozen salmon is damn near as good as cold smoking fresh salmon.

As I have said before, I'm not much a salmon fan. I have had smoked salmon that I liked. As I don't have ready access to fish that was clubbed a few seconds ago, any thoughts on smoked previously frozen salmon?

And if you say you ONLY eat fresh salmon, I will call you a liar or a waster. Because there's no way you eat an entire fish or few you pull out of the river "fresh." You freeze some of it or you toss it.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:36 pm

IndyFrisco wrote:Dins,

Going out on a limb here. In reading the Bradley Smoker forums, many of those use their Bradley to smoke salman.

Don't tell his wife. She just might get jealous.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:52 pm

Mikey wrote:
IndyFrisco wrote:Dins,

Going out on a limb here. In reading the Bradley Smoker forums, many of those use their Bradley to smoke salman.
Don't tell his ex wife. She just might get jealous.

Fitty for you.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:56 pm

I didn't know about the "ex" part.

This thread is about smokin', right?

I think she fits the bill, ex or not.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:56 pm

IndyFrisco wrote:And if you say you ONLY eat fresh salmon, I will call you a liar or a waster.

And you'd be sorely mistaken.

Because there's no way you eat an entire fish or few you pull out of the river "fresh." You freeze some of it or you toss it.

When I catch a chromer and whack its melon, picture it this way...

When you cook up a massive brisket, is it just for you? Or do you call your friends and have a big feed?

I'll cook up a bunch. What doesn't get eaten right away (can you say "grossly overeating"?), generally ends up as salmon salad sammiches, for myself.

But once it's fileted/steaked.... and this might be hard to believe... but once it's dressed, it ain't too tough to give away fresh chinook.

No, really.

Then, when Joe Buddy gets one next week, I've got fresh fish in "the bank."

Getting it yet?

Salmon feasts are very much a communal thing round these parts.

And if there's surplus... well, there's this thing called a "smoker," and...

And no... there's no such thing as "hot smoking" salmon. That would be a "smokey barbeque." Absolutely not the same. Smoking salmon/fish in general is completely different from smoking anything else -- with fish, there's an actual chemical reaction involved, that isn't working the same if it's done at over about 165 degrees. More of a dehydrating process than a cooking process. I doubt "hot smoked" salmon would have the same near-forever shelf life that smoked salmon does.

Years and years ago, on a day off, fishing was to be good... realllllly good, or so we figured. But I was young and poor, and just short of payday. Me and a buddy scrounged through the couch cushions and scraped up enough pennies and pocket lint to get to the coast and back, and that was about it. I landed a chromer-for-the-ages, a HoF example of a freshwater chinook, around 35 pounds. The catch was, being broke, that it couldn't have been a more timely catch... since that's the only freaking food I had for the rest of the week. Threw the whole sumbitch in the oven at once. Came up with enough cash for a loaf of bread and a jar of mayo. Are salmon sammiches 3+ times a day for a week. I was OK with it, but a nothing-but-salmon diet can make for some pretty gamey farts... my coworkers were a little tired of it by week's end.