Smokers / Grills

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BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
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BrotherWu said:
Hook me up boys. Green egg? Offset smoker?
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Yes, both of those you will have to babysit. You can get a fan and a controller for the BGE that will improve that somewhat, but it won't feed any more fuel. On the BGE especially if you run out of charcoal you have to disassemble your whole cook to add more. I don't know what kind of turbo smoke flavor you think you're going to get that the traeger didn't give you, but you might just try dumping a bunch of liquid smoke on your meat.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
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I cant speak for Traeger, but if I want more smoke, I just use tubes like you'd use in a cold smoke for cheese and what not. They always work great.
 
L

Lenardo

Vyemm Raider
3,644
2,564
WITH A bge OR Other Kamado style, with proper setup, you CAN get a 16-20hr cook without having to add fuel. those things are awesome.

i've done a smoke that long on mine without adding anything. get the temp right intitially and you are set for a long time.
pickup something like:


Billows® BBQ Temperature Control Fan Kit with a signals/smokex4 for controller-
or
a fireboard with fan
or a bbq guru

these all run in the 200-300 dollar range

offset, how much you want to SPEND is the question

Yoder's start at 3000 for an offset smoker
 
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BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I used a BGE for years. I even tried being a charcoal snob for a while. You *can* get a long cook on them but if you don't, it's a fucking mess where you hopefully noticed that the temp was dropping soon enough to get a new chimney full of coals going, then take out your meat, grill, and plate setter which are all smoking hot, put the new coals in, and then you're more or less back to square 1 on temp control. BGE was awesome for grilling steaks if you don't mind spending half an hour getting your coals burning and heating the thing up, but I'll never smoke anything on mine again. I have an early version of the fan controller thermometer too. $300 and I will never plug it in again.
 
K

Kinner

Clear eyes. Full Hearts. Can't lose.
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Masterbuilt Gravity fed is what you are after. Close enough to offset without any babysitting. More smoke than a standard pellet. Affordable as well.

Coming from someone who owns a Masterbuilt, Woodwind pro pellet, primo oval kamado, weber smokey mountain, weber kettle, and a trailered offset.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
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Kinner said:
Masterbuilt Gravity fed is what you are after. Close enough to offset without any babysitting. More smoke than a standard pellet. Affordable as well.

Coming from someone who owns a Masterbuilt, Woodwind pro pellet, primo oval kamado, weber smokey mountain, weber kettle, and a trailered offset.
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the problem with these is their build quality is super hit and miss, and if you miss, you’re out a lot of money. I would have owned one long ago if it wasn’t for that.
 
K

Kinner

Clear eyes. Full Hearts. Can't lose.
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Tarrant said:
the problem with these is their build quality is super hit and miss, and if you miss, you’re out a lot of money. I would have owned one long ago if it wasn’t for that.
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I got my 800 for 500 from Home Depot. Put together myself and have had 0 issues. I've seen them used on FB marketplace as well. Of the three people I have recommended them to, they haven't had issues either. Just curious, have you?

I don't consider 500 a lot of money when it comes to a smoker though either, so there's that.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
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Kinner said:
I got my 800 for 500 from Home Depot. Put together myself and have had 0 issues. I've seen them used on FB marketplace as well. Of the three people I have recommended them to, they haven't had issues either. Just curious, have you?

I don't consider 500 a lot of money when it comes to a smoker though either, so there's that.
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i personally know 2 that have them, one had issues with his controller, and then a hole burnt in his firebox. The other has had minimal issues, a fan stopped working and he replaced it. His bottom is beginning to rust out as well after a few years.

In both our cases, that’s a small sample size. I’ve read dozens of reviews and watched videos from BBQ people I follow. I’ve debated on pulling the trigger one one myself, a few years ago reviews were pretty poor but they’ve slowly gone up over the time with most sites having 4 out of 5 stars when a few years ago they were in the 3’s range.

I’ve read enough reviews like this one to make me hold off this long, not sure what’ll take to get me to try one, as I have wanted one for years I imagine I’ll risk it and pull the trigger sooner rather than later.


I don’t have a garage so I worry about it even with a cover over it. Also while not a deal breaker, I’ve yet to see one that comes standard with porcelain coated it looked grates, which is a true bummer.

$500 for the 800 is a good deal considering they are about $800 on masterbuilt site last I checked. If I found that deal I probably would have pulled the trigger too, and yes, for me $500 is a lot of money.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
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My brother has one and he has made some very good food in it but he's had some problems too. I think he had to replace the controller pretty soon after he got it. It also blew over once and broke some stuff. It would be interesting if Yoder or someone similar would build a higher quality one.
 
K

Kinner

Clear eyes. Full Hearts. Can't lose.
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BrutulTM said:
My brother has one and he has made some very good food in it but he's had some problems too. I think he had to replace the controller pretty soon after he got it. It also blew over once and broke some stuff. It would be interesting if Yoder or someone similar would build a higher quality one.
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There are some custom gravity fed smokers. Those run around $3,000 plus.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
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Yeah we won’t see many mass produced mid priced models for awhile. Masterbuilt, whatever their method is, was patented in 2021 for 15 years.

I assume that’s why what few competitors there are, are so much more expensive as they need to use a different, more costly method.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Tarrant said:
Yeah we won’t see many mass produced mid priced models for awhile. Masterbuilt, whatever their method is, was patented in 2021 for 15 years.

I assume that’s why what few competitors there are, are so much more expensive as they need to use a different, more costly method.
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lowes brand has one chargriller 980, has the porcelin gratets you want too
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Tarrant said:
Yeah, it’s worse reviewed than anything Masterbuilt has out. Buyer beware.
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i mean, like you found, reviews varies

this dude has both for 2 years and has even modded both (anyone interested or has the masterbuilt knows about lss mods)
 
Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
12,109
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Co worker has the Weber with the convener inclined auger pellet thing he loves it... looking now at their website it looks like they are ditching it and going back to the normal augur?

I got some pellet grill from Sams' Club 2 or so years ago, it was on clearance online and in store, so I was able to see the in-store discount and quantity, watched it for 3 months as it got from like 500$ to 150$, there were still 4 left when I pulled the trigger- I was 4 days out from the next discount hit, but I figured it would have only been 25$ or so more discount.

It lives outside, in Florida, its survived, I had to take it apart a few times because I let the pellets dissolve and get wet then dry into wood-concrete - but it works well enough and is fairly accurate for temperature

I need to clean it...its nasty.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Siliconemelons said:
I need to clean it...its nasty.
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thats one thing i like about going non electric

i can just take my garden hose or powerwasher and goto town. when i had my pellet grill i'd take out the damn feed box w/ the auger before powerwashing.

and i'd also clean the auger too cuz as you've seen if you leave it alone w/ pellets, it's not good if it's in there and expands.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

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Lanx said:
i mean, like you found, reviews varies

this dude has both for 2 years and has even modded both (anyone interested or has the masterbuilt knows about lss mods)
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Yes reviews vary, but when I add up total reviews across a dozen sites and it’s at a 3.2 out of 5, I’m probably staying clear for now.

hell, Chargrillers own website shows it at a 2.6 quality rating.
 
K

Kinner

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I've got some of the lss mods. For reference, i do not use my Masterbuilt as a grill only for smoking. I have better direct grills for that. You have to keep the interior clean or you can get flame outs which that thing doesnt handle well. I also use full foil pans to keep dripping down to a minimum.

You can do a 12 hour cook or more on a weber Smokey mountain too depending on outside temp.
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

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Yeah everything I've read on the Masterbuilts says you need to clean after every use, which is fine. I just wish from looking at it they had rounded edges on the corners for easier cleaning.

And again, why do none of these have porcelain grates? I'm sure they offer them as an upgrade for $150 or whatever, booo.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Tarrant said:
And again, why do none of these have porcelain grates? I'm sure they offer them as an upgrade for $150 or whatever, booo.
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Lanx said:
lowes brand has one chargriller 980, has the porcelin gratets you want too
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