what smoker to buy ?????

[nickyp]

hi my name is nick i live in cheam surrey , im new to this site and new to bbqing, im looking to buy a smoker with an off set fire box,ive seen the the char-griller smokin pro on sale for £299,and ive also looked at the landmann tennesse smoker for around £130 and the brinkmann style braunfels hondo smoker £199, and i was wondering if anyone could recommend one of these smokers or any other smoker that i could purchase in the uk. ive already got a copy of smoke and spice and cant wait to get started !!
all the best nick .....

[tommo666]

Have a look on this site: http://www.macsbbq.com/
A lot of peeps here use the proQ range. I have the frontier, the excel20 is bigger. I also have an offset smoker which does a great job but it's more labour intensive than the proQ, it needs fueling more often as the fire box isn't that big and temp control is an art form. The proQ is more 'fire and forget' once you've got used to it.

[keith157]

Plus if you take the sections out you have a useful, portable kettle bbq.

[Tiny]

Hi and welcome,
Interested to know why you particularly want an offset smoker?

Most seem to end up buying bullets like the WSM or Pro Q.

I have an offset landmann and it was good value, but I wouldnt try and do a whole brisket on it. The design means you inevitably have a hot and cold side which means multiple rotations to get an even cook on a big joint. I am also not convinced that my multi purpose argument I used to convince myself was valid either, I can use it as a regular grill, but if I have serious grilling to do I fire up the kettle or the gas hunter.

The landmann does work very well for smaller smokes like ribs chicken and fishies although again with a full rack you do have to spin it a couple of times in the process

So I think my final advice would be if you are looking to smoke a lot buy a bullet

Sorry tiny

[CyderPig]

Make an Ugly Drum, simple and easy to make, easy to use and very economical on charcoal.
But I am biased, I have an offset I never use as it is a pain in the arse to keep temps even as other members have stated.
Unless you can afford to get a top of the range model, don't bother the cheap ones are a waste of money and need loads of mod's to get them to work in a half decent way.
Si

[The Smoking Canon]

If you're new, then i'd learn to use a Kettle BBQ properly, play with the heat, charcoals and wood chunk/chips combo. Learn about creating smoke with heat and about brining too, then move on to something more challenging.

[chokethechicken]

ProQ or WSM from my point of view - starting out. I love my WSM - the only downside being the food volume you're limited to cooking in one batch.
Thick clay saucer in the wsm empty bowl, combined with the iQue110 temp controller and it hold temps

extremely well. I can put on pork butts in at the evening, sleep and check in the morning and all is okay.
It did stretch my budget getting the WSM but I don't regret it now for one second.
(Beer can chicken in the go today!)

[MrJaba]

I'm also considering a new smoker, but I'd love to know id there's anything like an insulated bullet smoker? I love the capacity of the Excel and WSM, but I'd love the insulated-ness of a big green egg/ big steel keg for efficiency. Does something like that exist?

[Nick]

I'm also considering a new smoker, but I'd love to know id there's anything like an insulated bullet smoker? I love the capacity of the Excel and WSM, but I'd love the insulated-ness of a big green egg/ big steel keg for efficiency. Does something like that exist?

I guess you could make a really well insulated UDS - I've heard they can be made practically air-tight and can be very efficient. I have a Frontier teamed with an IQ110 and find it to be very efficient although not particularly well insulated.

You could just go all-out and buy an XL Big Green Egg if you have £1k plus knocking about - that's the dream...

[MrJaba]

I guess you could make a really well insulated UDS - I've heard they can be made practically air-tight and can be very efficient. I have a Frontier teamed with an IQ110 and find it to be very efficient although not particularly well insulated.

Haha, I'm not nearly handy enough I'm afraid, I'd probably cut myself in half attempting that! And I think even the XL big green egg can only just cook about the same amount as an Excel or thereabouts? Tempting though!