Deciding between smokers

[Axkiker]

Trying to decide what smoker I want. Looking between the two below. The one from Smoke Hollow I like as it has a cold smoking option. It also has Bluetooth and an internal temp probe.

The Pitt Boss is a pellet style but has no cold smoke option. It does however get to a higher temp. (450 I think). I guess that could eliminate finishing on the gas grill.

This will be plumbed into the chimney in my garage. I can see the Smoke Hollow unit will be more of a pain as ill need to fab some sheet metal to cover the rear where the smoke comes out. The PB would be easier as I could just drop a piece of round chimney type skeet metal over it.


Both roughly the same cost

[glfgd82]

Personal opinion: The more wood you can burn the better when it comes to smokers. I personally would go pellet for that reason. My dream smoker which will I will someday have at the new restaurant I'm opening has electric assist but will be burning whole log exclusively, Q that comes out of smokers which burn more wood just tend to have better results in my opinion. Our new gas assist OH is set up to run wood fuel for 95% of it's operation when it comes to cooking, in our test batches out of it food which has been subjected to more of a wood base during cooking just turned out better for us.

[Axkiker]

Personal opinion: The more wood you can burn the better when it comes to smokers. I personally would go pellet for that reason. My dream smoker which will I will someday have at the new restaurant I'm opening has electric assist but will be burning whole log exclusively, Q that comes out of smokers which burn more wood just tend to have better results in my opinion. Our new gas assist OH is set up to run wood fuel for 95% of it's operation when it comes to cooking, in our test batches out of it food which has been subjected to more of a wood base during cooking just turned out better for us.

Do you consider pellets the same as wood ? Flavor wise anyways. I understand its all wood lol.

[Hogbus]

Pitt boss

[glfgd82]

Do you consider pellets the same as wood ? Flavor wise anyways. I understand its all wood lol.

Yes, I have not seen a residential use electric smoker that could get hot enough to efficiently burn wood in a proper manner to produce enough smoke to produce consistent quality. Pellet grills/smokers can do this due to their higher temps and using the pellets. If your sold on getting one of these two then I'd say pellet all the way. Do keep in mind that if your planning on extending the exhaust you may run into an air flow issue due to the extension, might take some work figuring out what will work best for you.

[Axkiker]

Yes, I have not seen a residential use electric smoker that could get hot enough to efficiently burn wood in a proper manner to produce enough smoke to produce consistent quality. Pellet grills/smokers can do this due to their higher temps and using the pellets. If your sold on getting one of these two then I'd say pellet all the way. Do keep in mind that if your planning on extending the exhaust you may run into an air flow issue due to the extension, might take some work figuring out what will work best for you.

Well hard to argue with a guy who has a restaurant. I will say I'm not stuck on any specific brand. These were just two I saw that seemed to fit my needs. Ive used masterbuilt up until now and just figured I would try a different brand. Was really intrigued with the Smoke Hollow smoker as it had cold smoking as an option. But I could still cold smoke in the other with one of the small smoking trays.

The only thing that is a must for me is I want this style vertical smoker. I don't want the new pellet grill / smokers. I have a gas and charcoal grill so I really don't have a reason for that style. Plus the way in which I'm going to sorta build this into my garage it will just work better.

[Hogbus]

For cold smoking I use a pellet tube. Many varieties on amazon. Fill it with pellets, light it, 4 hours of smoke. On normal smokes the pellet grill will give you close to a stick cooker product. The heat source is wood not electric or gase. I have them all lol. My offset cookers produce the best. My pit boss gets real close and is 100 times easier to use. I did change controller to a Savannah stoker pid similar to a rec tec controller. Good luck JD

[rb]

One important factor, this will most likely be a starter smoker. A neighbor or family member will come over to eat. Sometime in the future and at the last minute they will call and ask if you can cook for them. So pick the one you think you can learn the quickest on. You'll have great food out of either one

[rng518]

Get a Pitboss pellet great product for the price

[Axkiker]

I think I'm going with the Pitt Boss. Would be easier to extend the chimney and gets hotter. I can always get one of the tubes or trays for cold smoking.

[Bamaman]

Personal opinion: The more wood you can burn the better when it comes to smokers. I personally would go pellet for that reason. My dream smoker which will I will someday have at the new restaurant I'm opening has electric assist but will be burning whole log exclusively, Q that comes out of smokers which burn more wood just tend to have better results in my opinion. Our new gas assist OH is set up to run wood fuel for 95% of it's operation when it comes to cooking, in our test batches out of it food which has been subjected to more of a wood base during cooking just turned out better for us.

After living 18 years in Memphis, I'm out of that school of barbeque. In the old days, pittmasters in restaurants would often stay up nights stoking their fires for around 14 hours on a cooking with hickory or oak logs. Many would have liked to use charcoal, but it's too expensive.

Now, pittmasters load their meat into their cookers early at night, and they set the timers to start about midnight. They only put a couple of logs in the bottom of the cooker, and natural gas is the fuel of choice. What used to take 14 hours to cook now can be done in 8 hours with completely consistent temperatures.

Virtually every great barbeque place in Memphis is using the natural gas/log cookers. Even Melissa Cookston at Memphis Barbeque Company has given in and gone to this type of cooker. I like to think that they're 90% as good as a real wood pit, but with 50% of the labor required. A lot of the quality is made up with great sauces and condiments.

Now, pittmasters have a home life.

I would love to have such a new smoker, but my Mastercraft electric smoker does all right. And I don't use it that often anyway. I depend on my son in law for meat--a top 10 pittmaster at Memphis In May for a competitive barbeque team.

[glfgd82]

After living 18 years in Memphis, I'm out of that school of barbeque. In the old days, pittmasters in restaurants would often stay up nights stoking their fires for around 14 hours on a cooking with hickory or oak logs. Many would have liked to use charcoal, but it's too expensive.

Now, pittmasters load their meat into their cookers early at night, and they set the timers to start about midnight. They only put a couple of logs in the bottom of the cooker, and natural gas is the fuel of choice. What used to take 14 hours to cook now can be done in 8 hours with completely consistent temperatures.

Virtually every great barbeque place in Memphis is using the natural gas/log cookers. Even Melissa Cookston at Memphis Barbeque Company has given in and gone to this type of cooker. I like to think that they're 90% as good as a real wood pit, but with 50% of the labor required. A lot of the quality is made up with great sauces and condiments.

Now, pittmasters have a home life.

I would love to have such a new smoker, but my Mastercraft electric smoker does all right. And I don't use it that often anyway. I depend on my son in law for meat--a top 10 pittmaster at Memphis In May for a competitive barbeque team.

Our new OH definitely has changed out mindset on how we go about our days and how the daily routine for the restaurant will work out. It's definitely nice to have a cooker which can maintain if we need it to. Our cooker on the food truck is fitted with a Guru controller and will maintain a constant temp for 28 hours straight without having to touch a thing, but I still maintain the fire adding wood when I feel it's needed. Old way of thinking for BBQ is nearly extinct, my big focus with out restaurant is finding ways to use the tools I have in order to produce Q that seems like I stayed up 20 hours to produce.

[rb]

After living 18 years in Memphis, I'm out of that school of barbeque. In the old days, pittmasters in restaurants would often stay up nights stoking their fires for around 14 hours on a cooking with hickory or oak logs. Many would have liked to use charcoal, but it's too expensive.

Now, pittmasters load their meat into their cookers early at night, and they set the timers to start about midnight. They only put a couple of logs in the bottom of the cooker, and natural gas is the fuel of choice. What used to take 14 hours to cook now can be done in 8 hours with completely consistent temperatures.

Virtually every great barbeque place in Memphis is using the natural gas/log cookers. Even Melissa Cookston at Memphis Barbeque Company has given in and gone to this type of cooker. I like to think that they're 90% as good as a real wood pit, but with 50% of the labor required. A lot of the quality is made up with great sauces and condiments.

Now, pittmasters have a home life.

I would love to have such a new smoker, but my Mastercraft electric smoker does all right. And I don't use it that often anyway. I depend on my son in law for meat--a top 10 pittmaster at Memphis In May for a competitive barbeque team.

And the reason NC is still the king of bbq

[LTZ25]

I got a large and small REC TEC at different houses and they are sweet , did a Boston Butt on the smaller one Saturday and it cooked for 10 hours at 225 and temp never moved , might have used 3 lbs of pellets .

[tr21xb250]

Another vote for Rec Tec Grills !