Reverse flow Pitmaker magnum sniper vs BBQ vault?

No doubt both are very nice cookers, but like SDAR says it's the cook and not the cookers. I know a guy/team in New Braunfels that cooks and wins on Weber kettles. He can show up in the AM and still kick some a**.

Dang! I was just gigging you. Lighten up Francis. :shocked:

The walks I spoke were only for brisket because that's what you were asking about.

No problem J. I know you have a passion for your BBQ and you obviously do well where you compete. I can't say that the product you turn in wouldn't win anywhere. Good BBQ is good BBQ. On that we agree.

Now back to the OP. I've cooked on the vault for over a year now and have done really well with brisket in competitions with it. Because of the moist environment, I have found that if I use water the vault settles in right at 250 for me. I used a Guru for the first 6 months and I quit using it because there were a few cooks in there without it that didn't seem to change either the length of the cook or the ability to hold the temperature. I get right at 6 hours on my cooks with a load of lump and a couple of small logs for the smoke.

I have also found that when I cook with water in the pan, I actually don't see the bark and color set where I want it until around 175 internal...if I wrap. I see that same bark around 160-165 when I cook briskets on my big green egg. I have wrapped and have done without. Both were moist finishes but the bark obviously stayed crustier on the unwrapped. I can get a great bark with the vault either way.

Trying to do a hot and fast with the water pan full takes a lot of fuel and a raging inferno down below to get the smoker up to 300-325. I may not be experienced enough to figure it out, but it just seems to want to stay right at 250 with the water pan full. Without water in the pan I can get it to settle down around 300 and not much lower if there is any fuel whatsoever in the basket. So when I do hot and fast on the vault, I don't use water.

I've not cooked on the sniper but it looks cool. I do like my vault but I was expecting longer cook times on a load. My big green egg spoiled me on that...so, when I cook at home overnight it is on the egg. At comps, I pull the vault because the egg is too heavy to lug around.

Sounds like its about the same as your drum...10 lbs lump and two splits on the fuel for 6 hours...with water...the temp is going down at 6 hours too. If you choose to use water, the water will need to be replenished around the same time as the fuel. Again, if you do use water it is going to be hard in my experience to get 300 out of it. If you don't use water, I wouldn't put that much fuel in there. You will be cooking at 350 or higher based on my skills of controlling that much fuel and the way it spreads. When I go hot, I light the fire opposite the one intake (slide) that I have on mine and it helps in not spreading the fire too fast. You may be able to keep your temps down to 300 with that much fuel, but I have not had that much luck. Cooking around 300 takes more tending for me and what I have learned...a smaller load or fire and more tending or it will get too hot. The vault likes to cook really hot without water.

No problem...the bottom rack is definitely hotter without the water. Its pretty even with water in the pan. It gets the "juice smoke" in there pretty good with the drippings. However, you need to realize that fire is right under that drip pan and so if it hits the bottom, it turns to carbon and can make it bitter. I've never cooked on a drum and don't even think I've ate off of one. I'm not sure I can answer your question.

Congrats on the new Vault purchase...I had a heck of a time getting used to my Safe. I was at my wits end so while on a business trip in the Houston area I stopped by and had a chat with the guys over at Pitmaker. Victor was extremly helpful in getting me straighened out and giving me plenty of tips on different ways to use my Safe. I have had the chance to do about 4 cooks on it since and have had my "tutorial" and they have all been successful. It was pretty neat getting to take a look at the facility and really see the pits at various states of assembly and how well built they are.

Care to share some of those tips