Need a great smoker (Pellet Smoker Doesn't Smoke, Cooks too hot)

I have a country smoker 420 (comparable in size to traeger lil tex), just got it last week. Trying to get something to have smoke flavor / smoke ring / smoke / cook less than 220 degrees. I tried different kinds of wood, etc... It is a minimum 220 and spikes every few minutes to 250.

My goal is to have smoke flavored tender meats. That is it.

I researched and thought I was on to the cookshack that takes wood chunks until I read a message from a guy on this forum who said he had the cookshack in his restaurant for 6 months until he gave up said he could not get it to have great output. So that is when I decided to go with the pellet smoker. I just did not want to cut any corners and wanted to get the best possible smoked meat. Maybe I just need to get a regular wood smoker. I eliminated the big green egg because I read that it did not have intense smoke flavored meet, etc...

I called lousiana grills and they were not much help. I did prop the lid and got it to stay at 190-210 and it smoked once and a while but after I put a brisket on it for at least 5 hours I still did not taste any smoke. Will the electronic control add on help or solve this issue or just continue my frustrations? I was hoping I could set it lower so the pellets do not feed every 35 seconds.

Or, Do I need to buy something different all together? Why would I not just get the cookshack? All the reviews rated as great smoke flavor, one person said it was easy to get too much smoke flavor. At this point that is music to my ears.

Any help is appreciated. I have been at this since last July, this is my 3rd setup, was hoping for it to be my last.

Daryl in Omaha Ne.

Daryl,

I don't know anything about your smoker, but I am going to guess you need to bring your temps up to 225-250 so the cooker will feed more pellets. More pellets = more smoke. Fire control on any cooker is the key to a successful cook. Don't give up on it so soon. Learn to master it.
Also a brisket should take around an hout to an hour and a half per pound. Depending on if you wnat it sliced or shredded.
Good luck and have fun with it.

I tried cooking salmon on the smoke setting in which the temperature fluxes from 220 to 250 and not a drop of smoke flavor.

I was thinking to about a traditional smoker but was hoping to get one with lower maintenance as I seem to try to smoke crap about 5 days a week. I also had my wife throw on a pork loin while I was at work last week, that was a nice option. Also liked the smaller size.

I was thinking it would smoke better at lower temps. I turn it of and on playing with it and around 170 it seemed to smoke really good. I also wonder about the baffle over the smoke and the fact that all the exhaust holes come out the back. Seems to me that the smoke pretty easily routs away from the meat. I think I will try to find that guy who had the cookshack and then bought a langel (?) and try to find out more about why he did not like the cookshack.

Biffalo said:

Get the adjustable thermostat....I held 210 for 12 hours on my country smoker 680

Click to expand...

Did your food have smoke flavor? Did / does it matter what chips you used?

I used both mesquite from traeger and also 100% hardwood from oscheln farms.

Looks good. What temp did you cook at?

The FEC is out of my budget at least right now. I could probably go $1000

I ordered the electric controller supposed to be here today. Right now the unit feeds every 35 seconds. The guy at Lousiana-grills said the electric thermostat unit drops it down to every 45 seconds so maybe that will help too.

Take a look at Ole Hickory Ultra Que or Legend. Propane Smokers that use wood. Expensive, but very high quality.

Dennis

Just build a UDS or a Mega UDS.

Ok. Your right. My head is in cooking low and slow. Only because I think that is how these pellet smokers generate the most smoke. I cooked for 5 hours and then cranked it up because I wanted it done in another 3. Should have started it earlier. It was very tender.

I installed the digital controller today. I have halibut on it right now, but the good news is that it stayed below 200 on the smoke setting and dropped pellets every 10 seconds but the cycle was shorter. Smoke was bellowing out of it most of the time. I tried setting it to 180 to see what would happen and it spiked to 300, 400, 575, etc...

I set it to 275 and then 300 just now so I can try it before I went to bed. Halibut is at 139 now, 113 when I checked it about 10pm. Been on since 6ish after I got the new controller installed. I am hopeful and will report back. I guess I might have to try 225 or 250 and walk away for some hours. Is there a book on this?

My two setups were 1. gas grill with woodbox and tin foil. Results moderate. 2. Kenmore smoker modified to take pellets down a shoot to a tin wood box. Good smoke most of the time but could not keep temperatures low enough to cook a long time. To big of an element.

Thanks for all the replies. Next smoke set at 225 or 235 or what? I have a couple chickens and some leg quarters I can try after they thaw in a couple days. Although I have a ton of leftovers I have to eat some time.

I will post later. Hopefully I have some smoke flavor finally. My only fear is that smoke flavor may set in after 113 not necessarily during the first couple hours. Turning it up to far to late maybe is the issue. With the brisket it was 147 I think when I cranked it up to get it done.

Daryl

Ok, here are some tidbits from a comment that shy'd me away from the cookshack... I thought the pellet smokers would be the closest thing to an offset without all the maintenance..

"Cookshack 055 model... For the first 6 months I used the Cookshack everyday. I used it with the wood tray,hickory most of the time. Stopped using it because the texture of the ribs was much like steamed meat. The ribs did not have the smokey flavor I was used to with my offset. I used different amounts of wood many times trying to get it right. It never worked,the ribs were bellow standard. The chicken was just ok, on its best day. Pork butts are hard to mess up so they were good and I still use the Cookshack for butts. The brisket that came out was very close to pot roast. The texture was ok but the flavor of a Electric cooked brisket versus a wood smoked brisket is not even close.
Electric Cookshack versus an offset. Offset EVERY time. No comparison!!"

Now for the results of my halibut. It did have some smoke flavor finally. I would have been really surprised if it didn't with all the smoke coming out. I can easily get my money back out of this if I wanted to try something different. I only have $738 into it including the cover, extended box and digital controller. I am going to have to keep playing with it through the summer to see how I can get consistent smoke flavor, best pellets to use / etc... Certainly is easy to use (with the new controller) if I can figure it out.

Heck I might pickup an old offset on craiglist or something to play with on those weekend days that I can hang out with it.