When should you upgrade your smoker?

I had a pos smoker that I learned on. I upgraded to a yoder.

My ribs taste the same, but I got a lot more space and its a lot easier holding temps.

So if you don't need more room, I would keep what you have.

caseydog said:

When I first started driving a car on a track, there were lots of rich guys on the track with GT3s and 360 Stradales who had the same skills I did. I felt a need to upgrade my track car. A wise instructor told me, "When you reach the point where your car is holding you back, it is time to upgrade."

Basically, he was saying I should master driving in what I had to drive, before moving up. I had a cheap, but well prepared track car. I needed to outgrow it before even thinking about moving up.

Assuming you have a workable cooker, I think the same thing applies. If you can produce good BBQ on a 20-year-old kettle, then you will produce even better BBQ on a high end smoker. If the food you produce on that old kettle sucks, then buying a high-end smoker ain't going to do any good.

When you reach a point where your cooker is holding you back, lose it and upgrade. Or, if you are rich, just buy the Ferrari of cookers now, and fark up in style. :becky:

CD

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I didn't read any further after this. CD nailed it!!!!!!!!!

So far I'm happy with my Mini WSM. I never feed more than a family at a time. This lil guy can hold 3-4 racks of ribs or say 2 pork butts or 1 full brisket (cut in half). I like that it is fuel efficient (I use and reuse lump charcoal).

I am thinking my next smoker will be a $100 DIY 22.5" UDS. I found someone locally that would powder coat the drum for like $30.

An upgrade will not make better Q or make you a better cook. It could make your life easier, but world class Q can and is made in every type of smoker you can think if.

My wife thinks it is like every few years.

Really tho, if I am happy with what I'm using it is a size thing. Heck, it took me like 10 years of thinking about what I want before I bought my BWS.

I had a cheap offset smoker for a while and it didn't take me long to realize I didn't like it. It took too much fuel, time and attention and seemed incredibly inefficient to me, even with the mods I made to it.

So I modified a Brinkmann Gourmet bullet smoker to experiment with and have since dumped the COS.

Sometimes its just fun to play...

The way I look at it bbq is supposed to make you happy and be enjoyable so do what suits you. Ive only been in this hobby for a little while and am on my third cooker. My first propane smoker was part of my new gas grill, very small and lets face it propane is not Q. I then upgraded to an actual charcoal smoker that I cooked on every weekend for a year. I somewhat needed more space, but in all reality I didn't NEED more space I could have used rib racks or built a UDS etc etc however I was able to sell my cooker for exactly what I paid for it 1 year later and I got an amazing deal and a smoker that is huge and I didn't NEED but it makes me happy. Im using a stick burner now and its some of the best bbq ive ever turned out

WvQ said:

At what point should you upgrade your smoker? For most of you was it just a size thing? I cook with a Chargriller as my signature says and currently haven't had issues with size (20 lbs of pork shoulder is enough). It doesn't hold heat very well, but otherwise is okay. Will I really see an improvement if I upgrade to a much more expensive offset cooker or am I just being silly?

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No. When it comes to BBQ, nothing is silly. You may not need to go mega offset size yet, but there are a lot of other options. Just spend some more time here and you will probly work it out for yourself.

Cheers!

Bill

As long as you are satisfied with your end product and your smoker has enough room for what you want it for. Then I would say stick with it.

martyleach said:

The biggest single step up in my smoking was the purchase of my egg. The ceramic cookers, IMO, take it to a new level. They provide a moist environment (highly efficient, little air passing through the cooker), extremely stable temps for long periods (think, I can sleep at night) and repeatable results. Costly but worth it!

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I absolutely could not agree more. I had the chargriller with side firebox that I cut my teeth on for my house (we use an Ole Hickory for comps, parties, catering, etc.)

You're learning things the hard way on the Char Griller...I promise.

With my BGE XL, you'll feel like something is missing. No need to add fuel, very, very consistent temps. I'm not going to say set it and forget it...but compared to my old char, it darn near is.

In addition, and I know this is a smoker thread...you can do 550 to 700 degree pizza cooks, steak sears, etc., on a ceramic.

I say get what you can afford... there is certainly nothing wrong with a WSM either.

But having a ceramic, I'll never go back to anything else for smoking at home.

WvQ said:

I like the old chargriller and its done well for me so far as I've been learning over the past three years. My wife actually started the addiction. She bought the chargriller at Krogers for $75.00. I know it uses a ton of charcoal (royal oak). It takes about twelve pounds of lump charcoal plus wood in the summer and double that in the winter to do a Pork Butt at 225 degrees!

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Loved mine too... But compare 12 lbs to about 3lbs maybe, no adding later...and maybe touching the vents 3-4 times over a 12 to 14 hour cook...

I honestly feel it was like cheating...LOL.

However, I did love the cooking surface area, gotta love cast iron grates, and the ability to lower/raise the coals if you used the main charcoal basket for steaks, chicken, dogs...etc.

Between my Egg, Gasser and my Weber OTG, my Char Griller was ignored and it was sold to a BBQ/Smoking newbie for him to experience it from the beginning. It went to a good home...

I'm actually having a custom pit built mostly because I want to do some catering and comps but I'll have to say that even if all I wanted to do is cook in the back yard for the rest of my life I would still want a quality pit. It's kinda like the golfer who plays for years with Wilson clubs from the local sporting goods store and then has a chance to sample Callaways or Pings. He's simply applying the playing experience that he's accumulated over the years to a much better piece of equipment but the difference in quality can be astonishing. I have been cooking on a NB offset for about 18 years and I can make pretty good Q on it but I've had the opportunity to cook on custom pits off and on and the difference is really night and day. After struggling for years with thin steel, poorly fitted doors and a design that had to be modified in order to even work properly, the first time I cooked on a pit that had some real thermal mass, was well sealed and had a good working design I was amazed at how much easier cooking became. Q is a passion for most of us and I think that with only one shot at this life we should do the things that make us happy and get the most out of those things as we can. Some guys golf, some guys ride motorcycles, some guys hunt and fish a lot but we love to cook and we owe it to ourselves to have the best experience that we can with what we're passionate about. One thing that I learned from my Dad's early death was that you just never know when there will be no tomorrow and you have to live NOW, so why shortchange yourself? Even though my new pit will cost 10 times what my cheap offset cost, I know that it will be 10 times easier to use and it will have about 50 times more cooking capacity and efficiency! So to sum up, save your money, no matter how long it takes and get what you want. You've worked hard in life to provide for others and over paid on federal taxes all of your life, so you owe it to yourself to have something that makes YOU happy. If you get the chance, PULL THAT TRIGGER!:thumb: