Help selecting a smoker

[Getcookin]

Greetings all. I came across this site while researching smokers and hoped you can help with my selection process. I currently have a WSM and want to upgrade it. My reasoning is when I cook I like to try and have food ready by 3pm which means I have to start my smoking the night before. I can't can't get my WSM to maintain smoke a temperature for the 6 to 7 hours I'm sleeping. I also found I'm getti g a temperature spike about 2 hours in and then all heat is lost by the time I wake up to tend it.
I've been looking at Big Green Eggs in hoping it's reputation for maintaining g temperature for long periods solves this but I read complaints about the food not tasting as smoked as a WSM or a typical premium offset. I can't however find a logical reason why for this.
Is their any factual information you can share that would indicate why a BGE won't smoke meats as well as a WSM or an offset. I would think if the temperature is right and you're cooking with wood it would all be similar.
Is their a offset that would work better that can be left unattended for 6-8 hours and why? Will a BGE solve my issue and produce the same quality smoke?

[peeps]

Offsets won't get you the set-and-forget operation that you want.

You could consider a BBQ Guru to get you set-and-forget operation on your WSM for overnight cooks. Many people can get more than 6-7 hours on a load of charcoal in a WSM.

What size WSM?
Lump or Briquettes?
How are you starting your charcoal?
What temps are you running?

My bet is that you can learn to more efficiently run your WSM and there is something you have been missing to get you that WSM nirvana that many people here experience that will save you the pain from figuring out the same in new cooker.

[oldbill]

Greetings all. I came across this site while researching smokers and hoped you can help with my selection process. I currently have a WSM and want to upgrade it. My reasoning is when I cook I like to try and have food ready by 3pm which means I have to start my smoking the night before. I can't can't get my WSM to maintain smoke a temperature for the 6 to 7 hours I'm sleeping. I also found I'm getti g a temperature spike about 2 hours in and then all heat is lost by the time I wake up to tend it.
I've been looking at Big Green Eggs in hoping it's reputation for maintaining g temperature for long periods solves this but I read complaints about the food not tasting as smoked as a WSM or a typical premium offset. I can't however find a logical reason why for this.
Is their any factual information you can share that would indicate why a BGE won't smoke meats as well as a WSM or an offset. I would think if the temperature is right and you're cooking with wood it would all be similar.
Is their a offset that would work better that can be left unattended for 6-8 hours and why? Will a BGE solve my issue and produce the same quality smoke? The amount of smoke would be determined by how much wood you're using and airflow. Since with a WSM or an Egg you're using a charcoal cooker and trying to get long burns, wood chunks will slowly smolder and you need to have enough wood present to give you the smoke that you want. I'm sure that an Egg would give you plenty of smoke once you've adjusted the amount of wood that you are using with the charcoal.:-D

[chunkylatinlover]

UDS or WSM are the best at holding temperature...before you change the tried and true equipment you should check the operator. Are you closing the air to maintain the temp you want? Using enough fuel? Offsets require even more tending but at the same time offer the most learning experience on controlling a fire. If your dead set on changing smokers I would look into a vertical insulated smoker.

[S4vant]

Before giving up on the WSM, there are several things you can do to possible remedy the temperature fluctuation:

-make sure there aren't any major leaks from the lid or center section may be slightly out of round, which you can bring back to round fairly easily.
-Are there any leaks coming from the door? It may need tweaking as well. You can buy gaskets for the door as well as the lid to form a better seal.
-Are you running with water in the pan? It will give you a more stable temp, (although it will consume more charcoal)
-For long cooks, you should be using something like the minion method to start your charcoal.

[Ron_L]

As mentioned, it will be tough getting 6-8 hours unattended out of an offset. Some of the competition guys are getting long burns in pits like the Peoria Meat Monster by using a charcoal basket and a BBQ Guru or Stoker, but most guys cooking with offsets are feeding them regularly.

The suggestion above of getting a Guru ot Stoker (or similar) for the WSM is a good one, but I'm not sure why you can go 6-8 hours with out one. I use hardwood briquettes in my WSM and have gone over 16 hours at 250 (18.5" WSM).

As far as the BGE (or similar style cookers), they can be very good smokers and should give you the long burn that you are looking for, especially when coupled with a temp controller. I don't think that you really need one, but it does give you peace of mind. The BGE also has the advantage of being a great high temp grill and an excellent ceramic oven for pizzas, roasts, etc.

If it hasn't been mentioned yet, another option if you are handy is a UDS (and the UDS variants like the Big Poppa kit). A uDS will hold temp for hours once dialed in.

The Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) may also be an option. It will run for hours unattended and does a great job. Look for some recent threads by 7over for some of his recent cooks.

Finally, no matter what the smoker, if you want to run it overnight I highly recommend a remote thermometer like a Maverick that can be set to wake you up if the temp gets too low or too high.

Another option is to cook hotter to shorten the cook time so you don't have to cook overnight.

[DaveAlvarado]

I agree with everybody else, there are things you can do with your current equipment instead of spending money on an upgrade. Some ideas off the top of my head:

- Chicago is the windy city. Set up a wind block for your WSM, or at least make it so the open vent is the downwind one.

- Get a Maverick if you don't have one, program it to wake you up if you get 15 degrees too hot or too cold. Make whatever adjustments are necessary then go back to bed.

- Use Kingsford Competition charcoal. It's got minimal ash, which means it doesn't need to be stirred during an overnight cook to knock the ashes down.

- If you're using water, stop.

- If you're cooking low & slow, try hot & fast early in the morning. If you can hold a consistent 300F-325F, you can put meat on in the morning and be ready by 3pm. You'll probably need to run without water to do this.

- Worst case, don't sweat it. You won't ruin your Q by having your pit temp drop from 250 to 210 overnight. I've done it plenty of times.

I've done tons of overnight cooks with my WSM. It's certainly possible with the equipment you've got, you probably just need to tweak a thing or two.

[SmittyJonz]

BGE price tag would get you into nice insulated cabinet smoker or close. Like a Humphreys

http://www.humphreysbbq.com/smokers/

[pbe gummi bear]

I agree with the guys above. A wsm should be pretty "set and forget" if you are happy with the good that comes off the wsm, I would advise tweaking and experimenting to get it to suit your needs. Are you packing your charcoal tightly and consistently? This gives you longer burn time and more consistent temps. This is especially important for lump.

[SpartaChris]

Greetings all. I came across this site while researching smokers and hoped you can help with my selection process. I currently have a WSM and want to upgrade it. My reasoning is when I cook I like to try and have food ready by 3pm which means I have to start my smoking the night before. I can't can't get my WSM to maintain smoke a temperature for the 6 to 7 hours I'm sleeping. I also found I'm getti g a temperature spike about 2 hours in and then all heat is lost by the time I wake up to tend it.
I've been looking at Big Green Eggs in hoping it's reputation for maintaining g temperature for long periods solves this but I read complaints about the food not tasting as smoked as a WSM or a typical premium offset. I can't however find a logical reason why for this.
Is their any factual information you can share that would indicate why a BGE won't smoke meats as well as a WSM or an offset. I would think if the temperature is right and you're cooking with wood it would all be similar.
Is their a offset that would work better that can be left unattended for 6-8 hours and why? Will a BGE solve my issue and produce the same quality smoke?

How are you building your fire in the WSM? I recently posted a thread where I got 14 hours of consistent burn time with my 22" WSM, which included an overnight cook. I used the minion method to keep the coals going overnight, and used the Maverick thermometer to help monitor the temperature in the cooker.

[Fwismoker]

Not a big fan of automatic controllers like Guru or PitmasterIQ but i use sometimes when i want to sleep. They will keep your temp so that's the route i'd go if i were you. The IQ is no frills and will fit the bill.

[DerHusker]

I don't have a WSM so I cannot comment as to how they operate. I do have a Weber (Sears) kettle and can say it is able to maintain a fairly constant temperature so I assume the WSM would as well if properly set-up.

As far as ceramic kamados go I have two. They both can be a smoker, a high heat grill or a over. I’ve done most everything on them.

I get great smoke rings when I do a low-n-slow. (I've gone 13 1/2 hours before I shut it down but still have enough fuel to go another 4 or 5 hours)

I can sear at 800 to 900 degrees if I want.

The oven part is the thing that I really like. I’ve done turkey, bread, biscuits, stew, pie, cobbler, etc..


Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[fingerlickin']

I'm in the same boat, always having to put meat on at night to make the early afternoon meal.

You should be able to get some sleep and not have to refuel on the WSM with a temp controller and the minion method.

I get plenty of smoke flavor on my egg if that's the route you decide. Plenty of sleep too especially with a Maverick and IQ110.

I have both and I go to the egg every time because I think it's more convenient as far as set up and clean up. I actually prefer the way it cooks as well.

[lennitt]

I have gotten as long as 9 hours in my WSM using a guru. I do the coffee can method to light and really load the cooler with charcoal. My only issue with the cooker is wind in the winter making it hard to hold temp longer than 2 hours or so.

[golfnugget]

I have a ceramic Kamado - Vision Grills.

If you are looking to switch, you might want to consider it over the BGE as you can purchase it at half the price and often get a lot of accessories with it that you need to pay extra for on the BGE.

I've had no issues using it as a smoker and have done cooks in excess of 12 hours and still had fuel to burn when I shut it down.

As mentioned by others I find the benefit of the Kamado is that I can use it to do both grilling and smoking, it's very versatile.

[THoey1963]

I have a 22.5" WSM. I have done a couple mods to it, mostly to seal it up better. A couple weekends back, I started a brisket around 4 am at 260*, did a couple fatty's when the brisket was done, and finally smoked (warmed up) some sausages. Total cooking time was in the 13+ hour range. I did sleep some when the brisket was on. I used my Pitmaster IQ120 for this cook to keep the temp stable and my Maverick ET733 to let me know if anything went wrong. Once I was done cooking, I closed all the vents and snuffed out the fire. Within an hour, the bowl was warm to the touch. I checked it the next time I went to cook and could have gotten another 2-3 hours out of that load of charcoal.

How old is your WSM? Does it leak alot when cooking? The gasket seals I bought from BBQGaskets.com cost about $25 dollars and sealed the top, bottom, and door.

Does your door seal well to the barrel? If not, a couple gentle tweeks should reshape it. I replaced my Weber door with a Cajun Bandit Stainless Steel door.

Is your barrel out of round? Take the barrel off and measure across the top in several different positions. The measurements should be the same. If one way is a little larger, give the barrel a gentle "bear hug" and remeasure. Make sure to flip the barrel upside down and measure it that way too. Should be the same, but I have heard of some weird barrels.

How much charcoal are you using and how are you firing it up? What type of wood and how much are you using?

I really wouldn't go get a new smoker. I'd learn to use the one you have and use the money you saved to buy more meat and practice.

[Bludawg]

Get you one of them Myron Mixon anybody with an electrisical outlet can be BBQ Pitmaster Pellet Poopers. Now on with our regularly scheduled program.

[Getcookin]

Thank you all for the feedback. To answer some of the questions, yes there is a lot of smoke leaking. It has from the day I bought it and figured it normal. I fill the ring with foam and about 4 chunks of wood. I use about 15 kit coals when they're white and scatter them on the unlit coals. Wood burns smoke for about two hours then quits. I get the temp to about 220-250 and keep it their for about an hour before going to bed but the heat is usually dead by the time I get up 6 hours later and have to restoke it. Temp remains steady for about 2 hours before spiking to about 350 where I then try to cool it down. This happened duri g a day cook so I figure it's happenig duri g an overnight cook which is probably why I lose smoke after a few hours.

Can some chime in as to whether a BGE will produce the same quality of smoked meat as a offset and if not why?

Tha ks again for all your help.

[Billdanc]

I have a Large BGE, and i would advise you to go in the direction of an insulated vertical. I would even recommend a UDS over the BGE and these are my reasons. I don't believe the value is there for what you get with the egg. You will pay 800-1000 dollars and you will get a small cooking surface. The smoking attributes are just so-so, you will have to use a plate setter to go indirect, and that keeps you from being able to access your fire and wood. i have to use a long metal rod to poke down between the plate setter and the grate to mix the lump so that i can get smoke production. In my opinion there are better smokers out there. The vertical smokers with a maze are some of the best i have seen for producing rock solid temps and great smoke flavor. Also you will get way more capacity with a vertical. This is just my .02 cents having cooked on all of them. I believe Humphries sells vertical insulated smokers that would be in a comparable price range.

[fingerlickin']

I think quality is a subjective term in this case. I'm sure there are some who might say you can't get the same true smoke flavor unless you use a stick burner, and that may very well be true. With an offset you may be able to get a longer burn time by using charcoal in a charcoal basket, but if that's the case then you aren't really cooking solely with wood which is viewed as the main benefit of an offset. If you're going to cook on an offset using purely wood then I believe the answer to your question of a longer cook time to be NO. You will be up all night feeding it splits.

So if you're going to cook with charcoal and wood chunks in an offset you might as well either seal up your WSM and add a temp controller or get a BGE or another brand ceramic cooker and cook over charcoal anyway. With the BGE you don't NEED a temp controller although it makes you sleep a little more soundly. You shouldn't really need one with the WSM either but for piece of mind you may want to consider it.

I believe the food that comes off the egg is very good BBQ, it is true authentic totally wood fired BBQ...no, but close enough for the majority. If you consider the food that comes out of the WSM acceptable then you shouldn't see much difference in the egg. You can always just put more chunks in.

[Red Valley BBQ]

Look into 270 Smokers. Fully insulated cabinet smoker that comes in 3 sizes. I have fired one up in the morning and put meat on it before heading to work and have come home to dinner being ready 9 hours later, and I never worry about temp spikes. Once you learn how to adjust the temp, it is a set it and forget it smoker without the use of electronics. I've gotten 12-14 hour burns from one basket of charcoal at 225*.

http://www.270smokers.com/

[16Adams]

Will cook a long long time on a load of quality lump (Ozark Oak). They are not cheap, but if bought new, great warranty. I like to play with fire, and on those days the Primo, PBC etc take a rest.

[Getcookin]

Tha ks again. I looked up the Humphries. Does that use charcoal and weed? If so, I'm curious why that would be a better smoker than an egg.. that's the part I don't get. If they operate on the same principles, charcoal, wood and they are both well insulated I would think you would get similar results. I understand the difference in capacity and I have verified a large egg would suit my needs. I'm not stuck on the egg, although it's available locally and I can go the route of tryin g to seal up my current smoker but if it's 800 for something that gives me the same quality as my Weber but maintains the temp a lot better it is worth the cost to me.. I just need something that will go for at least 6-7 hours on its own.

[Ron_L]

Tha ks again. I looked up the Humphries. Does that use charcoal and weed?

Only in Colorado and Washington.

:becky:

Sorry... I couldn't help it.

[Ron_L]

Tha ks again. I looked up the Humphries. Does that use charcoal and weed? If so, I'm curious why that would be a better smoker than an egg.. that's the part I don't get. If they operate on the same principles, charcoal, wood and they are both well insulated I would think you would get similar results. I understand the difference in capacity and I have verified a large egg would suit my needs. I'm not stuck on the egg, although it's available locally and I can go the route of tryin g to seal up my current smoker but if it's 800 for something that gives me the same quality as my Weber but maintains the temp a lot better it is worth the cost to me.. I just need something that will go for at least 6-7 hours on its own.

OK... now for the serious answer.

The Humphries, Backwoods and others are insulated vertical smokers. They are different than the BGE in a few ways, but primarily they are smokers, not grills. They do an excellent job.

[Getcookin]

OK... now for the serious answer.

The Humphries, Backwoods and others are insulated vertical smokers. They are different than the BGE in a few ways, but primarily they are smokers, not grills. They do an excellent job.

I get that they are different. I believe if you want to be good at something you have to understand them. In my noob mind they are both well insulated. They both burn coal and wood and they both maintain temps well so the only difference I see is one is oval and one is square. What specifically makes something like a Humphrey better? Once I understand the difference in how they cook it makes it easier to sort through fact, fiction and preferences so I can make an educated choice.

[Ron_L]

They are completely different beasts. The Humphries is an insulated cook box with a separate firebox at the bottom. There is no direct heat getting to the food. They are reverse flow cookers in that the heat and smoke leaves the firebox and travels up the inside of cook chamber walls, exits the walls at the top, flows down over the meat to the exhaust which is at the bottom rear of the cook chamber. They typically use a water pan to regulate the temp and add moisture to the cook chamber.

A kamado like the big green egg is an egg shaped chamber with the fire and the food in the same area. You can add a heat diffuser to the Egg to shield the food from the direct heat, or remove it for grilling. The Egg is not insulated. It is thick ceramic that will hold heat very well, but it is not insulation.

I hope that helps.

[Blanton]

I don't believe you said whether you are using water or not, but if you are getting temps of 350 I say your not. Also, you didn't say how you run your bottom vents. Again, temps of 350 says they are either all open or you have serious air leaks.

I light mine like you said you did. 15 hit coals added to a full ring of unlit. 4-8 chunks of wood depending on what I'm cooking . On top for ribs, mixed in for butts. If I target 250, I start with the bottoms all set to half and when I get to around 230, two vents are shut and the third is about an 1/8" open or less. Will run like that all night.

[Getcookin]

They are completely different beasts. The Humphries is an insulated cook box with a separate firebox at the bottom. There is no direct heat getting to the food. They are reverse flow cookers in that the heat and smoke leaves the firebox and travels up the inside of cook chamber walls, exits the walls at the top, flows down over the meat to the exhaust which is at the bottom rear of the cook chamber. They typically use a water pan to regulate the temp and add moisture to the cook chamber.

A kamado like the big green egg is an egg shaped chamber with the fire and the food in the same area. You can add a heat diffuser to the Egg to shield the food from the direct heat, or remove it for grilling. The Egg is not insulated. It is thick ceramic that will hold heat very well, but it is not insulation.

I hope that helps.


Thank you, that actually helps a lot. Does the direct heat cook the food faster if they are both the same temperature. Is their a negative effect to the food usi g a diffuser to create indirect heat vs have the fire box seperate. I'm guessing that if the heat is seperate it can burn hotter hence creating more smoke from the wood vs having to keep the heat lower when the fire is directly below the food. Is that an accurate statement? Does somrthi g lime a Humphrey keep a constant temp for 6 or more hours which was my reason for something new?

[Ron_L]

Direct heat can cook faster, but it's really based on the temp and the proximity to the fire. The fire is close to the diffuser (called a Platesetter by BGE) so it does radiate some heat, which can cook the food faster. I've found that when I do try to smoke something in my BGE I have to flip the food at least once because of that radiated heat. It's not a negative, but just something that you have to learn.

As far as the fire, it's actually the opposite. the hotter the fire, the cleaner it burns, and the lighter the smoker flavor. You never want a smoldering fire because that will create lots of dirty smoke (think creosote) and will make the food bitter. Even at lower temps you want a clean fire, just less of it :-D In either case you control the smoke flavor by the amount of wood chunks or chips that you add to the charcoal base.

What's your timeline for a decision? There is a big BBQ competition at Ty Warner Park in Westmont on Memorial Day weekend. There will be 40+ professional teams and 50+ amateur teams competing Friday and Saturday and then 70+ professional teams competing in a second competition on Saturday and Sunday. that would be a great opportunity to see a bunch of different cooker and talk with the teams. Most teams will be happy to talk with visitors as long as you respect their busy times, which would be 10am-2pm on Saturday and Sunday for the pro teams. My wife and I will be there competing in both of the Pro competitions. If you come out look for Captain Ron's Brew-n-Que.

[Getcookin]

I don't believe you said whether you are using water or not, but if you are getting temps of 350 I say your not. Also, you didn't say how you run your bottom vents. Again, temps of 350 says they are either all open or you have serious air leaks.

I light mine like you said you did. 15 hit coals added to a full ring of unlit. 4-8 chunks of wood depending on what I'm cooking . On top for ribs, mixed in for butts. If I target 250, I start with the bottoms all set to half and when I get to around 230, two vents are shut and the third is about an 1/8" open or less. Will run like that all night.

I'm using water half full. Let me also add I've never had a consistent 200-220 temp. After a couple hors it will sit closer to 300 and that's with all vents close and one about 1/8th way open. When I try to close it more the fire just goes out.

[SmittyJonz]

275* is the Perfect all around BBQ temp. 300* is pretty good too.

Is your thermometer accurate? Checked it?

[Magnum338]

I have the WSM 22.5. I use a Stoker controller and 18 lbs of Kingsford Competition Briquets with a few chunks of hickory. My longest cook is a boneless pork shoulder and it is usually off in 12 hrs. with a cook temp of 225 or
250 and a internal finish temp of 195-200. I have left the smoker going just to see how long that load of Kingsford will last. Typically it's at least 15 hrs. This is assuming there is minimal wind and it's not winter. I did get a welders blanket to wrap around it for winter use. I have had the pellet poppers longer than my WSM and will always have a need for both. I believe a temp controller is your answer and I usually start mine before I go to bed and sleep very soundly all night long. I plan to be awake 10 hrs after I put it on and monitor the temp when I get up. The only negative outcome, for me, is if the power would be interrupted as the stoker will not reset automatically. I'm sold on my WSM with a temp controller as a very labor free charcoal cooker. I recommend keeping a log book when cooking various meats. I usually buy the Costco 7-9 lb briskets, Costco boneless pork shoulders 7-9 lbs ( 2 per pack), and St Louis style pork ribs. Consequently, I've got it down quite well how long they need to cook and when I need to put them on the smoker. Good luck

[THoey1963]

Thank you all for the feedback. To answer some of the questions, yes there is a lot of smoke leaking. It has from the day I bought it and figured it normal. I fill the ring with foam and about 4 chunks of wood. I use about 15 kit coals when they're white and scatter them on the unlit coals. Wood burns smoke for about two hours then quits. I get the temp to about 220-250 and keep it their for about an hour before going to bed but the heat is usually dead by the time I get up 6 hours later and have to restoke it. Temp remains steady for about 2 hours before spiking to about 350 where I then try to cool it down. This happened duri g a day cook so I figure it's happenig duri g an overnight cook which is probably why I lose smoke after a few hours.

Can some chime in as to whether a BGE will produce the same quality of smoked meat as a offset and if not why?

Tha ks again for all your help.

It really sounds to me like he needs to look at sealing his WSM up. He says there is a lot of leakage and thought that was normal. I would suggest getting some gaskets:

http://bbqgaskets.com/catalog_4.html

I put mine at the top lip of the barrel, around the bottom of the barrel below the lip, and then on the inside of the door. Between that and making sure my barrel was in round, I have a slight trickle of smoke coming out of the bottom right corner of the door. I am sure with more cooks, that will gunk up and seal.

If the door is the issue and you can't get it tweeked right, try a replacement:

http://cajunbandit.com/wsm-parts-mods/

Other than that, an ATC might help. I went with the Pitmaster IQ 120:

http://www.pitmasteriq.com/IQ120.html

I am just not 100% sure that the smoker is the whole problem. It takes a little time to learn your equipment, change your strategies, and in the end, make better food. I am still learning mine on every cook...

[foam2]

I just sold my 22" WSM in favor of a stainless uds I built but I learned a lot about temperature control in the 4 years I used my WSM both using the vents manually and using a BBQ Guru. You should be able to get at least 6-7 hours of unattended burn times on the WSM and with a controller you should be able to go 16-20 hours on a full ring. There are only two real reasons your temperature is spiking to 350 but primarily you need to be able to stabilize temperatures. So either the vent settings didn't settle in on your desired temp (you should wait 15-30 minutes on vent settings to make sure temp is where you want it), or you are leaking/sucking in air which is making your vent settings not respond as intended. At any time and at temperature you should be able to shut down all the vents and snuff out the fire in short order. If you are unable to do so and the smoker continues until the charcoal is consumed you need to do some work sealing it up. As someone else said check our bbqgaskets.com for nomex gasket kits to seal up your smoker and try again.

[tnfan47]

If you leaning towards a BGE type of grill, try researching the Char-Griller Akorn. They resemble a BGE, but a fraction of a cost.

[SmittyJonz]

Get a RecTec.

[Fsonicsmith]

Just curious-with the 270 (or a Backwoods or any insulated vertical smoker), can you add a split or two of wood or are they meant to be used with lump coal and chips? And if I decided to get the 270 and I wanted bite-through chicken skin, how hot can I run it?

[Red Valley BBQ]

Just curious-with the 270 (or a Backwoods or any insulated vertical smoker), can you add a split or two of wood or are they meant to be used with lump coal and chips? And if I decided to get the 270 and I wanted bite-through chicken skin, how hot can I run it?

I add chunks of wood to my charcoal, but I think it was designed to use charcoal as a rule. I have done chicken wings on my 270 running at 350*

[Fsonicsmith]

Thanks Red Valley. I am seriously considering the 270-so one more question-what are the steps involved in getting temps up to 350-full chimney of lit coal, removal of baffles, vents wide open, or some combination of all three?

[Getcookin]

Just wanted to post an update. I ended up with a Kamado Joe. The youtube videos sold me. For some reason the meat coming off the Kamado Joe looked better then the BGE, at least on youtube they did. I started doing my first cook last night. Very impressed that I'm at 14 hours at a solid 220 degrees and my pork roast just hit 195