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View Full Version : IVC vs. Gravity-Fed smokers?


SweetHeatBBQnSC
08-20-2020, 02:13 PM
For the last little while I have said that LSG's IVC smoker is my dream smoker. Well I have looked at Assassin's Gravity Fed smokers and they look pretty sweet too. I am not purchasing either anytime in the foreseeable future, but it's more of a dream smoker idea. The kind where you start saving now and who knows what happens within the next 5 years or so? I am just wondering what are similarities and differences. Which would you select. For those of you who have them, would you make the purchase over again? TIA.

nweave2614
08-20-2020, 03:01 PM
For me when I started my search for a new smoker I knew I wanted it to be insulated and I needed to be able to have an ATC (Automatic temp controller) since I have young kids and I cannot tend a fire all day/night.

Knowing all of that, I started by thinking I was going to get a gravity unit, did all the research and looked at everything and the one comment that kept coming up was that the smoke profile was a bit lighter than with a IVC, and coming from a pit barrel cooker I liked a heavier smoke profile. Also the comments were that you had to still load wood every 45 min or so into the ash tray to keep the smoke rolling, I wanted something that I could load all of the coal and wood I wanted and just walk away for 12 hours if I needed to.

So all of that being said, I ended up with a LSG Mini, I do really love it, I load in roughly a 70/30 split between coal and wood and use the T Plates to run a snake through the firebox, I have run it 16 hours multiple times and have yet to run a full snake all the way through the firebox. Its super efficient, it has tons of space, the most I ever cooked on it at once was 1 packer, 2 butts, 6 racks of ribs, pork belly burnt ends and a couple of fattys just to see how much I could load it up. Also the LSG IVC has the option to run with the built in water pan which can be refilled without opening the door, I have not done that myself as I have yet to see the need for it but the option is there if I want it.

Ultimately both types of smokers will produce good food but for me the IVC seemed like the way to go. If I had to do it all over again I would look pretty strongly at the ironside unit as they are designed to run a full wood burning setup which I think is pretty cool for an IVC.

AKMIMNAK
08-20-2020, 03:37 PM
Ditto what nweave said. My LSG Mini is on its way right now and I couldn't be more excited.

I do not understand the hype sometimes with gravity fed. A good IVC will do same thing, and at a smaller footprint. The gravity feds waste a significant amount of lateral space due to the chute. And they seem very expensive to me for not much (if any) value add in performance. Good IVCs are essentially set and forget, at a smaller footprint, and maybe even cheaper.

Whumpa
08-20-2020, 03:46 PM
For me it would have to be Assassin’s gravity fed set up. I really don’t have the room to stockpile and season wood that is out of our wet weather here in the PNW. And the whole gravity fed system intrigues me. The whole concept seems to me to be rather idiot proof. And that works right into my wheelhouse.

onemanlan
08-20-2020, 05:56 PM
Ditto what nweave said. My LSG Mini is on its way right now and I couldn't be more excited.

I do not understand the hype sometimes with gravity fed. A good IVC will do same thing, and at a smaller footprint. The gravity feds waste a significant amount of lateral space due to the chute. And they seem very expensive to me for not much (if any) value add in performance. Good IVCs are essentially set and forget, at a smaller footprint, and maybe even cheaper.


Agreed. You're giving up horizontal space for the charcoal chute. Arguably they're not too different if they're insulated cabinet smokers it's just how the charcoal & wood are handled. Also possibly the smoke flow path.

In the case of the IVC you load up before hand. If you have to add during the cook you can (hopefully) slide out your fire tray to add more. I have a Humphrey's Battle box that I tend to only fill up 70% of the firebox with wood + charcoal because it's so efficient there really isn't a need to use a full basket. It would probably be at 16 - 18 hours worth of cook time without having to touch it beyond water to the water pan 6 hours in. Here (https://myflameboss.com/en/cooks/1030702)is a 12 hour cook time where I burned off what charcoal was remaining to see how long it would go. Obviously I stopped it before it trailed off.

In the case of the gravity feed you fill the shoot & rely on gravity to keep it all going. You can either put wood in your chute or under the chute for smoke flavor. I'd bet the gravity feed would be easier to mess with if you wanted to add charcoal during the cook.

I don't find adding charcoal or chunks terribly hard in the IVC I have. Just use a poker or some high temp gloves. It's easy. The one place I think a gravity feed might have a better argument would be if you were wanting to smoke on a deck. In general dealing with fire around wood structures is not ideal. In the case of the IVS with a pull out drawer you'd need a metal pad or something to keep embers from falling out onto the wood. You'd probably be better off with the grav in that scenario.

Seems like a preference thing.

I'm glad to hear good things about the LSG Mini. I was so close to buying it before I bit on the Battle Box. I always wonder what could have been.

AKMIMNAK
08-28-2020, 04:15 PM
Agreed. You're giving up horizontal space for the charcoal chute. Arguably they're not too different if they're insulated cabinet smokers it's just how the charcoal & wood are handled. Also possibly the smoke flow path.
.......

The one place I think a gravity feed might have a better argument would be if you were wanting to smoke on a deck. In general dealing with fire around wood structures is not ideal. In the case of the IVS with a pull out drawer you'd need a metal pad or something to keep embers from falling out onto the wood. You'd probably be better off with the grav in that scenario.

Seems like a preference thing.

I'm glad to hear good things about the LSG Mini. I was so close to buying it before I bit on the Battle Box. I always wonder what could have been.


This is definitely true for most companies and I totally get the argument against using a typical IVC around wood. Frankly, I would not ever use a wood base unless I absolutely had to no matter what smoking or grilling I was doing. Thankful I don't have to consider that.

BUT......just one more reason to take a hard look at LSG - they've virtually eliminated this danger by building in a removable ash pan underneath your fire basket that slides out with it and prevents any hot coals from falling out. So a mid-cook refill is no problem at all with an LSG IVC.

Example: 1:45 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6AMwf2p9os
watch him slide the basket into the cooker at 3:00 It also helps with keeping your cooker clean!! Check out at 7:20

Rus Jones has a really nice review here, and mentions this feature starting at the 5:20 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwsAkVVt92g

JAKs Q & brew
08-28-2020, 05:45 PM
I was in a similar position for years. Always dreamed of getting a gravity feed, researched them all, was pretty close to pulling the trigger many times. Eventually i found a used Humphrey's Pint locally and figured id try out the IVC path. It is really a great cooker. Then I got the LSG Mini used as well. It is better.
I still plan to get a gravity feed at some point, but I can tell you well made IVCs can turn out some great food, run forever without having to reload and can have a variety of smoke profiles depending on how you use wood along with the charcoal.

Dom Mazzetti
08-28-2020, 07:42 PM
I have an assassin 24 and love it

104timberwolf
08-28-2020, 08:14 PM
I chose the Assassin 17 after quite a bit of study on the issue. My old offset is great but staying up all night has long since passed. I’ve only seasoned it so far but I’ve been very impressed with its ability to maintain +/- one degree when paired with mu DynaQ controller for hours.

onemanlan
08-28-2020, 08:35 PM
This is definitely true for most companies and I totally get the argument against using a typical IVC around wood. Frankly, I would not ever use a wood base unless I absolutely had to no matter what smoking or grilling I was doing. Thankful I don't have to consider that.

BUT......just one more reason to take a hard look at LSG - they've virtually eliminated this danger by building in a removable ash pan underneath your fire basket that slides out with it and prevents any hot coals from falling out. So a mid-cook refill is no problem at all with an LSG IVC.

Example: 1:45 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6AMwf2p9os
watch him slide the basket into the cooker at 3:00 It also helps with keeping your cooker clean!! Check out at 7:20

Rus Jones has a really nice review here, and mentions this feature starting at the 5:20 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwsAkVVt92g

Great point. Humphrey's has that too. Great feature to have. I was just trying to think of a major difference between the two types of charcoal handling types(bottom feed vs gravity feed) of IVS.

Russ is one of my favorite BBQ YouTubers! I watched that video several times before I bit on my BB. He made a good case for the LSG Mini as do a number of other YouTubers. Love his recipes! Just made his red beans and rice yesterday to good success, but I digress.

Very glad to hear some folks here are interested in either type of IVS. Definitely seems like a niche group within the BBQ community. That said I feel like its an extension of a category of vertical smokers of sorts. Just maxing out the insulation for high efficiency of the heat created.

I hope it picks up in popularity because it's my favorite style smoker due to the level of maintenance one needs during a cook. I've managed 12-13 hour burn times from 75% full firebox on my BB. That's insane! I'm sure a number of other IVCs can do that too! That's great!

The only major struggle I've had on mine is estimating the amount of wood to use & where it should be placed in the fire box. Generally I find it best to front load the wood to meet a temporal need for early smoke vs late smoke. Use more than you think you need. Most of the time I've played it conservative & found that more could have been used after the fact. Still trying to sort that out. Also not a big fan of the snake method with the maze. I find that it ends to lead to one side of the meat being more smoked than others. I tend to use the maze pieces to section off the fire box in to 25-50-75% chunks as needed. I keep the charcoal bed deep rather than thin by corralling it with the pieces.

I generally think a lot of folks would be happy with them if they had a chance to try them. It provides the joy of charcoal + wood BBQ with relatively hands off maintenance if you have your set up correct. Takes a bit of fiddling to find what works, but when it does you're gold.

pjtexas1
08-28-2020, 09:01 PM
I can't imagine having to reload charcoal in my insulated cabinet or my GF. They run forever. Like mentioned they both do about the same thing. I think they're pretty safe cookers. Pick your poison.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

AKMIMNAK
08-31-2020, 09:21 PM
I was in a similar position for years. Always dreamed of getting a gravity feed, researched them all, was pretty close to pulling the trigger many times. Eventually i found a used Humphrey's Pint locally and figured id try out the IVC path. It is really a great cooker. Then I got the LSG Mini used as well. It is better.
I still plan to get a gravity feed at some point, but I can tell you well made IVCs can turn out some great food, run forever without having to reload and can have a variety of smoke profiles depending on how you use wood along with the charcoal.

I am sincerely interested in hearing your comparison of Humphrey's Pint vs LSG Mini. Reason being, if I had not started down the LSG path a couple years ago, I was going to go Humphrey's. I've since felt LSG has the edge, but have great respect for Humphrey's too. I've just never owned one. How would you compare them and why do you give the edge to LSG?

ColoradoSmoke
09-01-2020, 09:59 AM
Knowing all of that, I started by thinking I was going to get a gravity unit, did all the research and looked at everything and the one comment that kept coming up was that the smoke profile was a bit lighter than with a IVC, and coming from a pit barrel cooker I liked a heavier smoke profile.


On the subject of smoke profile, are you happy with your IVC?



I'm in the same boat, I like a heavier smoke profile. Considering a barrel cooker but would rather have more space. An IVC type cooker seems to fit the bill?

JAKs Q & brew
09-01-2020, 12:18 PM
I am sincerely interested in hearing your comparison of Humphrey's Pint vs LSG Mini. Reason being, if I had not started down the LSG path a couple years ago, I was going to go Humphrey's. I've since felt LSG has the edge, but have great respect for Humphrey's too. I've just never owned one. How would you compare them and why do you give the edge to LSG?

I have many thoughts about the Pint vs the LSG Mini.* I will try not to turn this into my manifesto.

First off, the Pint was very well used by a comp team before i got it.* Probably 9 years old, so already had tons of cooks on it, cosmetic damage, worn gaskets, etc.* The LSG mini was bought from a fellow BBQ-brethren basically brand new (it was seasoned and had one cook on it).* This factor gives the LSG the advantage of being cosmetically better and also has gone through more rounds of improvement from the initial design (I know Chad and Nicole and Humphrey's are constantly tweaking their designs to improve performance).* I try to be objective in evaluating the cookers against each other, but it is hard to be impartial when one is so much newer.

Similarities - The fuel efficiency is tremendous, temps are really rock solid once they settle in, top to bottom and front to back temp differences are about the same (+/-10), capacity is about the same.* Both Chad and Nicole (Humphrey's) as well as Chis (LSG) are great to work with and love helping people learn to use their pits (even when you get a used one)

Many of the differences are*the stuff you can learn from reading product descriptions / videos.- (The Pint has more color options, the LSG is fully welded, LSG is much heavier...ect.)

There are a few other differences in how they are built / perform that i have found.

1. The design of the LSG charcoal box is just better.* The ash tray attached underneath is so much better, the firebox is also deeper which i think allows for a better, smaller, hotter fire.
2. Gaskets are so much better.* They don't leak at all and are easily serviceable vs the rope gasket on the Pint that is a pain to change
3.The direct flow of the LSG seems to get more consistent results across racks vs the Pint's reverse flow.* The temps are consistent across racks in both cookers, but there is something about how air flows in the Pint that makes the top rack cook so much better than any lower rack.* In fact, if i was to choose any single rack to cook on across all my toys it would be the Pint's top rack.
4.I run both dry, so most of the cool factor of the plumbing in the Mini is lost on me, but i do love the idea that i can increase the moisture in the cooking chamber without opening it
5.I have found the Pint is a tremendous rib machine and is now my go to rib cooker, but i do the big meats on the Mini.

I hope this was helpful.

wbratt1
09-01-2020, 02:36 PM
I am in the same position as I'm a year or so away from placing an order. A year ago, I was leaning towards an Assassin GF, but am now fairly set on an LSG large IVC because I do not want to add chunks early on in the cook. I have an offset, but mainly use my two WSMs due to time constraints. I don't think you can go wrong either way, but that's where I'm at.

onemanlan
09-01-2020, 03:44 PM
I have many thoughts about the Pint vs the LSG Mini.* I will try not to turn this into my manifesto...

I hope this was helpful.


Interesting. I'm not sure what's changed on the Humphrey's models in 9 years, but I'm be curious. Glad to hear a comparison from an owner. Many of us who get a crack at an IVS might not have a crack at another for years. Hard to compare with the level of investment.

I also find it interesting because in the end my choice of IVC was LSG Mini vs Humphrey's BB or Long Weekender. I always wondered what could have been.

Not to be a Humphrey homer, but if you'd like to see if anything has changed I have a review of a 2020 Battle Box on YouTube here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oguKaKhf6-g)with somewhat detailed pictures & video. Forgive my commentary & video editing. I'm beginning with YT.

Below is what my temps look like with ~70% charcoal basket & Flameboss 300. Longest burn time has been 16 hours when I was trying to spend out the rest of the charcoal basket.

185371

What you said about the top rack is dead on. Right where the reverse flow channels exit into the cooking chamber is way hotter than the rest of the chamber. As much as reverse flow gets trumpeted as being even cooking there is definitely a heat gradient inside. The top rack certainly cooks hotter than the rest. Its to a point I almost want to rotate my racks during cooks, but that's a huge pain so I plan accordingly. That or drop the top rack a bit to cook less hot if I want even cooking.

Thanks for sharing your comparison.

nweave2614
09-01-2020, 04:09 PM
On the subject of smoke profile, are you happy with your IVC?



I'm in the same boat, I like a heavier smoke profile. Considering a barrel cooker but would rather have more space. An IVC type cooker seems to fit the bill?

Absolutely, the food is great and I would say more of a "clean" smoke over the pit barrel cooker. I have made sure that I buy wood that is in small chunks roughly the size of a charcoal briquette and they seem to burn very clean even in the low air flow environment of the IVC cabinet. I know a lot of people have had success with the larger wood chunks but I found I can pack more wood in with the smaller chunks and spread it around a bit more to make sure I am getting good wood distribution.

JAKs Q & brew
09-01-2020, 05:06 PM
. I have made sure that I buy wood that is in small chunks roughly the size of a charcoal briquette.

I agree with this. I get wood chunks from fruitawoodchunks.com. their standard chunks are 3" but they also sell 2" chunks (called Cook shack cut) for a few extra bucks and I find the smaller size does better than larger chunks

JVM59
09-02-2020, 04:11 PM
Absolutely, the food is great and I would say more of a "clean" smoke over the pit barrel cooker. I have made sure that I buy wood that is in small chunks roughly the size of a charcoal briquette and they seem to burn very clean even in the low air flow environment of the IVC cabinet. I know a lot of people have had success with the larger wood chunks but I found I can pack more wood in with the smaller chunks and spread it around a bit more to make sure I am getting good wood distribution.

I'll for sure be trying smaller wood chunks in my Mini. Thanks.