From BGE to stick burner

I have a kettle and can achieve extreme high radiant heat with attachments like a vortex or SNS. You just need oxygen and the coals right below the cooking grate. Wok and a vortex work great together. However I won’t get the taste an offset provides. My WSM has decent airflow but doesn’t burn wood the same way either. Ive also been debating adding a Santa Maria style grill for some time but an M1 could do both. Let’s see what the 2020 M36 looks like.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Smokers are like guns, you just have to buy it and use the heck out of it for a while to decide if it works for you. If it doesn't suit you, sell it and move on, eventually you'll settle on your favorite.

Wives, unfortunately, fall into a different category.

Bob Wiley said:

Smokers are like guns, you just have to buy it and use the heck out of it for a while to decide if it works for you. If it doesn't suit you, sell it and move on, eventually you'll settle on your favorite.

Wives, unfortunately, fall into a different category.

Click to expand...

There is a lot of truth in that first paragraph. I ain’t saying a word about the second... lol.

I acquired the new 2019 M1 this summer. Have no experience with reverse flow smokers having previously been using the Pit Barrel which I loved but could never get the low and slow cooking I was looking for. I have done one stick burn and was trying to target 225 which I did by building a very small fire with half size splits and feeding it every 30-40 minutes. I had to fiddle a fair bit with the vent but results with ribs and a chicken were quite satisfactory. It took a little while for the fire to settle down and get past the white smoke stage but eventually it burned quite well though each new stick got a minute or so of white smoke.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zsVhgZHNMss41NGt8

Of course I could not see using sticks on a really long smoke. Since then I have gone for wood chunks over a bed of coals which is just so much easier. Still having a grill that gives you all of those options and is really easy and forgiving is nice and I am happy with the purchase and the value.

One thing I assume a BGE would do better than the M1 is to do overnight smokes with cold weather. I did an overnight last night and it got down to 30. My packed fire box lasted only 5 hours at 225 and I am sure I could get longer in summer. Metal I would assume is more conductive than ceramic.

I’m with the others here. I started with a Weber Smokey mountain and quickly moved to the egg. Loved it but I wanted more involvement and my smoked food was good but not great. Got a stick burner and have t smoked on the egg, other than ribs once to do a side by side comparison in flavor, since. The offset ribs won hands down. I still use my egg but only for grilling and baking. Actually, a couple times I’ve started food in the offset and if I’m going to wrap, I’ll wrap and put in the egg to finish and I can go about my day. The egg is still a useful tool in my arsenal but the offset is my favorite.

I've had a similar epiphany in the last couple of weeks, I have been cooking on my Grill Dome and my Pitmaker Vault for the past 5 years and recently started cooking alot on GMG Pellet Smoker. I had the opportunity to cook on a Reverse Flow Stick burner, and the difference was dramatic. The temperatures were consistent and the taste of the food was noticeably better. I was able to maintain temperature with my guru or anything electronic.
Since then it has me on a mission to buy a Reverse Flow cooker...

I have been cooking on a Primo XL for about 10 years. It is definitely a trade off. Flavor from a stick burner is superior but convenience from the kamado is hard to beat. I notice the”stale smoke” flavor in ribs more than anything else. Brisket, pork butts, reverse sear steaks turn out just fine. I have found that small,chunks are better. Chips are good too. Kama do’s are so efficient that you can get plenty smoke flavor from just lump depending on brand (B&B hickory is very Smokey). On briskets flavor is great but very little smoke ring from my Primo.

I just don’t have the time or patio space for a stick burner. I would never get rid of the Primo. If anything I might try out a pellet grill for ribs.

I too fell into them BGE craze. They are just another way/ method of cooking.Nothing special.They make people that do not know how to cook/ grill/smoke / roast,think that they do.Reverse flow spit burner will beat it EVERY TIME!.

Webber - Cooks Great - no tending - I dont smell like smoke

UDS - Great Long Untended Cooks - I smell a tad smokey

New Braunfels Stick Burner - Super Fantastic Q - Alot of tending - I stink of smoke

Would not sell any of them

Also check Meadow Creek- great products

I am in a somewhat similar situation as you are. As you can see from my sig line I have a variety of cookers. The LSG offset is my newest addition. Like you, I've had the opportunity to borrow an offset and use it several times a year. I finally decided I needed to be a big boy and own my own. The offset definitely is superior in my mind for cooking foods low and slow when smoke flavor is the desired outcome. The issue for me is that low/slow/smoked is not the only style of food I enjoy. Also stick burners require consistent attention to maintain temperatures.

I still would not part with my two eggs. Do my eggs smoke as well as the LSG? No. But at the same time I can cook a pork butt on the egg while I do the 30 Honey Do's I need to do on a Saturday. I don't always have time to tend the fire like I should. My wood oven is the better tool for many things as well. The problem with it is it takes a good three hours to bring it up to temp so weeknight meals are not really an option.

I look at my eggs as a good general purpose grill/oven. I cook most of the meals for my family and do 85% of my cooking in the outdoor kitchen. I don't always have time to fire up the wood oven. I don't always have time for lighting the offset and tending the fire. The offset and the oven require more wood and more maintenance in terms of cleaning.

So the eggs are easy. They hold temps and burn a long time on a load of lump. It can be an oven or a grill depending on what I'm cooking. You could say the same about a kettle also - I just don't cook on one. Kamado cookers have their place depending on what kind of cooking you like to do. I'm not sure why they get beat up by some folks. They are solid cookers with limitations like any other cooking device.