First Pit Purchase - HELP

[joeljenewein]

I bought a LSG 20x42 this year and couldn’t be happier. I’d only ever smoked on a BGE before and the difference in the finished product is remarkable. It’s like everything I make on the offset is the best I’’ve ever made. I went with the 20 x42 because it didn’t have long lead time, doesn’t break the bank and is very responsive to inputs. I don’t need that much space but would rather not feel the need to upgrade down the road. I can be cooking 20 minutes after I pull the cover off with the propane assist to get a
bed of coal fired up. I highly recommend getting the fire management basket. For a newbie like me it made life so much simpler. I’ve finally settled on 1-2 small splits every 30 minutes. I ran a 6 hr cook yesterday and it went smooth with this regiment.

I also really appreciate the direct cooking aspect. I like to reverse sear and direct cook when appropriate and opening the lid and cooking over the fire box works great. Heck, I’ve even made pizzas inside the fire box!

I haven’t even mentioned the fit and finish. It’s about perfect. I look at all the details sometimes and wonder how they can even make any money on it.

If this is what you settle on you won’t be disappointed. Good luck on whatever you decide!

That's awesome. I just heard back from Shirley and they've got a 32 month lead time currently. Those fellas must be doing something right. I think I'm going to go with an LSG, it had the tuning plates like I wanted and if I go with a vertical offset the capacity is awesome. I called them this morning as well and they seemed like awesome people, now the clock will start ticking.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Thanks all, lots of good options out there. 5K is a bit out of my price range, and I think a trailer might be too big for where I can store it at the moment, still trying to figure that out because I'd love to have it on a trailer.
Fat Stack is also a bit out of my price range for a base model, their 120 starts at 4k and I can definitely get a few add ons from LSG or Shirley for that much.
I had looked into KAT and JH Fabrication - both were reverse flow and I'm leaning more towards traditional with tuning plates. JH said he doesn't usually do that, I emailed Shirley to see if they'd be willing to do traditional.
Really appreciate everyone's insight.

J&H was the One I couldn’t remember - he’ll Custom Build -I believe - few guys on Here got smokers from him a cpl years Ago and were Happy with them.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251798