Pellets seem unnatural...
Greetings all! I'm in the market for something new. I've been cooking and competing on two 18" WSMs for some time now with great success, but I think my competing days are done and these two kettles are looking for a new home. Now, it'll just be me cooking for me (and 100 of my favorite people now and then). I've been reading and researching and chatting, but I'm still in the early phases. I figured it was time to ask the brethren to chime in.
What I want - doesn't mean it's doable I know:
- need to be <$1000 and ideally significantly less
- want a very much set it and forget cooker. My WSMs have always been great at holding temp
- would like a fair amount of cooking space. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do maybe 3 big butts or 2 briskets or half-a-dozen racks
- I'm open to fuel options
I contemplated adding a Rocks or IQ controller (wiFi or bluetooth) to one of my WSMs and sticking with that, but at $300+, they are steep (and don't overcome the shortfalls of my WSMs - size, accessibility to lower rack during cook, etc)
Right now, I'm leaning heavily toward the Green Mountain Grill Daniel Boone pellet smoker @ $699. I've read some really good things about them and the built in WiFi controller is a big plus. I'd love the larger Jim Bowie @ $899
RecTec's are out of my price range and don't have an integrated controller.
I've considered going with a vertical electric smoker like a Bradley (6 rack for $430) or a 40" Masterbuilt with bluetooth controller ($360) but I'm worried that I won't love the flavor profile of what I can produce with them.
So, can I hear from the crowd? If you had <$1000 to spend on a "lazy-man's" smoker that didn't need much in the way of babysitting, had ample volume, and that produced fine meats, what would it be?
Thanks all!
Personally, I'd never consider any type of cooker where I had to get some sort of processed, man made, chemically composed fuel. If it requires some sort of special "Pellet" type fuel that doesn't generally come from nature, I'd not really consider it.
Me? I'm trying to get more healthy with anything I consume. I don't buy much processed foods, I cook from scratch 99% of the time, and for cooking fuel on my grills/smokers...I like either real wood, or lump charcoal. I will, occasionally use briquettes, but I try to avoid them as that they are in the fomer category I mentioned and that makes them more similar to pellets or whatever.
Just my $0.02.
I got my Stick Burner, a bandera style one, pretty heavy duty metal too...for about $800-$900 if I recall. And for the most part, it is set and forget, just have to add a log every 1.5 to 2 hours...it maintains temps pretty readily and had lots of cooking area.
You can get one of the ceramic cookers, the BGE Large or the Komodo in the $1K range....they aren't as big as a dedicated stick burner, but you can stack a good bit of meat in those things, and you fuel them with lump charcoal, and add in some real wood chunks.
These ceramic things really ARE set and forget, once you dial in that temperature...you can go 20+ hours on the good ones and keep your temps.
The ceramics also double as really great grills....so, two birds with one stone so to speak...
Just my $0.02.....but really, I'm trying to keep my foods and fuel as close to natural as I can....and keep the man made chemically enhanced stuff as far away from my mouth as possible.
cayenne
