seebee wrote:Ummmm....sooooo.. a lil' embarrassed over here.

I had no idea these pellet grills were electric.
I am soooo getting one for next spring for the fam.

As I posted above, the pellet is a happy medium. When we moved 6 or 7 years ago I left my natural gas Weber Genesis behind and returned to hardwood/hardwood charcoal with my Hasty Bake. I love it but it's more than my wife cares to deal with. My new pellet is dead simple, fill the hopper, set temperature and you get the benefits of wood smoke but no hassle.

senoritap wrote:Hi all,
Looking for advice for what type of smoker would be a good starter for a neophyte. He is interested in learning how to smoke but has no experience. This is a master's degree completion graduation gift and $ and space considerations aren't the biggest factors. I guess I'm looking to hear if you'd suggest something like The Big Green Egg or if you'd recommend for a newbie (who we aren't sure will love this pastime) an electric smoker to start. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

I love my BGE. It is more than a one trick pony. I use it to smoke, sear, grill, make pizzas, etc. The problem is cost. BGE's are quite expensive. If you buy it only to smoke, there are cheaper alternatives. If you buy it as a replacement for a grill and to smoke, it is well worth the investment. Now, due to the pandemic, I have been having diffuculty finding lump charcoal locally; with the exception of Coboy or Frontier.

So -
Ol Seebee here wrapped up the research and targeted a Camp Chef Woodwind 24. after hemming and hawing for a while, a used one popped up, and I snagged it. Watched a few youtube vids and completed my first cook yesterday. Two spatchcocked (tee-hee) chickens: one jerk, and one with a homemade rub.

Smoked for 2 hours using the machine's high smoke setting (it regulates itself to vary temps up to something like 225 to create a decent amt of smoke.) Then I cranked it up to 275 to get the birds up to 165. The machine has two temp probe ports with a digital readout. I got side tracked while finishing up a freezer defrost / deep clean, and the birds went up to 173.

Jr has a wing from the home rub one, and said it was the best piece of chicken he ever had. Wife 1.0 said several times over that this was some damn fine yardbird. I was nervous about the temp being overcooked, but in the end, the breast was still damn juicy. I was hoping for a more robust smoke flavor, but with only two hours, it was still pretty decent. I have two pork butts that'll be my next long cook, and if I can find a Costco prime brisket under 3 bux/lb, my freezer is now ready to buy a few of 'em.

This one has the 900 degree sear box attached, so I have a few Flintstone NY strips that I'll do a reverse sear on in a few days.

For anyone researching these pellet grill thingies:
When I first saw the name "Camp Chef," I kinda thought it might be a corny, cheap, off brand name compared to Traeger, or Weber. After more research, I found that some of their models are pretty well regarded, and have some well thought out features. This one will probably make it's way to our vacation house. I think my inlaws will be able to use this with very little issue.

I'll consider buying one for us once I get through all of this charcoal I hoarded last season for my Kamado, and the Weber Kettle.

I kinda like the Rec-Tec pellet grill look - their front handle is 2 stainless steel steer horns.

Two pork butts on the Camp Chef Woodwind 24.
I'm sold.

I went straight by the book:
Pat dry
Mustard binder
Liberal rub
Let it sweat, for 30 min, then apply more rub.
On the smoker at about 225, fat side down.
After the rub looked "set," start spritzing and rotating every hour up to about 165
Liberal spritz, wrap in butcher paper, bump temp up to 275. let it go to about 200 and small change
Off the smoker, foil tent for 30 minutes

Bone came out clean as a whistle.
Hand pullable, pretty effortless. Juicy.
Nice, clean, smoke flavor. I would like more smoke flavor, but this was no joke.

45 degrees outside, and this thing held temp like a champ. I do have the insulation blanket, probably helped.

I'm sold.

Also reverse seared a few 2 inch thick NY Strips (flavorless from Jewel) a few weeks ago. Again, pretty close to effortless to a perfect medium rare / medium. About 1 hour on this thing's "low" smoke setting which got them up to like 100 and small change, then cranked up the side sear station to mark them up in just a minute on each side. That's all it took for VERY distinct criss cross grill marks. The thing can SCREAM.

Brisket and Flinstone beef ribs are my next big test as soon as I can get my hands on them. I haven't done any spares yet, but I have 128% confidence that those are going to be insanely good. Dare I admit - probably better than I'e been doing on my kettle or Kamado.

I'm sold on the pellet smoker. I'm going to teach Jr how to do use it, so he can be in charge of BBQ this summer.

Made beef jerky with some sale priced bottom round on this thing today, and it is a very tasty product - like, no reason to ever buy beef jerky again, because this is better than I've ever had - and I legit didn't even try hard. Everyone in the household is quite impressed with this pellet smoker business.

seebee wrote:Made beef jerky with some sale priced bottom round on this thing today, and it is a very tasty product - like, no reason to ever buy beef jerky again, because this is better than I've ever had - and I legit didn't even try hard. Everyone in the household is quite impressed with this pellet smoker business.

Jerky, like homemade cheese, has a preparation/consumption time ratio of about 100:1. I would always take pride in presenting the prepared product which my kids would then eat in about 3 minutes.

Just wanted to update and give thanks for all the smoker suggestions. My friend decided to gift the Traeger Pellet Grill. They're going to assemble it this weekend and he hopes to have it cranking for the holiday week.
Thanks again.

spinynorman99 wrote:Jerky, like homemade cheese, has a preparation/consumption time ratio of about 100:1. I would always take pride in presenting the prepared product which my kids would then eat in about 3 minutes.

I used choice bottom round (3.99 lb) as my first trial run. It's pretty flippin delicious. A few sinewy bits, but definitely not bad.

Any suggestion on a cut that offers a decent value, everything considered?

I'm on the lookout for sale prices to buy in bulk for the freezer. I really didn't even try and this stuff turned out very good. For one flavor, I literally used the 99c "Steak Seasoning," from the corner fruit market spice shelf and it's still really good. Definitely making more. LOTS more. I have the jerky racks - 3 of them. For about 3lbs of fresh sliced, I only used one rack, so I can get a decent amount in one session.

seebee wrote:

spinynorman99 wrote:Jerky, like homemade cheese, has a preparation/consumption time ratio of about 100:1. I would always take pride in presenting the prepared product which my kids would then eat in about 3 minutes.

I used choice bottom round (3.99 lb) as my first trial run. It's pretty flippin delicious. A few sinewy bits, but definitely not bad.

Any suggestion on a cut that offers a decent value, everything considered?

I'm on the lookout for sale prices to buy in bulk for the freezer. I really didn't even try and this stuff turned out very good. For one flavor, I literally used the 99c "Steak Seasoning," from the corner fruit market spice shelf and it's still really good. Definitely making more. LOTS more. I have the jerky racks - 3 of them. For about 3lbs of fresh sliced, I only used one rack, so I can get a decent amount in one session.

Eye of round! I've made a few batches in the oven and this cut has worked out best for me. Very lean and easy to get some large-ish slices. If I see it on sale at the grocery store, that's my trigger to make some jerky.

I must say that I agree with spinynorman's mathematical formula for homemade cheese and jerky: making:consumption::100:1 !!

Now, yes, the pleasure co-efficient is quite high, but ¡Yikes! so is the labour co-efficient.

I've made a lot of cheese at home--getting fairly good at a camembert-style. But what-the-hey!, when I can get a decent Canadian round at Aldi for a couple bucks, what's the motivation?

Ouf!

Geo

Geo wrote:when I can get a decent Canadian round at Aldi for a couple bucks, what's the motivation?

Ouf!

Geo

Bragging rights? At this point I make cheese only as a rainy/subzero afternoon project with nieces. Kids are out of the house so jerky has fallen off (wife went full-vegetarian several years ago). Many years back when Best Kosher Sausage was still around they sold their irregular jerky in their outlet stores in 5-lb bags for much less than it cost to make at home. Kids (2 teenage boys) would burn through it in a weekend.

spinynorman99 wrote: Kids are out of the house so jerky has fallen off (wife went full-vegetarian several years ago).

My wife commiserates with you. A while back ( more years than I want to remember ) I went vegetarian for around 10 years and, since I was the cook, did my wife and kids.