Hi folks, I’ve been using a Cabelas charcoal smoker for over 30 years. It’s just a can with a cover, charcoal pan at the bottom, water pan in the middle, and grates on top. I use a lot of Apple branches and some bags of chips once in a while. I smoked wild turkeys, and a lot of fish in it, and it’s been great, but starting to rust up and getting bent up a bit. What do you recommend for a replacement? I never really looked at the different types - hot smokers, cold smokers, electric, etc., but if you were smoking mostly fish , turkeys and venison, what would you select? I apologize if there is already a thread on this, but if there is maybe you could point it out. Thanks
ive been eyeing the Kamado and the Big Green Egg style smokers. i already have a couple big cookers. the small size wood/charcoal would be great
I've said this before. I smoke everything on my Weber Kettle grill. Run a snake of charcoal, add wood, close the cover. I use it all year as either a grill or smoker.
I have a big homemade wood fired smoker at home, would never be without it. Takes about an hour to get it ready to cook. Food needs covered with foil after about an hour of smoke, then it can be left for up to 12 hours, temp falls after that. Bones fall out of ribs. Roasts can be cut with a fork. At the fire station we us an electric smoker. Set the temp/timer/fill the water pan/fill with wood chips occasionally/use the heat probe if desired/etc. Bluetooth if you want. Very handy. They are two different beasts. I prefer food off the wood fired but the electric is cheap and easy. Google Ugly Drum Smoker. So many options.
Make sure it has a thermometer, and the cook top sides turn up so you can add charcoal when needed. Get a charcoal chimney for starting the charcoal with news paper, not fluid. And very important, never have so many beers you forget to check the grill and burn your supper!
Checking out these checking out these ugly drum smokers! Looks like a fun project, and my son has a welder. That might be in my future. Thanks!!
I built one a few years back. It was a fun project for sure and it cooks really well. It’s amazingly efficient and holds temps much more stable than I though it would. I used ideas from a whole bunch of different places. Let me know if you have any questions. I also have a electric smoker which sees a lot of use in the cold weather as it’s pretty much set it and forget it, and I have a kamodo style which I grill on a lot but have yet to try a smoke on.
Thanks. Thought pink would be cool because mostly pork gets cooked in there, came out pretty bright though. I have a Weber kettle lid I’ve been meaning to adapt to fit, got a cool paint idea for that too.
Oh yeah, that looks like a fun project. Maybe bigger than I need, though. If you were to smoke a 20 pound turkey or 3 or 4 salmon, would it be overkill.
I've been using an 18.5" Weber Bullet for 20 years or so. No complaints at all. The Webers are a pretty solid unit. Its probably similar to what you have.
I don’t think so. I’ve fired it up for just a rack of ribs once and two smaller steelhead. My charcoal basket is a bit overkill, it’ll hold a 18 pound bag plus about 5 pounds of chunked wood no problem. Had a load like that last 30 hours. May make a smaller basket one day. Here’s a few more pictures for you.
I usually like to make my own, but I wanted an insulated model that I could use in the cooler temps. Got one of these coming next week. Nice little unit they say good for 2 butt's or a handfull of chicken. It's a charcoal smoker. While "surfing" around I came across quite a few nice UDS "kits" that have some ready to go hardware, vents - fire basket, etc. but no drum for about $130. If I didn't have my other smoker I'd build a drum using one of those kits.
Nice shiny red smoker fuelrod. You’ll have to post up some of the food it produces when you get it up and running. Any updates rek, did you decide on a new smoker? Backyard beer and bbq season is upon us!
Dang it, the fed ex guy needs a sig. and We missed him today. Do they run on Saturday's? Fingers crossed that they do.