I'd like to learn to smoke some brisket (and other meats too, I guess.) I know a little about it, but not much. Any Ags on here recommend a really good backyard patio smoker?

Horizon? Langs? What?

I know it is not an offset, but a real wood burning smoker that use an electric fan is one made in Texas called Karubecue.

Great reviews on Amazing Ribs.

http://amazingribs.com/bbq_equipment_reviews_ratings/smoker/karubecue-c-60-pit

http://www.kbq.us

BGE with a temp controller like DigiQ makes it just too easy.

WSM here... I learned how to bbq with it with nearly zero smoking experience.... I highly recommend.


I'd never buy an offset now. I'd go WSM, porcelain (prob not bge), or Treager... for smoking on a weekday or Sunday morning for after church.

I love to go off in another direction from what the OP initially requests. Look at a Pitmaker Safe smoker.

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I love to go off in another direction from what the OP initially requests. Look at a Pitmaker Safe smoker.

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Reading about that was really cool. I still want to learn to do it with an offset, though. But that's a seriously cool smoker.

I recently had a similar dilemma (offset vs WSM). I could not do an offset due to logistics of living in the middle of Boston, so I went with the WSM. However, if I were back in Texas with a legit backyard, the offset I was looking at was an Oklahoma Joe Highland, priced at Walmart for $268 (that was around my budget). Had pretty good reviews, and like you, I was more interested in building a fire on an offset.

I use a BGE for smoking, but I have seen some threads here praising Lone Star Grillz for offset smokers. They are in the Houston/Conroe area. They seem very well built.

Thought about getting one for myself, but just love the convenience of not having to feed it a stick every 45 mins to an hour all night. Maybe one day I will, but for now, Im enjoying a set it and forget it life. Once you get over that learning curve, you can get some awesome 'cue with an offset.

Lol at someone who wants to learn smoking so dead set on a stick burner...

Not to mention the suggestions of an Oklahoma joe or some such nonsense from Walmart or academy.

Yeah go down and buy one of those and be sure to tell us just how awesome cooking is and how great your brisket is after you have "learned".

Or take the advice from people with more experience, it is easier to learn how to cook using something well insulated and easy to control the fire of, rather than a cheap flimsy ass offset that can't maintain an even temp. You will spend the first 6 months just learning how to control your fire much less learning how to make good Q. Take our advice, go get a WSM or build an ugly drum first and learn how to smoke. Then when you are pleased with your Q go buy a stick burner, and a quality one at that.

This is coming from someone who has owned 3 stick burners, 2 wsm's, made and cooked on 4 ugly drums, a BGE and a vertical insulated cabinet. My current stable has one stick burner trailer, a BGE, and a vertical insulated cabinet. After 10 years of cooking I finally can produce consistent results on all 3.

If near Houston...I'd check out Gator Pit. I love mine.

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Lol at someone who wants to learn smoking so dead set on a stick burner...

Not to mention the suggestions of an Oklahoma joe or some such nonsense from Walmart or academy.

Yeah go down and buy one of those and be sure to tell us just how awesome cooking is and how great your brisket is after you have "learned".

Or take the advice from people with more experience, it is easier to learn how to cook using something well insulated and easy to control the fire of, rather than a cheap flimsy ass offset that can't maintain an even temp. You will spend the first 6 months just learning how to control your fire much less learning how to make good Q. Take our advice, go get a WSM or build an ugly drum first and learn how to smoke. Then when you are pleased with your Q go buy a stick burner, and a quality one at that.

This is coming from someone who has owned 3 stick burners, 2 wsm's, made and cooked on 4 ugly drums, a BGE and a vertical insulated cabinet. My current stable has one stick burner trailer, a BGE, and a vertical insulated cabinet. After 10 years of cooking I finally can produce consistent results on all 3.

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I'll ignore your condescension and try to learn from you. I never suggested that I wanted to buy a cheap offset. I want to buy a quality offset, which is why I asked about a Horizon.

Pretend, for sake of the conversation, that I have smoked decent (not great, but very good) brisket before - but never on an offset. Now, I want to go buy the quality offset. I want it for patio use, and I want it to be large enough for small parties. If possible, I'd like it to be big enough that I could smoke multiple meats at once. What do you recommend?

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Ignore my condescension? You are dripping with condescension as you have brushed off multiple good suggestions because you want a pointed out reply that fit within your preconceived notion. You said here:

"I'd like to learn to smoke some brisket (and other meats too, I guess.) I know a little about it, but not much."

If you don't know much, I would prefer you go the easy route rather than dropping over a grand on a quality offset. If you really want to spend a grand why not get a BGE? If you really have never used an offset before, and you know from our advice that is the toughest way of cooking Q, I just don't want anyone to do something they will regret. Personally in your shoes I would go with a BGE, best all purpose smoker/grill can be used for everything instead of a (as alton brown says) Uni-Tasker like an offset would be. You can get one for cheaper than your budget.

If you are dead set on offset I would love to know your location? I have personally seen the Horizon and Lang, neither of which I was overly impressed with fitment on. For my money, for a real offset for backyard use I would go here: http://www.lonestargrillz.com/reviews.html

They made my insulated cabinet and now having cooked on it for two months I am in love with it.

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If you really want to spend a grand why not get a BGE? If you really have never used an offset before, and you know from our advice that is the toughest way of cooking Q, I just don't want anyone to do something they will regret. Personally in your shoes I would go with a BGE, best all purpose smoker/grill can be used for everything instead of a (as alton brown says) Uni-Tasker like an offset would be. You can get one for cheaper than your budget.

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I've looked hard at the BGE. I know they are great. I might go that route. But I want to really make a fire. Also, I have worried that I couldn't do multiple meats (say, pork and brisket, or chicken and brisket) on the same fire in a BGE. You say that an offset is a Uni-Takser. I believe you, but help me understand why. What's the best set up for doing chicken and brisket on the same fire? Or brisket and pork?

Thanks for the recommendation of the Lone Star Grillz

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If you really want to spend a grand why not get a BGE? If you really have never used an offset before, and you know from our advice that is the toughest way of cooking Q, I just don't want anyone to do something they will regret. Personally in your shoes I would go with a BGE, best all purpose smoker/grill can be used for everything instead of a (as alton brown says) Uni-Tasker like an offset would be. You can get one for cheaper than your budget.

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I've looked hard at the BGE. I know they are great. I might go that route. But I want to really make a fire. Also, I have worried that I couldn't do multiple meats (say, pork and brisket, or chicken and brisket) on the same fire in a BGE. You say that an offset is a Uni-Takser. I believe you, but help me understand why. What's the best set up for doing chicken and brisket on the same fire? Or brisket and pork?

Thanks for the recommendation of the Lone Star Grillz

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A) BGE still has a fire, and a line my lump charcoal with wood as well to guarantee that great smoke.

B) The large BGE LACKS seriously in space. You max it out with two pork butts, or one brisket. The XL BGE is better, but not better enough in cook size. If you are feeding more than just a family, and want to do butts and brisket and chicken and sausage all at the same time, the BGE is just not right for you, and that's ok!

C) Brisket and Pork would be just fine on the same fire, no matter if it was BGE or stick burner. I would cook them both between 225 and 250, no matter if it was a pork butt and brisket, or ribs and brisket. But if you were trying to do Chicken and Brisket it depends on what kind of chicken you are doing. Skinless breasts for your diet, sure smoke them at 250 and they will come out moist and delicious in an hour and a half. If you have skin on chicken parts or my personal fav to cook, spatchcocked chicken, you can definitely smoke at 250 but your skin will be rubbery (not good eats). So we have found that, that style of chicken is best cooked at 375*-400* over fire, skin side up for the first half, and skin side down the second half of the cook going for an internal temp of around 165*.

So that presents our problem doesn't it? You need your brisket to smoke at 250 but your chicken at 375 whats the solution? Smoke your brisket first, pull it and cooler it to rest for an hour (which you need to do anyways) and then crank up the fire to 375 and throw your chicken on. So Time management skills are needed and fuel consumption becomes our concern! With a stick burner you have already been feeding it for 12 hours (every 1-2 hours I might add) and now you throw some more wood on and crank it up. Or you have a BGE or WSM, and you don't feed it for the last twelve hours, you check your fuel remaining, if you have enough, open up the airflow (or DigiQ/FlameBoss) and cook, if you don't have enough, add some and then crank open the air. Just what do you want to do?

If you are in Texas you have Gator, Klose, Lonestargrillz and about 15 others to choose from that can make you a pit so much better than something like the Horizon and other mass produced ones, it ain't even funny. So look into those, they are really worth the weight (and wait) to have quality, thick materials, that seal up correct and give you wonderful temperature consistency across your cooking surfaces.

whew...

Oh and Unitasker - An offset is a $1500 smoker only. It only smokes. Crank up the fire and you might get up to 400 degrees but that is it.

A BGE is a multitasker, smoke at 225, grill at 550, bake pizza at 700. Hell I make flank steak directly on the coals in mine. It can do more than just one thing which is why it is still on my porch. But then again I have a weber gas grill, blackstone gridle, BGE, Lonestargrillz vertical insulated cabinet, and an East Texas Smoker Company stick burning trailer for any and all of my outdoor cooking needs, because I am a tard and addicted to cooking Q.

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Oh and Unitasker - An offset is a $1500 smoker only. It only smokes. Crank up the fire and you might get up to 400 degrees but that is it.

A BGE is a multitasker, smoke at 225, grill at 550, bake pizza at 700. Hell I make flank steak directly on the coals in mine. It can do more than just one thing which is why it is still on my porch. But then again I have a weber gas grill, blackstone gridle, BGE, Lonestargrillz vertical insulated cabinet, and an East Texas Smoker Company stick burning trailer for any and all of my outdoor cooking needs, because I am a tard and addicted to cooking Q.

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I wouldn't call that tarded. Id call that living the dream

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I will say this:
If you want to EAT BBQ , get an egg or other insulated smoker. You will use it a lot more frequently since you can literally smoke a brisket while you are at your day job.

If you want to MAKE BBQ, get an offset. You won't use it as much even 1/10th as much but it will be marginally better and you will feel like you achieved some kind of rite of passage when you get to eat something from it.

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blue freaking star for you sir.

So much great info! Thanks!

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I will say this:
If you want to EAT BBQ , get an egg or other insulated smoker. You will use it a lot more frequently since you can literally smoke a brisket while you are at your day job.

If you want to MAKE BBQ, get an offset. You won't use it as much even 1/10th as much but it will be marginally better and you will feel like you achieved some kind of rite of passage when you get to eat something from it.

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Ha! That sounds right.

I think I want to make BBQ. (And eat it, obviously.)

I think I going to get both. I hope I don't end up at 07 levels of addiction, but I really do want to learn.

And there is nothing wrong with that

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I will say this:
If you want to EAT BBQ , get an egg or other insulated smoker. You will use it a lot more frequently since you can literally smoke a brisket while you are at your day job.

If you want to MAKE BBQ, get an offset. You won't use it as much even 1/10th as much but it will be marginally better and you will feel like you achieved some kind of rite of passage when you get to eat something from it.

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Ha! That sounds right.

I think I want to make BBQ. (And eat it, obviously.)

I think I going to get both. I hope I don't end up at 07 levels of addiction, but I really do want to learn.

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It really is an addiction and I am lucky in the fact that my family really supports me. Almost every meal we eat is cooked by me and my basis for most meals is smoked or grilled meats. I will smoke a ton of meats every two weeks, and then vacuum seal the leftovers (a ton) and then freeze them, and heat them up using my sous vide.
Hell just last night for a quick meal I thawed a spatchcocked smoked chicken, pulled it and made a chicken salad out of it that we had with crackers and Gouda cheese that I had smoked about 4 weeks prior using apple wood chips.

If no one has smoked cheese before, it was a lot of fun and turned out amazing! Whole family loved it.

I think there have been lots of great suggestions here, but I'd like to go ahead and give a (potentially worthless) opinion.

There are a lot of bbq snobs out there who will tell you that an offset is the only REAL way to cook, don't listen to them. Like most have said, if you go buy a cheap offset at an outdoors store (coupled with limited experience) you will likely get cheap results. They don't hold temps well, they're poorly insulated and they won't last long. I've never cooked on a WSM, but I've heard nothing but rave reviews about them. It sounds like it's a great way to learn how to build a fire, maintain temps, and learn the basics of smoking. For me, I learned from an offset my dad has owned since I was a kid. It was well built, he maintained the quality and he still uses it today. Then when I got older I bought my own quality cooker....that's currently stuck in Texas until I can get back from Ohio. Anyway, I've cooked on some friend's POS smokers from those big retailers and there is certainly a difference. Hell, if you're a halfway decent welder you could make your own.

All that being said, if you're dead set on buying an offset smoker make sure it's from a good company like LyfeTyme. You'll get what you pay for there and they have really great craftsmanship. You can also look at one of the many pit builders in Texas like Gator Pits, Klose Pits or Lone Star.

Most important thing about doing backyard cooking is to not take it too seriously, but you have to have good equipment to do that. If you go cheap, you'll spend so much time trying to maintain temps and adding logs you'll miss out on the best part: drinking beer and shooting the sh*t with your friends.

I would also post this on the outdoor board. They are more about the experience than this board.

Lots of people obsess over smoking...I do too. A lot of people smoke different too. For me, 250 degress is perfect for brisket. I can smoke ribs, turkey, chicken, fish, pheasant, dove, quail, shrimp, wings all at 250 degrees. I could smoke some things at 275 degrees, but I generally don't and prefer to keep at 250. So, I don't have any issues with different cooking temp of different meat items...just have to know time on the pit. Besides, the best part of the process is the cooking. One gets to hold a beer and one HAS to maintain the fire so one CAN NOT get suckerwd into other honey - do's that ones wife would otherwise insist get done. Maintaining fire is hard work (not really, but don't ever ever ever let your wife know) to ensure that the feast will be perect. When smoking a brisket...my to do's get done.

...but I wouldn't put a drop box smoker on my patio. It would be in my yard away from the house. YMMV.

I don't think the OP is "dripping with condescension" at all nor has he discounted people's suggestions.

OP, I am an offset person. I don't ever want a Primo/BGE or anything similar. If someone gave me one, I would sell it. I like the old school/take a long time and have a reason to drink beer and be outside method. I just bought this Lonestar Grillz 24" X 60" offset a few months ago, and it's badass. Very efficient. Holds temp extremely well once you have a good bed of coals. My brisket game went from zero to badass in 2 cooks.

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...but I wouldn't put a drop box smoker on my patio. It would be in my yard away from the house. YMMV.

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What's a drop box smoker? Is that a gravity feed?

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I don't think the OP is "dripping with condescension" at all nor has he discounted people's suggestions.

OP, I am an offset person. I don't ever want a Primo/BGE or anything similar. If someone gave me one, I would sell it. I like the old school/take a long time and have a reason to drink beer and be outside method. I just bought this Lonestar Grillz 24" X 60" offset a few months ago, and it's badass. Very efficient. Holds temp extremely well once you have a good bed of coals. My brisket game went from zero to badass in 2 cooks.

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And here you have the other side of the aisle, the guys dead set on the offset smoker. I think wars have been fought on the outdoors board over such a thing...

Oh I love this thread.....

In reality, you need to give your location and price range. Plenty of good options have been given for Houston, if that's not where you live than that's potentially worthless info.

And this thread has definitely been more civil than the outdoor board. Over there it turns into you're an idiot if you don't just get a BGE or you aren't really doing BBQ if you don't have an offset.

And FTR, I have an offset smoker from Klose in Houston. My favorite part of smoking is sitting around the fire and drinking cold beer with buddies (or just my dog). Different strokes for different folks.

Another suggestion is get a fire box with a lid and grate for grilling. The pit pictured above has this as well. I use that aspect of my offset smoker about 5x more than actually smoking meat.

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I think wars have been fought on the outdoors board over such a thing...

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I didn't know what I was stepping into with this thread!

Thanks to everyone with all the great suggestions.

I'm in Arkansas and am willing to spend what I have to spend to do it right, but I'd rather keep the cost down. I've been looking at Craigslist for used smokers quite a bit. It's very hard to know what you're looking at!