Ready to Leave BGE Behind - I need some help deciding

[Beefchop]

If you don't babysit the PBC do the temps get out of hand and it overcooks your food?

[HandsomeDave]

I can't speak to smoking fish since I haven't done it, but I will throw my two cents in regard the WSM and the Pit Barrel since I have both and use them both regularly. I bought a Pit Barrel because I liked the idea of "set it and forget it". Unfortunately, that has not been the case with mine. It seems that no matter what method I use starting the fire I find myself having to babysit the smoker, and either stuff foil in the holes to cool it down, or crack the lid to warm it up. Frankly it's a pain in the a**. Having said that, it is still my go to for ribs if I have the time to watch it. You can't beat the flavor. For longer cooks I use my 22" WSM. I outfitted it with a Pit Viper fan and a Fireboard controller. Best money I ever spent. You can't put a price on good sleep. I can set it to 225 and it will hold it rock solid for 15+ hours. Plus it has plenty of capacity. I can easily smoke 6 pork shoulders at a time if I need to. If I had the money I would go with a vertical cabinet, but since I don't the WSM works well for a lot less money. If you're worried about heat loss, BBQ Guru sells a silicone jacket for the WSM for about 130 bucks. Anyway, good luck with your decision, you will get lots of good advice on this site. That's the thing I love the most about it.

[TripleB]

Yes, Automatic Temperature Controller. I use BBQ Guru's, but bought them years ago when, at the time, the two biggest ATC manufacturers were BBQ Guru and Stoker. I think Fire Boards are the rage right now, but I've been happy with my little Guru's. They get the job done.

[AZ Fogey]

When we smoke salmon, it's not to eat it for dinner, it's to keep it for weeks or months (depending on how it's packaged and refrigerated). I've had very good success using both Traeger and RecTec pellet smokers at their lowest temp settings. That said, if you look at YouTube channels of West Coast/Alaska and Great Lakes salmon smokers, they almost always use a dedicated electric fish smoker because most seem to feel that 130-160° is pretty much an ideal temp for smoking fish, and it's very difficult to maintain that temp on other types of cookers. The majority of them I've seen, also recommend using a dedicated fish smoker if you're going to do it a lot.

[Polarbear777]

I fire up fish all the time as well and never have a problem. Could be some folks have better noses than others?

[PaulstheRibList]

Love the discussion!

Couple quick thoughts:

One, when you cook fish, you need to clean the smoker more often. The WSM is not an easy to clean unit. If I was going to smoke fish for just a couple people, I would want something easy to clean. For me, it's easy: I only use stickburners, and they are not that hard to clean.

Two: How long of smokes do you want to do with fish? Most smokes are short on fish, so you don't need the long-term set and forget that a PSC or WSM etc provide. Heck, you could run a stickburner to smoke fish! Tend the fire a few times and you are done!

[Polarbear777]

If it has the capacity profile you need I’d agree with this. It also has a built in fan intake port, so you can hook up your controller.

[Polarbear777]

You can put a controller fan on just about anything. I have one on my PBC and plenty of others have rigged for a WSM. girls like the pks also.

Most will do set and forget overnight with a fan controller if there’s room for enough fuel. Barrel style should be no problem. You may need to apply gaskets to lids/doors to kill leaks and ensure good control.

There are pics and threads on here about how to mod these.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/charcoal-drums-barrels-and-bullet-smokers/pit-barrel-cooker/457459-pbc-calibration-tests

[glitchy]

I might suggest a Weber Summit Charcoal so you can cook like you have in past without cracking and a pellet grill for fish.

[mug15]

Great - thanks much!

[Huskee]

Thanks to all for the many quick responses. First some clarifications: 1) I am ditching the BGE b/cause it keeps cracking AND I cannot find good consistent hardwood charcoal here in the desert AND Meathead (along with Dr. Blonder's famous "smoke" interview) has convinced me that sawdust and corn starch >>> hardwood due to consistency of its cooking/heating characteristics. 2) My reading convinced me that its not good to smoke fish and meat in the same unit as the "fishyness" stays in the smoker.

I am not convinced of this myself. Do it all the time. FWIW.

[klflowers]

BBQ Guru with wsm:

https://www.bbqguru.com/storenav/gurucookerguide?DeviceModelId=180&ProductId=0

I have a Cyber Q that I use with my wsm all the time.

[mug15]

Old Glory - yes they have a lifetime warranty but since they lost their patent protection they seem much less interested in customer support (it took weeks and weeks to get a replacement when the main outer ceramic cracked) and the new crack in the firebox will likely be a fight as well. That said, the real issue is that I cannot get good, clean, consistency burning hardwood charcoal in Las Vegas and with all the great options for briquets plus wood chunks I will go in that direction - the blue bags are everywhere.

[SavageSmoke]

For a dedicated fish smoker, I would go with a pellet grill. The smoke profile is light and they are very easy to dial in on temp. For a meat smoker, I would look at a charcoal cabinet like a backwoods, BQ, or Stumps. Good luck to you.

[Old Glory]

Your egg should be warrantied correct?

I get briquettes are more precise but I think you get better flavor from lump.