What's a man to do?

[atlpbc]

I can only tell you that the first "serous" grill/smoker we tried was a Traeger. We love the smoke flavor. I had to sell the Traeger within a month. No matter which food: chicken, ribs, steak, etc. no smoke flavor.

Ended up with a Pit Barrel Cooker.

Looking now to replace a Weber propane with the Masterbuilt, so here I am...

[jpietrantone]

HawkerXP Thank God! I was about out of ideas but knew the Pit would come through for me.

[HawkerXP]

"Happy days are here again!"

[jpietrantone]

Just an update, I smoked a chuck roast, beef shoulder, and a rack of St Louis ribs on Monday using a few Pecan splits and B&B lump. Everything turned out fantastic, and most importantly, the wife was happy with the amount of smoke. Thanks everyone for your advice!

[jpietrantone]

Yes they do. I just picked some up at the Academy since their prices are a little better. But thanks for the tip!

[jfmorris]

jpietrantone you MIGHT want to run a test cook with JUST the lump and no wood at all, to see what she things. Might not be smoky enough for you, but might be a good test before adding back a bit of wood.

[rickgregory]

As far as B&B... Ace will ship it to your local store and it seems there are several in your area. https://www.acehardware.com/search?query=B%26B

[IFindZeroBadCooks]

I mentioned lump but something like B&B charlogs are also good. They are excellent and can easily replace serve as a briquette replacement. I used them for a while and was happy with their performance as a briquette. I see the issues with finding B&B, maybe start with Fireman’s suggestion and/or switch to a quality lump like MB before trying a new and easily available local briquette.

[IFindZeroBadCooks]

I think Fireman has the best idea. I also like switching to lump and stopping the use of Kingsford. I hear way too many complaints on taste and smell on that brand.

[jpietrantone]

jfmorris I'm right there with you. I also work from home now since last March. But, I don't have time to do fire management on a stick burner and also have to take and pick up my daughter from daycare each day. Since we live a ways out, that's 2 hours gone on the front end and back end. Looks like my Academy has B&B lump and Pecan wood splits. I will try to split them smaller and go this route for my next try.

[jfmorris]

Con't

I think the lump will have less potential for off-putting smoke flavor than any briquettes. Closer to clean wood smoke anyway.

[jfmorris]

jpietrantone offset smokers are very time consuming. I work from a home office, and even then, can't be messing with the cooker every 30 minutes, and on the weekend, at least before COVID, was too busy to deal with it. Plus I like sleep. I ran an overnight smoke of 8 butts on the offset back in 2017, and a brisket another time that same year, but since I got the SNS for my Performer, value my sleep too much to lay on the couch with an alarm reminding me to check the smoker every 30 minutes.

[FireMan]

The point is being missed here! In some cases it may be the smoke & in some case it is not the smoke. Perception can be everything. She wants something grilled on the kettle, with something lightly smoked, tell her it was cooked just the way you wanted it & see what the reaction is. It just may be all the "smoke" you have floating around ya that is affecting her.

[jpietrantone]

jfmorris Thank you for all of this info! I may do a test run using nothing but chunks/small splits with some B&B lump or briquettes in the Masterbuilt Gravity and see what that taste profile is like. That very well may get the taste that she likes.

I would love to get an offset when I retire, but I have no time for that now with acreage maintenance and a 3 year old. I need a solution that's more set and forget currently.

[Murdy]

I did get some B&B at Ace last week.