The Best Pit Advice for Choosing A New Smoker & Grill

[rickgregory]

I think the filters I'd use if I don't know someone are threefold - 1) What's your experience in BBQ, 2) what do you want to do, 3)what do you want to spend?

For (1), someone who has some significant experience smoking is very different from the guy who hasn't done more than flip burgers and steaks on a gasser. For (2), if they mostly want to grill and occasionally smoke some chicken or a pork butt that's different than someone who wants to smoke ribs, brisket and all that. And for (3) if their budget is around $500 it makes no sense to recommend an LSG.

After that, a lot of what others have said - how much do they really want to tend fire etc.

[Huskee]

My over-simplified advice, of the available smoker traits: Cheap; Easy To Operate; Great Food; pick two.

[MBMorgan]

Yep!

[Jim White]

I just went through the process of making a recommendation for a friend of a friend. This person was looking to replace a gas grill, so after working through many of these questions with her and reading reviews here, I sent her to the Weber Summit S-460. She has ordered it, so I'm hoping it works out for her. I recommended some cabinetry to go with it and of course suggested New Age stainless since that's what I'm installing in my new setup. Not sure if she's doing that or not, but I think I was within her stated budget.

[fzxdoc]

I heart my 6 burner Summit. Old Faithful.

[jecucolo]

Fire management is a skill that takes time to master. Which is something I had no idea about and was overwhelming to me. I bought the Pit Barrel because I knew nothing and everything I heard about the PBC was that I didn’t have to know anything about it. It was true! My first cook was a brisket, 2 chickens and a rack of ribs. It all turned out delicious. If you just want to get cooking I’d start there. You got a lot of good advice here. But for a beginner with $350 you can’t go wrong with a PBC. Welcome to the Amazing Ribs Pit Club!

[nate373]

I would say it doesn't really matter the type or shape of charcoal grill you get because they will all get the job done once you learn how to grill. The main recommendation I make is just make sure it has a stainless steel cooking grate just to avoid the rust, especially when just starting out. I would also recommend buying something with the mind set of that's it's going to be used 99 percent of the time as a grill(at least for most people) and maybe just buy a separate smoker like a WSM. But if you really only have the space for one I would get a SNS Kettle because it comes with a stainless steel cooking grate, a charcoal basket that works good for low and slow and ports for a temp probe and temp control unit if desired. I would avoid using a pellet smoker as a grill only because a lot of them need to burn a lot of pellets to maintain high grilling temps.

[Panhead John]

+1 on the SNS kettle. I love the EZ spin grate, in addition to it being SS.