so a couple of years ago i got this smoker from my then girlfriend (now wife) for christmas. i was super excited because i have never smoked before but i loved bbq.
after reading a lot and experiencing some, i found this is about as cheap a smoker as a person can get when buying a dedicated smoker. i'm not faulting my wife, she shouldn't spend a lot of money on it if she isn't sure i will use it a lot.
i have made a few things with this smoker now. here are the things i learned about this smoker.
1) this thing is leaky. everywhere. if there is a seam it leaks. these didn't bother me as much as the gap between the door and the smoker proper which is probably 3/16ths of an inch wide. with a design like this why even bother putting in an exhaust in the back? I went on amazon and bought some grill/bbq/smoker weatherstripping. the stuff worked really well, just make sure you clean the bejesus out of the surface you plan on adhering it to. i used kitchen cleaner and wiped until i saw no more residue. the stuff works pretty good and the smoke now only billows out the back and slightly through every seam everywhere else on the grill. best i can i hope for i think. this also helped me maintain temperature quite a bit. i used to have huge swings when the wind blew. now i stay pretty darn steady.
2) And you will never get smoke if you don't do the wood chips right. this thing was designed poorly. the first thing i tried is putting the wood chips directly on the wood chip tray. i got a camp fire. well, i thought, i should wrap them in foil. so i wrapped them in foil and placed them on the 3 locations between the "ribs". if you have this smoker you know what i mean. the wood chip tray has 3 vents with metal ribs that go from outside to center cutting the round tray into 3 sections. when i placed the chips in the bottom, closest to the flame, i did get smoke but only half of my chips actually went char. the rest looked entirely untouched. wasteful. so the next time i made a big FLAT wood chip packet and placed it on the very top, covering most of the wood chip tray. the first time i did this i thought all was well until the chips caught fire. that was because of too much air getting in through my excessive slicing of the foil. since then i have left smaller holes and never had a problem. as a side note you will have the foil melting to the wood chip pan.
it seemed like a lot of work just to get SMOKE to happen in a SMOKER.
3) the top and only vent in this thing is on the back. if you put food up at the top shelf it will cook slower than the shelf beneath it. i have had a pork butt sit at the top shelf and one on the shelf right below it. the internal temp was different by 10 degrees. not a big deal but this is information!
4) the front thermostat is actually pretty decent on my particular unit. i still don't trust it and use a maverick. still, if you need a quick idea how the internal temp is doing it's nice to see it.
5) the water pan is very small. you should be checking it every 2 hours at 225.
6) use a cooking tray (9x13) to catch the drippings. i don't care if you use them. this thing is a pain to clean. all of the drippings drop into the water pan and you end up with a water pan of pork grease. your water pan no longer does it's job and did i mention it's a pain to clean? and remember those ribs on the chip tray? yeah, those are also a pain to clean. this whole thing is a pain to clean. edit: put as much water in this thing as you do to fill the water pan. it won't evaporate like the water pan does but it does help hold some temp
7) since this thing is so leaky you will want to adjust your times if you based them on this website or this forum or the food network or anywhere. your food will take longer to cook. anything with a stall? double it. at least until you learn your particular unit. my pork shoulders take over 20 hours, my ribs take 8+ hours, my chicken 3 hours. i'm not saying anything turned out bad, but be prepared to be waiting more than you should. edit: this is only if you are trying tfor 225 - see note 9
8) this thing doesn't come with a cover. you can find a cover made for this on amazon easy enough. it comes in 2 sizes and i got the bigger one by mistake. it is a loose fit but even if the wind is blowing it stays on alright. just a warning - the covers fade in the sun like crazy. they are black covers; mine is a little over a year old and it is completely white on top. in addition, when it rains, the water pools on the top of this thing. good thing i have a cover!
9) EDIT: do NOT cook at 225, it's a waste of time. cook at 250-280 and you will find that times are much closer to what everyone else reports.
over all i have learned to love this little thing after learning all this. after all, who can stay mad as something that helps you make such tasty meat?
after reading a lot and experiencing some, i found this is about as cheap a smoker as a person can get when buying a dedicated smoker. i'm not faulting my wife, she shouldn't spend a lot of money on it if she isn't sure i will use it a lot.
i have made a few things with this smoker now. here are the things i learned about this smoker.
1) this thing is leaky. everywhere. if there is a seam it leaks. these didn't bother me as much as the gap between the door and the smoker proper which is probably 3/16ths of an inch wide. with a design like this why even bother putting in an exhaust in the back? I went on amazon and bought some grill/bbq/smoker weatherstripping. the stuff worked really well, just make sure you clean the bejesus out of the surface you plan on adhering it to. i used kitchen cleaner and wiped until i saw no more residue. the stuff works pretty good and the smoke now only billows out the back and slightly through every seam everywhere else on the grill. best i can i hope for i think. this also helped me maintain temperature quite a bit. i used to have huge swings when the wind blew. now i stay pretty darn steady.
2) And you will never get smoke if you don't do the wood chips right. this thing was designed poorly. the first thing i tried is putting the wood chips directly on the wood chip tray. i got a camp fire. well, i thought, i should wrap them in foil. so i wrapped them in foil and placed them on the 3 locations between the "ribs". if you have this smoker you know what i mean. the wood chip tray has 3 vents with metal ribs that go from outside to center cutting the round tray into 3 sections. when i placed the chips in the bottom, closest to the flame, i did get smoke but only half of my chips actually went char. the rest looked entirely untouched. wasteful. so the next time i made a big FLAT wood chip packet and placed it on the very top, covering most of the wood chip tray. the first time i did this i thought all was well until the chips caught fire. that was because of too much air getting in through my excessive slicing of the foil. since then i have left smaller holes and never had a problem. as a side note you will have the foil melting to the wood chip pan.
it seemed like a lot of work just to get SMOKE to happen in a SMOKER.
3) the top and only vent in this thing is on the back. if you put food up at the top shelf it will cook slower than the shelf beneath it. i have had a pork butt sit at the top shelf and one on the shelf right below it. the internal temp was different by 10 degrees. not a big deal but this is information!
4) the front thermostat is actually pretty decent on my particular unit. i still don't trust it and use a maverick. still, if you need a quick idea how the internal temp is doing it's nice to see it.
5) the water pan is very small. you should be checking it every 2 hours at 225.
6) use a cooking tray (9x13) to catch the drippings. i don't care if you use them. this thing is a pain to clean. all of the drippings drop into the water pan and you end up with a water pan of pork grease. your water pan no longer does it's job and did i mention it's a pain to clean? and remember those ribs on the chip tray? yeah, those are also a pain to clean. this whole thing is a pain to clean. edit: put as much water in this thing as you do to fill the water pan. it won't evaporate like the water pan does but it does help hold some temp
7) since this thing is so leaky you will want to adjust your times if you based them on this website or this forum or the food network or anywhere. your food will take longer to cook. anything with a stall? double it. at least until you learn your particular unit. my pork shoulders take over 20 hours, my ribs take 8+ hours, my chicken 3 hours. i'm not saying anything turned out bad, but be prepared to be waiting more than you should. edit: this is only if you are trying tfor 225 - see note 9
8) this thing doesn't come with a cover. you can find a cover made for this on amazon easy enough. it comes in 2 sizes and i got the bigger one by mistake. it is a loose fit but even if the wind is blowing it stays on alright. just a warning - the covers fade in the sun like crazy. they are black covers; mine is a little over a year old and it is completely white on top. in addition, when it rains, the water pools on the top of this thing. good thing i have a cover!
9) EDIT: do NOT cook at 225, it's a waste of time. cook at 250-280 and you will find that times are much closer to what everyone else reports.
over all i have learned to love this little thing after learning all this. after all, who can stay mad as something that helps you make such tasty meat?
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