Hi all,
I've been saving for a few years for as close to an 'all in one' cooker that I can find - and luckily stumbled upon ecowper's very similar ask - I'm continuing to re-read his helpful post, but I have slightly different parameters. So if y'all will bear with me and provide input I'd be sincerely grateful. For background, I caught the smoking bug when a neighbor in my building parked his (very poorly) modified COS in our backyard, I sling some great pulled pork and decent ribs - but I'm still learning (jonesing to try a brisket) plenty.
Thank you ecowper for this great set of questions:
- What is my budget - all in I'd like to stay below $6k - there's some wiggle room but I have other commitments this year so l need to be reasonable.
- How long do I plan to own this
Probably the rest of my life - unless there's some magical outdoor kitchen waiting for me somewhere in the future with a huge pizza oven and built in smoker
- How much cooking capacity do I need
At least room for a ~9-11 lb pork shoulder and a bunch of chicken wings (maybe ~ 5-6 lbs). Though this amount may vary quite a bit depending on what part of the country I move to after CA (just got here, unclear how many years I'll stay).
- Is this a multi-purpose, do it all cooker? Or is it just for smoking, just for direct heat grilling, etc
During research over the last 3 months-ish I've become pretty excited about the idea of raising/lowering heat/charcoal/wood to/from meat and yet still having the ability to get a legitimate smoke ring.
I confess I don't much care for the look of cabinet or vertical smokers & due to the way I cook my smoked wings I really enjoy having a fair amount of real estate to play with
- How complicated do I want things to be? Am I tending fire every 30 minutes? Or do I want to set it up and be able to leave for the day, come home and my food is done? Or something in between?
I love playing with fire / learning to manage the fire on the COS I learned on was one of the most fun parts of the whole experience. And cooking is actually a de-stresser for me. However, I hope to have kids in a few years so something that at least holds temps well (and/or can be set up with charcoal when necessary in a less time intensive manner) is a must.
- What flavor profile do I enjoy? True live fire smoke? Charcoal plus smoke? Light or heavy on the smoke and fire taste?
Ideal is true fire, but the time and space requirements for a pure stick burner and maybe only a kettle (if any 2nd cooker) doesn't seem practical. Love bold smoke flavor, enjoy charcoal, not sure a pellet grill will get that awesome level of smoke or allow for a killer sear on steaks etc.
- How much learning curve do I want?
Happy to spend quite a lot of time learning / getting better. But would rather something that doesn't take tons of set-up time each and every cook (for example AZ Fogey mentioned how long it seems to set up the AZ BBQ for each cook - that sounds like too much fussing probably).
- How much space do I have?
Not a ton, but enough for the 3 I've narrowed it down to (see below).
- What sorts of stuff do I want to cook on this? Straight forward backyard stuff like pork butt and ribs? Or am I doing brisket, hanging my own sausage, cold smoking fish, cooking pots of beans on it?
Pork shoulders, brisket, steaks, burgers, chicken, turkey, chicken wings, ribs, lamb (bonus if there's a way to add a rotisserie).
Current list is narrowed to:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n995843[/ATTACH]
Engelbrecht Braten 1000
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n995844[/ATTACH]
M36

*Also, if you use an acronym would you mind explaining what it is? I'm new to the Pit and can't say I've figured out even half of them.
Any thoughts / suggestions / tips / tricks are all hugely appreciated. Also if anyone has favorite thermometers / related gadgets or could point me towards where I can find posts on those please share!
Thank you!
I've been saving for a few years for as close to an 'all in one' cooker that I can find - and luckily stumbled upon ecowper's very similar ask - I'm continuing to re-read his helpful post, but I have slightly different parameters. So if y'all will bear with me and provide input I'd be sincerely grateful. For background, I caught the smoking bug when a neighbor in my building parked his (very poorly) modified COS in our backyard, I sling some great pulled pork and decent ribs - but I'm still learning (jonesing to try a brisket) plenty.
Thank you ecowper for this great set of questions:
- What is my budget - all in I'd like to stay below $6k - there's some wiggle room but I have other commitments this year so l need to be reasonable.
- How long do I plan to own this
Probably the rest of my life - unless there's some magical outdoor kitchen waiting for me somewhere in the future with a huge pizza oven and built in smoker

- How much cooking capacity do I need
At least room for a ~9-11 lb pork shoulder and a bunch of chicken wings (maybe ~ 5-6 lbs). Though this amount may vary quite a bit depending on what part of the country I move to after CA (just got here, unclear how many years I'll stay).
- Is this a multi-purpose, do it all cooker? Or is it just for smoking, just for direct heat grilling, etc
During research over the last 3 months-ish I've become pretty excited about the idea of raising/lowering heat/charcoal/wood to/from meat and yet still having the ability to get a legitimate smoke ring.
I confess I don't much care for the look of cabinet or vertical smokers & due to the way I cook my smoked wings I really enjoy having a fair amount of real estate to play with

- How complicated do I want things to be? Am I tending fire every 30 minutes? Or do I want to set it up and be able to leave for the day, come home and my food is done? Or something in between?
I love playing with fire / learning to manage the fire on the COS I learned on was one of the most fun parts of the whole experience. And cooking is actually a de-stresser for me. However, I hope to have kids in a few years so something that at least holds temps well (and/or can be set up with charcoal when necessary in a less time intensive manner) is a must.
- What flavor profile do I enjoy? True live fire smoke? Charcoal plus smoke? Light or heavy on the smoke and fire taste?
Ideal is true fire, but the time and space requirements for a pure stick burner and maybe only a kettle (if any 2nd cooker) doesn't seem practical. Love bold smoke flavor, enjoy charcoal, not sure a pellet grill will get that awesome level of smoke or allow for a killer sear on steaks etc.
- How much learning curve do I want?
Happy to spend quite a lot of time learning / getting better. But would rather something that doesn't take tons of set-up time each and every cook (for example AZ Fogey mentioned how long it seems to set up the AZ BBQ for each cook - that sounds like too much fussing probably).
- How much space do I have?
Not a ton, but enough for the 3 I've narrowed it down to (see below).
- What sorts of stuff do I want to cook on this? Straight forward backyard stuff like pork butt and ribs? Or am I doing brisket, hanging my own sausage, cold smoking fish, cooking pots of beans on it?
Pork shoulders, brisket, steaks, burgers, chicken, turkey, chicken wings, ribs, lamb (bonus if there's a way to add a rotisserie).
Current list is narrowed to:
- LSG Adjustable Smoker - takes charcoal & wood, has large + dual zone cooking space with ash tray, USA made, adjusts heat to meat ratio. Doesn't seem to have a rotisserie option, fireboxes seem a smidge small (can they even take whole logs?) and lead time seems to be seriously intense. (@CaptainMike would love to know what adjustments / accessories you put on yours!)
- Engelbrecht Braten 1000 - love how beautifully this presents, charcoal & wood - has an offset option and obviously has the Santa Maria function, and USA made. Unfortunately, this seems too small to 'last a lifetime' if we ever leave COVID and I get to throw parties again. They make a '2000' version, but that doesn't seem to come with the offset option and I can't quite envision how much bigger that is than the 1000.
- M-Grills MOAG or M1 ? (I'm not entirely sure I follow what the difference is - but maybe mostly size?)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n995843[/ATTACH]
Engelbrecht Braten 1000
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n995844[/ATTACH]
M36
*Also, if you use an acronym would you mind explaining what it is? I'm new to the Pit and can't say I've figured out even half of them.
Any thoughts / suggestions / tips / tricks are all hugely appreciated. Also if anyone has favorite thermometers / related gadgets or could point me towards where I can find posts on those please share!
Thank you!
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