Hello everyone, I have been an avid visitor of this website for the past 9 months. I am very new to the smoking community but have always been a fan of food, cooking food, and the libations that go along with it. The microbrewing community in Southern California is always accompanied by great food and most breweries have an amazing assortment of brews to pair with their plates. I always noticed the one thing missing out here was great bbq options and found the best way to accommodate this was to start cooking myself. To say im novice is an overstatement. I was gifted a Brinkmann Gourmet electric smoker from my father in law and it is obviously cheaper and inconsistent in its performance. But with the recipes and advise from this website I am still able to make some great Que. Im looking to purchase an affordable great smoker and any advise would be amazing and appreciated. Ive been looking at the PBC but am very unsure because of the issue with hanging the meat and with not being ablle to cook around 225. I appreciate all the comments, ideas, and recipes from all of you that I've read and look forward to be a bigger part of this community. Thank you
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Club Member
- Sep 2015
- 8064
- Colorado
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> Weber Genesis EP-330
> Grilla Grills Original Grilla (OG) pellet smoker with Alpha/Connect
> Pit Barrel Cooker (gone to a new home)
> WeberQ 2000 (on "loan" to a relative (I'll never see it again))
> Old Smokey Electric (for chickens mostly - when it's too nasty out
to fiddle with a more capable cooker)
> Luhr Jensen Little Chief Electric - Top Loader circa 1990 (smoked fish & jerky)
> Thermoworks Smoke
> 3 Thermoworks Chef Alarms
> Thermoworks Thermapen One
> Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
> Thermoworks Thermopop
> Thermoworks IR-GUN-S
> Anova sous vide circulator
> Searzall torch
> BBQ Guru Rib Ring
> WÜSTHOF, Dalstrong, and Buck knives
> Paprika App on Mac and iOS
Welcome from Colorado ... and you can pretty much not sweat the old cook-everything-at-225F "standard". A growing number of us have grown quite fond of temps closer to 275F ... where the results you’ll get are just as good ... and you’ll get’em much faster.
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As you grow in yer understandin of smokin/grillin it’s not about the cooker. Yes, there are some mighty nice ones out there, but it’s the cookie that matters most. Sounds like yer well on yer way. Welcome, eat good & have fun!
Cool avatar BTW.Last edited by FireMan; January 31, 2021, 11:22 PM.
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Club Member
- May 2016
- 5615
- Huntington Beach, Ca. Surf City USA.
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Equipment
Primo Oval xl
Slow n Sear (two)
Drip n Griddle
22" Weber Kettle
26" Weber Kettle one touch
Blackstone 36†Pro Series
Sous vide machine
Kitchen Aid
Meat grinder
sausage stuffer
5 Crock Pots
Akootrimonts
Two chimneys (was 3 but rivets finally popped, down to 1)
cast iron pans,
Dutch ovens
Signals 4 probe, thermapens, chef alarms, Dots, thermapop and maverick T-732, RTC-600, pro needle and various pocket instareads.
The help and preferences
1 extra fridge and a deep chest freezer in the garage
KBB
FOGO
A 9 year old princess foster child
Patience and old patio furniture
"Baby Girl" The cat
Erik S.
Huntington Beach welcomes you and your soon to be new smoker. Wow, just joined and already getting a new cooker. Nice!
I myself am partial to kettles. Learning 225° and say....325° (325-375 is a sweet spot too) is a great skill to have as you can adjust from there to a more desirable temp as you learn!your cooker.
MBMorgan eluded to..... If you like the PBC don’t let that 225° thing get in the way of owning one. People LOVE that thing and I hear it’s a real "Chicken Machine" too. I do love chicken.
I wonder what HawkerXP thinks about it?
Kettles, barrels, or PK’s all are affordable entry points with plenty of extras to add on at your convenience.
A lot of people around here with lots of skill and experience. Good luck and get that new cooker.
edit: whereabouts are you?Last edited by HouseHomey; February 1, 2021, 12:08 AM.
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Club Member
- Jul 2019
- 2110
- Central IA
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MAK 2 Star General
KBQ C-60
Weber Summit Charcoal Grillw/ Big Joetisserie, SnS LP, and VortexWeber Genesis II - S-345
Weber Traveler
Fireboard 2 Drive
Anova Precision Sous Vide
All the (pellet) grills I’ve loved before:
Traeger Junior Elite^
GMG DB
Traeger Texas Elite
Memphis Pro§
Traeger Pro 575
CampChef SmokePro STX (ugly grills need love too)
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
Traeger Select
CampChef Woodwind WiFi w/SearBox^
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
^ = Favorites
§ = Love/Hate Relationships
Welcome to the Pit from the Heartland. 225 is not a magic number, the art is learning YOUR cooker(s). To add to what the absolutely awesome FireMan says, there's probably nothing wrong with your Brinkmann, my advice is to keep on smokin away on it until you really find what you want. I say this because I'ver probably had 15-20 different cookers between 2010 and now (and a few before then that I actually held onto for a while). There's numerous cookers that can produce amazing results, you just have to figure out if you like more Hot and Fast or Low and Slow and how much you want to tend to it.
The PBC gets lots of love, Kamado style cookers can do about everything, pellet grills are great for lazy people like myself, stick burners and the KBQ can provide the ultimate smokiness with stick burners requiring a little more skill to keep clean smoke rolling. In the end it's all about knowing where your cooker produces the most clean smoke and learning how to best accomplish the end result that satisfies you (and/or your family) and figuring out it you want an all in one solution or will look to something else to do searing/grilling.
In all honesty, I prefer cookers that can get it done at 275 vs 225. It shaves hours off long cooks and still is low enough to not overcook food easily.Last edited by glitchy; February 1, 2021, 12:16 AM.
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Welcome from Wisconsin. Glad you could join us!
I'm partial to the Weber Smokey Mountain and pellet poopers myself. There are however more than a few that swear by the PBC. The one thing I can tell you for sure is that if the PBC couldn't cook great food, there wouldn't be so many here using them. I'll forth the notion that getting hung up on one specific temp is a rabbit hole you don't want to dive into. My pellet pooper swings 15-20 degrees off of set point pretty consistently, and still churns out tender, flavorful meat. The WSM holds more steady, but I don't chase a specific temp. If I have 250° as my target, and it settles in at 265°, then we are cooking at 265° today. There is just no point in arguing with a hunk of metal that doesn't even know it's out smarting you. And please don't tell anyone I said anything nice about FGC's (Flaming Garbage Cans aka PBC). I have a reputation to uphold.Last edited by willxfmr; February 1, 2021, 03:28 AM.
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Club Member
- Jul 2016
- 9403
- Virginia
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3 Weber Performers
1 classic kettle
1 26" kettle
1 Smoky Joe
1 PBC
4 Thermoworks POPs
2 Dot and 1 Chef Alarm
2 Temp spikes
4 Slo n Sears
1 Smokenator
2 Vortex
Welcome to the Pit!
Like stated above 225* is good number to start at but going higher has its benefits. The Weber kettle or the PBC are nice affordable cookers that can make some good food. Learn how to use them and you are golden!
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Club Member
- Apr 2016
- 18141
- Near Richmond VA
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Weber Performer Deluxe
SNS
Pizza insert
Rotisserie
Cookshack Smokette Elite
2 Thermapens
Chefalarm
Dot
lots of probes.
Fireboard
Welcome to The Pit.
The PBC appears to be great at what it does, but it's somewhat of a one trick pony. If you want to grill as well as smoke, and you only have one cooker, the PBC might not be the best choice because I hear that it's problematic to do a hot and fast cook, (grillin'), on it. A Weber Kettle can do a great job either slow or fast. With the addition of a Slow N Sear it's even easier to go slow.
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