Hello or Howdy Y'all or...

Please stop by and say hello when you first join. Let us know who you are, where you are and anything else you want to share.

Moderator: British BBQ Society

Hello or Howdy Y'all or...

Postby Mighty » 24 Apr 2010, 15:12

Quick intro time I guess...

Mum still calls me Chris but to virtually everyone else I know, I'm "Mighty" or The Mighty or other things which aren't repeatable in polite company.

Although living in East Yorkshire, Mrs Mighty and I have great friends in Dallas, TX who introduced us some years ago to the world of proper BBQ and ever since then we've sampled BBQ fairly much right across the southern states from Tennessee to Arizona, but the best Brisket, which is my personal favourite, is always found in Texas! Plus whilst in Texas it is mandatory to swill it down with Shiner Bock and Margaritas and thats got to be a bonus.

Although I've done plenty of grilling here at home, and regularly do "simulated BBQ" Brisket in the oven with copius amounts of liquid smoke in the marinade/mop, and it comes out pretty good, I've been after buying a good smoker for some time and getting the job done properly.

I see that most people on here are using uprights but I really would like a nice offset, even if that means building one from scratch. Although I don't weld, I do have friends who could help out there so it is a possibilty. I guess the question is really if there are any good offsets at a sensible price available that actually have quite a good capacity that would do the job for us. Having seen a few online for £1500-2000 and thinking I could get myself an nice custom build for that, I know there's a few cheapo's as well but I haven't a clue at the quality of any of them. So what is actually available thats actually worth having when it comes to offsets in the UK?

Along with a few other guys and girls I run the YorksYanks american car club and the idea is that with a smoker of a good size I can get it hot early on the Saturday morning of a show weekend and feed all the members that night. Now obviously the ultimate would be to build a trailer based rig and tow it behind Mrs Mighty's truck, but I think thats probably going a bit far for the time being and it would be much easier to get a hold of something I could just transport on its back in the bed of the truck. Its a 5'5" bed so there should be plenty of room.

Really looking forward to seeing some of the ideas here and maybe swapping a few of my own. Hopefully if we can fit it in to our show season we'll try and get along to Rother Valley at the end of July and say hello. If you hear the rumbling of V8's heading your way... that'll be us!
Mighty
Got Wood!
Got Wood!
 
Posts: 12
Joined: 24 Apr 2010, 11:12

Re: Hello or Howdy Y'all or...

Postby British BBQ Society » 24 Apr 2010, 18:33

Hi Mighty, and welcome to the forum. I am certain people will have a few suggestions reference offsets but you hit the nail on the head, there isnt anything with a decent build quality out there at the moment.

Personally I love pellet smokers, i tend to cater as well as cook at home and comps when I am allowed. Have a look at the Traeger, they have a distributor in England http://www.americanbbq.co.uk/ Jackie that runs the firm is also our head judge, (thought i should mention that before I get accused of favouritism)

If you want to take it to functions that dont have electricity at can be run using an inverter and car battery.

Just my tuppence!

Toby
User avatar
British BBQ Society
Site Admin
Site Admin
 
Posts: 888
Joined: 20 Oct 2009, 11:03
Location: On the web

Re: Hello or Howdy Y'all or...

Postby joker smoker » 24 Apr 2010, 18:56

I second everything Toby said but should you be considering building an offset feel free to contact me . I currently run 2 cactus jack offsets but am in negotiations regarding building larger models with equal spec
User avatar
joker smoker
Rubbed and Ready
Rubbed and Ready
 
Posts: 690
Joined: 20 Oct 2009, 11:55

Re: Hello or Howdy Y'all or...

Postby Mighty » 01 May 2010, 19:01

I like the look and the idea of the Traegers, but somehow all that automated stuff just seems to be a little "wrong" for me. Its probably why I own a muscle car and not a BMW with lots of bells and whistles. I really want to cook nice locally produced meat with good quality lumpwood charcoal and some nice, not over-processed wood for my smoke, on something as simple as it can get. I guess its about cooking with "soul" for me.

The more I think about it the more I'm tempted to wait a little until I've got a new garage sorted and extended my driveway, then put some time and money into a custom trailer build. Just need to find a good 24" steel tube supplier who's got a few 4 or 5ft offcuts going cheap! I will probably be in touch when I try and get a plan together joker. In the meantime I might buy a cheapo...
Mighty
Got Wood!
Got Wood!
 
Posts: 12
Joined: 24 Apr 2010, 11:12

Re: Hello or Howdy Y'all or...

Postby All Weather Griller » 01 May 2010, 19:49

This is a totally unhelpful post on my part as I know very little about the quality of the offsets here. Although I do know that Chargriller seems to be a brand that is readily available.

http://www.forfoodsmokers.co.uk/acatalo ... n_Pro.html

I suspect it would need to be covered but in my opinion, a chat with Joker Smoker may be yield some interesting experiences.

I have just ordered a Trailer smoker from Texas and I'm based in Worksop not a million miles from East Yorks (I do a lot of work in and around Beverley, Hull, etc, perhaps when it arrives you might like a nosey at it.

All the best and good luck in your quest.

Cheers
Adie
All Weather Griller
 


Return to Introduce Yourself

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests