British BBQ Society Forums

Hi guys this is my first post. I am looking at buying a smoker, mainly to do pulled pork and brisket for family events (3or more joints) But may also use for other things like ribs etc. I like the look of bradley smokers but they seem quite expensive, charcoal sounds great but can i set one up for 14 hours of cooking for pulled pork etc? Im leaning towards electric at the moment. Any advice much appreciated guys.

Cheers

A WSM (Weber smokey mountain) 47cm using the minion method, decent charcoal and a clay saucer instead of water will give you a good 20 hours cook time. Have a look around on here, there have been a few comparisons made between the smokers

If you are sure you want to get in to smoking you can't go wrong with the WSM as suggested by Toby, if you are at all uncertain get something like a Weber Kettle and use that until you know, then splash the cash on a dedicated smoker and leave yourself with a grill as well. Personally I did that and I'm now the proud owner of a ceramic cooker, one of the best things I've ever owned.

cheers guys, i was looking at electric smokers because they seemed easier to set and forget. I think if i have to constantly tend to a fire i wouldnt use the smoker as much as id like. Also how much charcoal would a wsm use up? Is that really expensive? Or still cheaper than bradley pucks? Another alternative ive seen would just be a bog standard electric smoker or gas smoker that uses wood chips. Anyone have any experience with one of those?

You don't really have to tend the fire in a WSM, once you've got it dialled in to the temperature you're after you can get away with just checking it every few hours. They don't use that much charcoal at all really, once you've filled the charcoal ring it will generally last you over 12 hours.

You could pick yourself up an iQ110 if you don't want to worry about controlling the temperature, that plus a WSM will still be cheaper and in my opinion give a better result, remember tho that's just my opinion, sure others will disagree. Charcoal usage won't be that much to worry about.