wrote in message
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On Mar 10, 10:09 am, Tutall wrote:
On Mar 10, 8:45 am, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:

I actually like splitting up the cooking on different setups. When I
am barbecuing for family and friends, I don't like to cook just one
thing. If I had a $1500 smoker, I would feel like I should cook
everything on it. But when I cook a brisket, it is at one temp,
chicken another, ribs another, shoulder at yet another. And of course
times on the pit vary, making this almost impossible. Cooking chicken
at 250 degrees is almost pointless, as is sausage. Sure is good for a
shoulder, though.

Those are meaningful observations, at least for me. You point out a big
drawback of the high dollar stuff, and as I learned long ago, more cookers
are better than a more expensive cooker. I am not a fan of our team's
Cookshack FE, which is all about workarounds to cook everything in the same
box, and develop flavor you can't get from pellets. If you are cooking in it
in competition and the chicken is the *first* of the half-hourly meat turn
ins, its really a pain in the ass. You have to pull the brisket out at 10:30
so you can crank it up to cook the chicken entry that gets turned in at
noon, and ribs are always due just a half hour later but should be cooked
cooler than chicken but hotter than butts and briskets, and the brisket turn
in time may not be until 1:30. To me, it sucks, and I would much rather be
competing with a row of WSMs, (which still would have been cheaper than the
big silver gadget) but I was outvoted.

WSMs and stick burners also don't die and ruin your competition or home cook
if your power goes out and you don't notice it right away. OR overheat and
go tits up 45 minutes before chicken turn in at competition, which the big
fancy box has also done.

Seems like with high dollar pellet rigs you have to hold your mouth right
with the workarounds (they teach in classes) to overcome various temperature
and flavor issues. Its an excuse for manufacturers to sell all sorts of
MSG-laden glop. Hell, I think I turn out better Q on my ancient home cookers
than we do at competition, but then nobody ever listens to me. Regardless of
what I said above, I really like the Ole Hickory cookers I have seen at
competition, which use electronic temperature controls but burn sticks. And
they make really tasty Q.

I guess the other thing about the bigger, heavier pits that I like is
a tradeoff in fuel. Some seem pretty efficient, some are great
cookers but fuel hogs. I had a chance just recently to buy a nice pit
made from 3/8" drain pipe that was about 5 ft long, and pretty well
made. According to the owner, it held temps very well, but the reason
he was selling it was he couldn't keep it in fuel. From lighting his
firebox and getting up to temps was about an hour and a half to two
hours steady temps and blue smoke.

The NBBD is a wood pig too. However the heatsink technique helps that a lot,
adding bricks, rocks, or whatever can hold heat wherever there's room for
it. I've used foil seals to help the doors seal better also, and keep the
damper on the stack barely cracked open. Its a drawback with heavy steel
that you neded more fuel and time to get the pit fully heated up.It won't
hold steady unless the steel body is well warmed up first no matter what the
thermometer says.

The
mind wanders at how much it would cost to have that "perfect smoker"
built.

Some of the houses in older upscale neighborhoods around here have really
nice brick pits built in ground in their back yards. They are about half
under and half above ground with nice chimneys. They are a pain in the ass
to clean out but they are the best damn cookers I have ever seen on a home
scale. That would be my perfect cooker, if I didn't care about being able to
take it with me.

MartyB in KC