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OK boys and girls ......

What is your favorite way to get the best BBQ ribs? Brisket? Chicken?

All I did for 35 years was use a gas grill to sear steak, burgers, thighs/drumsticks.

Last fall I bought a CharGriller Grand Champ XD ..... and Lord Almighty the ribs, brisket, chicken I can make is something I didn't know possible. I have also now learned you can spend thousands of dollars on backyard smokers. Who would've thought??

Only issue is that an offset cooker requires a LOT of babysitting to tend the fire box.

You guys cook with Kamados for great BBQ? Seems like Kamados, according to u-tubers allow you to set it and forget it.

What about vertical smokers like WSM (Weber Smoky Mountain) grill?

Even the Kamados and Green Egg style are not truly “Set it Forget it”.

If you want true set-n-forget you need a pellet grill equipped with Wi-Fi that you can monitor with your phone from just about anywhere.

I built a smoker out of a metal cabinet, two doors 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall. Mostly for fish at first but it has been great for everything. Replaced the shelves with expanding metal, usually build a charcoal fire and put my wood on top of it. It was almost perfectly vented when I bought it at the office supply auction house but I added a hole at the bottom and a adjustable cover for it. It is not quite set and forget but it is not hard to keep up with.

Use a real bbq pit, built these some years ago. Firebox underneath on the first one, mesquite or pecan wood, red oak in a pinch


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I've got 2 smokers, a big offset which works great for salmon and ribs, IF I've got time to monitor it. I recently bought a Masterbuilt 40" Thermo-Temp propane smoker which automatically maintains it's temperature and am pretty impressed with it. I added a set of meat probes that communicate with my phone via blue tooth and it's very, very, easy to use and consistent in maintaining temp.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Masterb...nAqoEAQYBSABEgJsLPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

The only chore is adding wood chips the 1st couple hrs, after that it's on auto-pilot.

I do it all, and do it well, with a Weber kettle charcoal grill, $99.95.

Built this one 35 yrs ago

Have one of those myself. Good for a lot of things.

Interesting designs! On the first one, what is the reason for the chamber that is to the right of the main chamber? You have the tray/shelf attached here. Is it part of the main chamber even though the lid doesn't extend to that part?

On the second one, what do you do with the vertical chamber that is part of the exhaust? Cold(er) smoking?

Yeah there are a couple of u-tube channels that get, what looks like on the TV anyway, some pretty good results.

I have a propane smoker and a Weber Smokey Mountain.

I've had offset, currently have a Primo and a Weber I use when I travel. I now have a Lang 48" reverse flow smoker. Love it.

The OP is looking for a Set-n-Forget type smoker, can your’s do that ?

"set it and forget it" was probably a poor choice of words. Better question to ask is more along the lines of whether folks think they need to tend their smokers a lot throughout a long low temp (about 250 degrees) cook.

There are a a lot of u- tube channels where they cook/smoke with offsets, kamados, Weber Smoky Mountain grills, Weber kettles, vertical smokers, etcetera, etcetera. Some of these u-tube guys will load up kamados and get 8-10 hours of cooking at 250 degrees once the temp is dialed in. Some load up their Smoky Mountain and get 7-8 hours out of them. Just wondering if it is u-tube BS or if folks here can do the same thing.

What do you like best about each?

I can easily get 10-12 hours out of my Kamado, and that’s not even with a full load of charcoal. The meat only takes smoke the first 3 hours or so anyway. The rest is just temp. Though I will often pull it after 5 and put it in a 250degree oven just so I don’t have to check it.

I have an electric smoker. I have to put wood chips in it every 30-45 minutes for as long as I want smoke. After that, it is set and forget.

I use liquid smoke and a crock pot.

From Academy.

If I am doing a large amount (20lbs+) I dig out my big smoker, need to keep an eye on it. Smaller amounts Green Mountain pellet, set and forget