Advice re big smokers?

[Brisketexan]

We are looking at an offset smoker with the smoke chamber made from a 250 gallon propane tank.

What is the meat capacity on such a smoker? And can/do you "doubledeck" the briskets, with the primary rack, and then another set of racks up a bit higher?

We want something that will do 10 briskets minimum, but ideally 14-16 briskets. I've cooked on one before, but never that many, so I didn't get a feel for max capacity.

Any other thoughts on a 250 gal trailer-mounted smoker? Things we should look for, be warned about, etc.?

 

[Rusk]

With a smoker that big, you might look into how much more it would cost to get 3 or 4 racks that slowly rotate.

It would keep every rack cooking the same, and it would make getting meat in and out easier since you don't have to reach way to the back.

It might be worth the extra cost, you're already going big, might as well get fancy, too.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

If you can wait 1 month, come out to the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo & go to the 'Q cookoff. Ask some of the folks who are there & have huge rigs; they should know.

 

[Brisketexan]

Rusk, that sounds great, but we are indeed on a budget -- this would be a smoker for a church and a tailgate crew to share (and thus share the cost on), but we're on a budget indeed.

Also, for briskets at least, I'm not worried about precision -- If I rotate them once from high rack to low and vice versa, they'll be cooked evenly enough once it's time to shift to the oven. And brisket will be our focus, although we'll surely do plenty of sausage, and I'd really like to get smoked chicken down pat.

And let's not forget ribs. I have a buddy who makes the best baby backs on earth. I intend to apprentice under him for a couple of years until I get the art down.

 

[wannawinit]

My big smoker is a 250 and it will hold 14 briskets tightly packed on one rack. One thing that mine has is an I beam that runs the entire length of the 250 underneath the cooking rack. It is welded in place at the firebox and continues all the way to the other side. The theory here is the metal I beam will heat and help to deliver equal temps along entire length of smoker. I use the top of the wood box to "cook" any beans or whatnot, but the temp is incredibly hot and impossible to regulate so something I might add on a do-over would be a propane bracket cooker. These are fairly easy if planned for ahead of time. Heavy doors with no counterbalances may seem like a pain, but they help to keep the women and kids from "wanting a peek"!

 

[Luke Duke]

A 250 gal. propane tank is ~30" in diameter and a little less than 8 feet long. You can definitely build a shelf and stack briskets. I think that you would be pushing it with 10 briskets. Keep in mind that about half of the smoker space will be unusable (too hot) for briskets, unless the pit is VERY well insulated. Your solutions would be to add an additional shelf (3 total), get a bigger pit or add a vertical smoker on the end for extra space. I recommend NCAA's advice about the rodeo. There will be alot of nice pits there that will give you some good ideas. I will be there cooking also. You are welcome to come by and check out our pit and I can point out a few things out to you.

Personally I prefer the temperture gradient across our pit since I usually cook several different types of meat. This allow me to cook brisket on one end and use the other end for chicken quarters or sausage and in the middle I can cook ribs and pork loin.

 

[Brisketexan]

Wannawinit, do you find that, with that many briskets, those closer to the firebox get too hot, as Luke mentioned?

I use a small offset at home which will hold 2 briskets. I don't ever let the fire get TOO hot, and I rotate them a couple of times during the process -- and they turn out PERFECT.

Do you rotate yours from firebox side to smokestack side, and vice versa?

Finally, as to adding a vertical chamber to the end -- I admit that I don't trust those because I am not familiar with using them. The one time we used one for our tailgate, we got good smoke to the briskets, but not enough heat (they were slightly underdone, in my estimation -- still good, but I aim for perfection). If you have a vertical chamber on the end, will you have adequate heat throughout? Does the extra vertical space act like a larger chimney so as to enhance your heat draw?

The reason I am asking is that we have a line on a 250 gallon smoker, mounted on a trailer, for $800. We can afford that. If we want to modify it later, I would think that we could? But if it will cook 10+ briskets as-is, then we'd have what we need.

 

[Luke Duke]

The temperature in a vertical stack will definitely be the coldest part of the entire pit. You would have to rotate them into the main compartment if you want all of your briskets cooked the same. If you can weld, modifying a trailer shouldn't be too difficult. For $800 it would seem hard to go wrong. If you don't like it you could probably clean it up, paint it and sell it for a profit.

Or just buy this.

 

[wannawinit]

I've only had a couple of occasions where those closest to the firepit were too well done. It was because of me being late to get the whole thing started and other guys having trouble getting fire going good. I always start fire well ahead of time and get a good coal bed, this helps temps remain constant instead of climbing to 400 then back to 175 then back to 400 and so forth. But I do watch and rotate if need be.

 

[wannawinit]

ALso a thermometer is valuable. I've used others without one and trying to figure out your temp is a real pain.

 

[Brisketexan]

Oh, I can't imagine not having a temperature guage of some sort. Watch the dial, keep it close to 225, and all is good.

Goddamit, I really want some bbq now.

By the way, this is the one we're looking at (we're also looking at similar types, but this appears to be what is in our price range):

Depending on whether the trailer portion is in travelling shape, it looks like we could hit it with some wire brushes and a new coat of paint, maybe some new grills, and we'd be good to go. I need to look more closely at the firebox to make sure it's adequate, but otherwise, it looks okay to me?

 

[Luke Duke]

I would definitely add a temperature gauge to each door. I would personally prefer a larger firebox, but the benefit to that one is increased ground clearance.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

Not just the "having" of temp guages, but the LOCATION is very key. Wrong spot is worse than none at all.

I can understand if y'all need to pull the trigger now.

An offset vertical is also good for keeping things warm without compromising the main chamber's heat (as well as good for fish & other long time smoke-ables that don't get the 'hot & fast' treatment if you're too close to the firebox.

 

[brntorng]

Looks like it could be a good deal unless it's rusted out. Even then you could probably weld it into serviceable condition. Have to 2nd the importance of thermometer location. In my experience the tip of the thermometer has to be at the level of the meat to give a useful measurement. I moved a thermometer around the smoker once and was amazed how much the temperature changed just a few inches above or below the meat.

 

[Summerof79]

Low Ball the guy with a wad of cash on a Friday afternoon....

Looks like your could just add and extra thermometer at the far end and have a pretty good rig.

What's the deal on registering something like that to get plates for it?

 

[Brisketexan]

From what he told me, the rust issue is only on the outside -- no material interior rust. The firebox is of a size that a decent stick of wood will keep it at 225 for 2-3 hours.

And yeah, the temp gauge DEFINITELY has to be right there at the rack level, although I would think of putting another one up higher, as there are bars to put additional racks above -- if we use them, I'd want to know what our upper rack temp is.

It has lights, but the wiring is shot -- that's no biggie -- I've rigged lights before.

As for registering the trailer, I understand that it's a homemade trailer registration, and it's not that big a deal.

I've got a tailgating buddy who's oilpatch, and who gets up in the neck of the woods where this smoker is located, so I think he's going to check it out in person in the next few days, and we'll indeed offer a little lowball with a handful of cash, presuming that it passes personal inspection.

 

[LazyEngineer]

How much is that bad-boy going to cost you - if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Brisketexan]

Well, nothing, now -- somebody else got to it first, before we could close a deal.

We're still gonna keep looking, though.