Smokers

[SPH]

You can smoke meat on about anything if you do it right. Don't have the book in front of me at the moment to get the exact quote but Myron Mixon even mentions in his "Smokin'" box when the question is asked if you can use a regular kettle charcoal grill to smoke his answer is "hell yes!" I did some chicken breasts and leg quarters on my Weber Kettle last week, just did some offset heat with the charcoal and used some tin foil pans to keep the juices in till I finished off on direct heat and it tasted just as good as something I'd put on low and slow indirect heat on my offset smoker. Really you only need to get the smoke flavor in on the first part of the cooking process. Once that meat starts to cook through it doesn't take in much smoke so if you are doing low and slow the first couple hours are the prime smoke hours, anything you over-do on the back half of the process could give you too much smoke flavor. Just like when I do it on my kettle grill, I just throw a few chunks on top of the coals when I start and that's it. By the time it burns off the meat is already cooked enough it's not going to add to the smoke flavor any more.

Weather is taking a dip in temperature here overnight so not going to be many ideal days for awhile to smoke with Winter around the corner. I can if I really feel like it, just takes more effort to keep the fire hot enough the cooler it gets.

 

[101]

Yes I agree SPH, my first smoker was a upright I built out of heavy lumber, had a door off an old oven, and used charcoal for heat in a pan for heat, smoked a lot of hams and salami in those days. Good luck 101

 

[greybeard]

I saw the one Sky posted originally--at Tractor Supply--$199 I believe it was and they didn't sell many at all. It is very cheaply built, and thin.
My sister has the one from Lowes, and it's "ok". She's used it for both smoking and grilling maybe 4 times and the paint is starting to burn off under the firebox-she keeps it under the carport or in the garage when not in use.
A good smoker should last you a lifetime Sky-----divide the cost of a good, heavy, well built smoker by the number of years you reasonably expect to live and use it, and that is what it's value really is.
As far as your skillset--you CAN do this--it's not rocket science or difficult at all. Buy the pipe from a junk yard, then pay some hungry welder to cut and weld it up for ya--you'll end up with a good one and not pay much more than what the Lowes unit is.