Very kind of you Tom, but I'm going to hold out for pipe. After making so many smokers years ago I remember finally settling on material that worked the best. This was after trying barrels and air tanks, etc. I do recall after making the last ones out of pipe saying to myself, "I'll never make another one unless it is pipe." Now I just have to find it
And for the record, I wasn't kidding about how sophisticated this BBQ stuff has got. Below is a pic of my wireless setup. Two probes: one for meat and one for BBQ ambient temp (or one for each of two different types of meat). You can set alarms for each. You can set timers. You can use USDA meat temp alarms. It alerts you if the probe disconnects. It's backlit for night-time viewing ( a brisket can take 16-24 hrs.). And mine is low end; some have many more probes, integrate with the smoker/BBQ controller, have Bluetooth, monitor humidity, and at least one on the market has a USB port where you can download the data to a thumb drive so you can graph the perfect brisket for YouTube bragging rights. I'm dead serious here—graph your BBQ event. Interestingly enough there is a lot of science here as meat goes through plateau or "stall" phases that makes sense if you see the graphs. You can work in the shop with the receiver attached to your belt as you weld or machine away...always knowing your ribs will be perfect. (Also useful if you are having too many beers with friends as the BBQ toils away in the background.)
A custom smoker can easily run over $10K. If you understand the electronics of the controllers, know the basics of good BBQ (as opposed to just grilling), and are handy at metalwork, they are terrific projects and potential profit centers.
I don't care what anyone says, BBQ on your own smoker is worth every hour of labour you put into building it. This ain't your Daddy's grill anymore.
There's a whole mythology around brisket smoking, and it's almost religious in nature. I certainly don't pretend to understand it.
These nutjobs have forums where they discuss and debate their hobby, even subthreads on BBQ sauce and rubs. They rate each others' postings, rank members based on "Likes" and have Administrators that can intervene if conversations get out of hand.
Their passion is crazy and completely baffling to me.
@CalgaryPT : I whole heartedly agree.....After spending a couple hours prepping a Brisket and slicing off a lot of fat the whole wow factor kinda left me for a more - "crap, I just paid like $24 for useless fat......alas.... " they can keep their fixations and worship - LOL
There's a whole mythology around brisket smoking, and it's almost religious in nature. I certainly don't pretend to understand it.
These nutjobs have forums where they discuss and debate their hobby, even subthreads on BBQ sauce and rubs. They rate each others' postings, rank members based on "Likes" and have Administrators that can intervene if conversations get out of hand.
Their passion is crazy and completely baffling to me.
next time we can get together - give me some time to throw a pork shoulder, prime rib or a loin, eye or what ever on and you will soon be a BBQ guy....but no cult, or crazy nut job thing.......LOL
next time we can get together - give me some time to throw a pork shoulder, prime rib or a loin, eye or what ever on and you will soon be a BBQ guy....but no cult, or crazy nut job thing.......LOL
I love eating BBQ, especially down south. I’m just not into the hobby of it (cult). Cajun boudin sausage is on the list to try as well as alligator, I don’t know how to get that in Canada though