electric smoker recommendations

[Mike Fretty]

i will primarily use this to smoke 25lbs of fry sausage several times per year. also interested in smoking fish, etc...any input is appreciated

 

[Account Deleted]

I've been pretty pleased with my Masterbuilt 30" for the last 4 years. A 40" would have been nicer yet but it was a very nice gift to receive.

As Snow just mentioned, if I had one complaint it is that I have to manually add chips but I don't mind. If you want to smoke at sub 200 degrees you do have to run a while without chips to get the thermostat to behave.

 

[snow]

Bradley digital is very sweet and easy to use,no need to stand bye and add fuel or wood,no charcoal or propane residue on your meat,just "set-it and forget-it.

Ideal for smoked fish.

 

[nxtgeneration]

I love my masterbuilt 30". For long duration and cold (sub 180°) smokes i use an amaz-n-smoker instead of using the chips so i don't need to babysit it. The 40" does have a lot more room in it so I may end up getting a larger one at some point.

 

[Mike Fretty]

I generally try to smoke around 150f. Does that affect my choice of smoker?

 

[Account Deleted]

I generally try to smoke around 150f. Does that affect my choice of smoker?

Mine has the tendency to run hotter than what I set it at for a about an hour or so. Not sure why. But when I was smoking deer bacon on Friday, I was able to hold it at 130 degrees once I had it going for awhile.

 

[thriller1]

I actually have two of the Masterbuilt's. 1 for meats and 1 strictly for fish.

 

[ItemB]

Bradley digital is very sweet and easy to use,no need to stand bye and add fuel or word,no charcoal or propane residue on your meat,just "set-it and forget-it.

Ideal for smoked fish.

I really like my bradley at first except for smoking in cooler weather it can't keep up. But know the automatic feeder has a mind of its own so it needed more babysitting than anything. It would either feed one puck then stop or it would just keep pushing pucks through.

 

[guywhofishes]

My Bradley is OK but I wish for a bigger (wider) smoker almost every time I use it.

 

[johnr]

I know guywhofishes has added an additional element to his Bradley, and it works good in the cold now. I have not added this to mine, but had it in my garden shed the last 2 winters, and as long as I preheated it, and keep the door closed, out of the wind it would keep up pretty decent.
I now have it in my heated garage, and will warm it up in the garage, get it to temp, then start the smoker element going and wheel it out the over head door out of the wind and let it buck. Easy as ever as I can walk away the entire time it smokes as it handles adding the pellets and has a cooking timer, and smoking timer. Set it and forget it type of ease is nice.

 

[all4eyes]

I have been using my treager grill. Seems to work very well in the cooler temps.

 

[Fly Carpin]

Another nod for the Masterbuilt 30. A few cheap mods I've made on mine are an improved heat shield over the burner (channel your inner Hulk and bend a cookie sheet into a half circle to cover the burner/wood chip tray, as well as ditching water in the pan and filling it with sand (cover in foil to keep clean) for cooler smokes. These 2 mods have allowed me to avoid buying an expensive dimmer. All electric smokers have a tendency for wide temp swings in cool weather. In a perfect world we'd all have walk-in smoke houses, but until then we'll have to use our good ol' American ingenuity to perfect these imperfect electric smokers.

 

[Rustywaterdogs]

I love my 30" masterbuilt. Smokes real nice and holds heat well.

 

[Brian Renville]

I have the masterbuilt, no complaints, learning more every time I use it.

 

[jpv]

Masterbuilt sportsman elite 40" is what I use and I love it. Bought the cold smoker attachment that holds enough wood chips for around 5-6 hours so no need for adding chips every hour or so.

 

[dust in the wind]

masterbuilt for me as well. 25lbs of ring sausage will be a tight fit. 25lbs of venison bacon is doable.

 

[ItemB]

I have been using my treager grill. Seems to work very well in the cooler temps.

I think a pellet grill is going to be my next grill/smoker. Just can't hang sausage in it to smoke sausage, maybe it will force me to getting around to make a bigger smoker to hang sausages and stuff in.

 

[Mike Fretty]

After reading the advice, I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off just building a traditional smokehouse

 

[labhunter66]

Sportsman's Warehouse has this one on sale right now. Seems like a pretty good deal.

http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/...tDetail/Masterbuilt/prod99999038801/cat130319

 

[NDwalleyes]

I have the Masterbuilt also. No complaints. When we do deer sausage, I take the grates out, I cut oak dowel rods down to the width of the smoker that fit in the little bends in the supports for the grates, and then hang the links on the oak rods. Works great.