Smoker recommendation

[Jchip]

Making my own sausage this year, looking for a smoker around the $500 mark I can hang the links in. Any recommendations?

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by Jchip

Making my own sausage this year, looking for a smoker around the $500 mark I can hang the links in. Any recommendations?

I have a master built smoker. Bought it on Black Friday a few years back for about 200$. It’s honestly too big for my needs but works well. It has the blue tooth remote so I can check everything from inside the house.

[sarahfaye]

Master built 40 " has been fantastic with the must have cold smoke atachment .Many ,many 100lbs through it.

[Woodsman780]

Originally Posted by sarahfaye

Master built 40 " has been fantastic with the must have cold smoke atachment .Many ,many 100lbs through it.

are you using a propane setup

[amosfella]

If you're looking to cold smoke and cook later, you can get a cold smoke tube, build some kind of rack, or get a cheap used bakery rack, and use cardboard and tape as a house for smoking.

[pikeman06]

Masterbuilt propane is what I have. Best smoker I ever had I dont think ill ever buy any thing but. Guys say the low setting is a bit too hot but plenty of ways to cool it down if need be. Best flavor of smoked meats from that masterfully. I think it was 300 from cabelas.

[Jack'n]

Hard to say for sure, depends on what kind of fuel source you are looking for (charcoal, electric, propane, straight wood). Like most of the responses here I also use a Masterbuilt (propane) and use this thing at least every other week. I went with a propane cause I smoke with some woods that you cannot purchase in a chip or pellet form.

I think regardless of what you get you are going to like it, but will more than likely do some sort of small alterations to once you better understand how your smoker functions. Anyway, good luck in your hunt for the perfect smoker!!

[CDN offroader]

I got a Weston 48" propane smoker specifically for doing sausages about 8 years ago. Lots of vertical space to hang links(it comes with a couple sausage hooks, but I use wooden dowels) or smoke bacon or a ham. Plenty of shelving for doing jerky or smoked cheese. With a pellet tray it works really good for cold smoking as well.

[bat119]

when accurate control is required electric smokers are easier to control at low temps 130* -180* for jerky or sausage . Avoid digitals I haven't seen an accurate one yet, analog unit with a thermometer worked ok. Use a pellet maze or tube to generate smoke and look for a unit +1000 watt burner with good insulation the less moving parts the better.

LP smokers can be made to work at low temps by opening door, needle valve on the gas etc. although better for cooking over 200* -350* if the temp. spikes 50* not a big deal on a brisket jerky would be toast.

I have a Mastercraft LP unit at the lake really good unit cooked many a brisket and chicken.
At home a Pit boss digital 3 electric, the temperature was inconsistent, not even close I ended up replacing the PID with one I found on Ebay, the 1600 watt burner, cabinet with adjustable racks is perfect the PID was not if I bought PB again it would be a analog.

[Offwork]

I have a masterbilt 40 digital which I think is great for brisket, pulled pork, chicken. But temperature control is not near enough consistent for saus@ge or jerky. This 40 digital is Perfect for smoking things not cured and smoked at 225 to 275 F. But Any propane smoker would also be very good for this hot smoke application as well.

For colder smoking of cured meats, like sausage or jerky or bacon, Get any analog smoker on sale with a least 1000 watts output, get a plug in PID unit, (I have an Auber), get an amazin smoker for smoke and you are Set up for sausage, jerky, bacon anything cured that you want to smoke. Easy to control temperature with PID, likely have to improve insulation if smoking outside on cold winter days. Look on internet as there is lots of ideas on this.

[EZM]

What ever happened to the old school smoke houses.

I grew up using a cinder block smoke house with an electrical coil in a stainless 5 gal pail packed with saw dust and chips without "digital" temp control. No idea how my dad knew if it was too cold or too hot to this day.

We did whole hams to make smoked prosciutto, sausages, bacon, fish, and all sorts of things.

I, myself, need a thermometer and rely on one that's independent of the unit itself and you have to watch it. I've recently been smoking in my Napoleon grill and watching it every 30 minutes and making adjustments as needed.

I have yet to hear someone EVER say their smoker can stay on temp, and the control works to keep that temperature.

The weber I have (that's a charcoal smoker) simply isn't any good when it gets too cold or windy outside.

[Offwork]

I like to think of Rytek Kutas book Great sausage recipes & meat curing as the bible for “smoked meats”.

For sure lots of whole muscles meats and s@usage have been successfully smoked in wood structures, cinder block enclosures, barrels, etc. With The favourite wood such as willow, apple wood, maple. Pretty much any enclosure that will contain the smoke and cook the meat will qualify as a smoker.

There are Many factors into what will Make for a sucessful smoked product, note that Rytek’s book has 550 pages of instruction and recipes.

But one of the key factors in achieving success in smoking is the Ability to be consistent in your process. You need to constantly Recognize & react to cooking tempera5ures, smoke quality, & when meat is finished cooking. Consistency can be learned through trial & error & experience over time, This consistency has been used since caveman days. Everyone knows of someone who makes great s@usage with pretty basic equipment.

But today we can avoid the much of the experimenting by relying on expert advice on the equipment & The process.

Get Rytek’s book, and you will be well on the way to safely making, delicious smoked meats. Smoking is a great way to expand your preparation of wild game & very satisfing hobby.

I wish I had the book 50 years ago as it would have saved me a lot of frustration, effort & failures in getting to where I feel I have a good set up and Can consistently produce good smoked meats.

But do like experimenting and sometimes end up with smoked products that I consider not good enough for company.

[omega50]

Some good advice in this thread,
As mentioned earlier-Lots of vertical space for hanging and I would add-wider is better than narrow to increase capacity without the sausage touching each other or the walls of the smoker. Having adequate venting to control moisture build up that brings the dreaded black rain in full load coupled with cold weather conditions.

Have owned both propane and electric smokers. Both have their place, but at the low temps required for sausage-below 175F, I prefer electric as there are two sets of controls=One separate heat source for smoke generation and one for cabinet heat.

Yet- propane can help with moisture issues because the airflow is increased.
The factory set up for propane means that any increase in cabinet temp increases wood burn rate. So as suggested if using propane, I always use a separate smoking device like a Pro-Q or Amaze tube.

Currently I could not personally recommend a smoker that is available at the price point that you seek.It will be a compromise. And that is ok.

[aulrich]

Masterbuilt electric, you will need some sort of smoke generation for low temp,

I just put one of these in the smoker https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I have done the DIY thing and given the option, I always love building my own. In this case, I would never come close to replicating the function of the smoker at a low enough price to make taking the time worth it.

[Justfishin73]

Smokers are like dating redheads--just a huge pain in the arse

[HuntWithABrittany]

Originally Posted by Jchip

Making my own sausage this year, looking for a smoker around the $500 mark I can hang the links in. Any recommendations?

I had a Bradley 6-rack digital and had problems with the smoke pucks going in consistently... sometimes they would jam. Also the smoke pucks were obscenely expensive, so I ended up making my own aluminum foil cups that held loose chips, but those still had to be changed out after they were burned out, which ended up causing the smoker to lose heat every time I opened the door. Then the sausages basically got burnt.

I haven't made sausage since that bad experience years ago, but I can tell you the best jerky I can personally make is in a Cabelas dehydrator... they are really excellent for jerky.

[Jchip]

Thanks for all the help everyone