Off The Reservation

Right now, he's working recipes for German Brats, made from - you guessed it - German girls.
We have some pros here and someone will be along to give you some good advice. Heck, they even smoke Pizza around here. Weird!

Your girl smokes my pole constantly.

Growing up my dad just dug a big fire pit and bbq that way. That's not feasible and welders here want to charge an outrageous amount to make one. I really don't want to spend more than 350 at the moment. I want somethind decent that is easy to egt the hang of.

Then I would advise a trip down to Home Depot and get yourself a decent commercial grille/smoker (w/ a firebox) and that'll probably do all you need. That is what I have, and while it's not my buddy's smokehouse it does the job. Ribs, turd-hawk, and mullet (which the wife busts out into some fine dip) all turn out well enough.

Once you have obtained your grail, not grille but grail b/c no redneck is fully complete w/o said smoker, then you can focus on which wood you like. I prefer pecan esp for my pork and chikn but oak (w/ it's tannic wang) makes the mullet jump. Again that's all individual preference. Oh, and take the time to smoke a good rib-eye steak sometime. Wowsers.

Do you have the offset firebox? Iis it difficult to maintain the temp with it? I thought about the weber smoker for around 300.

A good beginner smoker is the Brinkmann gourmet. It's easy to assemble and easy to use and breaks down easily for storage. Check Home Depot online as they have good deals on them with free shipping on certain models. Theres many variations if you wish to use propane, electric or charcoal. I started with the Brinkmann and must say I had the best porkbutt out of it.

I have a cheap Brinkmann barrell/off-set smoker that's more trouble than it's worth, but it can get the job done. Also have an electric smoker that I received as a gift. It's totally cheating, but makes it really easy to control the temperature. No smoke ring though, as the heating element doesn't get hot enough.

Also, we need a BBQ thread with pics on this site. I might have to get that started.

This model is now on sale out behind the Piggly Wiggly.