A Smoker Fell Into My Lap. I Couldn't Resist

WeberWho

First and foremost, for anyone new, buy a Big Green Egg. I'm not here to promoting this particular smoker.  It's just another tool along with the BGE and a learning experience. That is all. 

A big thanks to @HeavyG for letting me pick his brain about tips and tricks on the smoker as it literally fell in my lap without me knowing much about it. 

A week or two ago, I was outside digging up my yard to extend rock around my shed and put in edging. After digging for awhile I needed a short break for some water. During my water break I pulled out my phone. After checking my email, I did the daily smoker check on Craigslist. Absolutely no intentions of purchasing a smoker but fun to see what's available. It's usually a whole lot of nothing being here in MN. Most "BBQ" grills are Weber and Brinkmann gassers. It's usually a quick search and doesn't take more than 30 seconds. That's until I came across......

I must have been excited about my find as my wife stopped down by the shed and said, "What are you so happy about?" I said, "I'm buying a smoker..  if the ad isn't fake." She says, "What do you mean if the ad isn't fake?" I say, "The smoker is located in North Minneapolis for a price that is suspect. So I'll either get a smoking deal or stabbed and robbed." 

Here's a screen shot of the ad I came across. 



I'm not even sure the email I sent was in English let alone made much sense. The ad was posted 3 hours prior of me sending the email. So I sent the email as fast as I could write it. I received a response an hour or so later from the seller saying he works until 4 and I could stop over afterwards. The next 3 or 4 hours may have been one of the longest of my life. I already had it set in my mind that the seller was going to email me back saying he received offers of $750/$1000+ for it by the time he was done with work and by the time it took for me to get up to North Minneapolis. I received a follow up email from the seller an hour later saying he was going to get off work at 3 now and that he's a "real seller". Wait...what does that mean? He's a "real seller". Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get stabbed and robbed of my $250 now. I was probably over thinking it but that seemed kind of a weird thing to say. I did some rational thinking and realized Karubecue would be a really strange item to list and rob someone with. Most people don't know what a Karubecue is and that person wanting to rob someone would have to wait for someone to email them on it and it could be hours or days before that happened. It seemed unlikely but I still wanted to be cautious. Especially being in North Minneapolis. I told the seller that I wouldn't have cash on me and that I'd go and take out cash after looking over the smoker. 3:00 goes by and I don't hear anything. 3:15, 3:30, 3:35, 4:00. I wasn't feeling very good at this point as I didn't hear anything from the seller after getting off work. I also had to play a fine line of not sounding desperate and purchasing it before he gets other offers on it. So I sent an email at 4:05 and causally mentioned if he was still interested in meeting up. The seller said he was home and gave me his address. I made sure my wife had the sellers address and phone number so that if they found me in the river it might help a little. The dog also came with.

It turns out the seller is a retired bbq caterer. Far from any mobster from the mafia. A real nice guy. I asked him why he was selling it. He said, "To be honest, I purchased it as a write off and it's too much like an oven." Ha! I'll take the gamble. 

The smoker itself is in nice shape. He said he hardly used it. I took this past week to clean it up. I have used a gallon plus of white vinegar cleaning everything up. 

I carefully cleaned the controller as it is recommended every 100 hours. 



The inside and racks are all cleaned up. 



A couple outside shots of the smoker. 



I'm going to toss on some ribs a little later this afternoon to see how this smoker works. 



Thanks for reading if you got to this point. A lot of nonsense from the beginning to the end!

ColtsFan

Man, I'd love to score that

lkapigian

Boom!!

lousubcap

Wow!  Better to be lucky than good any day!  Dang-
Perfrct window of opportunity right there.  
Can't wait for the inaugural cook report.  

Battleborn

As Frank would say, better to be lucky than good any day. Great score! Also a great job on taking some precautions on the buying process. So many people don't and pay a price.

buzd504

That's a beaut, Clark.

saluki2007

Nice score.

DFW

That's an awesome find!  Can't wait to see photos of it in use!

Botch

Nice score!  
 
Years and years ago another guy found an ad for a late-model Porsche, $100.  He immediately called the lady, and she said it was not a misprint (this was in the Sioux Falls newspaper, and happened, also, in Minneapolis).  
Car was beautiful, and he bought it, then asked her why she was selling it so cheap.  Turns out it was her husband's, who had just left her for his secretary, and he had the gall to ask her to sell his car and send him the money.
So, she did.    

Ozzie_Isaac

These posts are why I still check CL. So far only Eggs for MSRP and rusted out brinkmans for $200, but I will keep looking.

WeberWho

I should have probably done a little more research on how you get this smoker up and running. I'd imagine it isn't much different than my other stick burner I play around with. A good base of coal for splits probably needs to be the first step. 

Ozzie_Isaac

Here are the type of "deals" I find on CL.

WeberWho

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Here are the type of "deals" I find on CL.

It's not much different here. This is typically what you see here if not from Wally World. 



It looks like someone added a smoke stack onto a compost bin and called it a smoker.

You get lucky every once in awhile though. One will come your way.

WeberWho

A shot of the ribs before foiling

caliking

W. T. F. 

You win for at least the rest of the year, if not longer. What an absofrigginlutely awesome find!!!

The KBQ that I am currently fostering for @20stone tends to leak some grease around the legs. I'd consider setting the legs in small foil pans, so you don't stain your concrete. 

Enjoy!

WeberWho

caliking said:

W. T. F. 

You win for at least the rest of the year, if not longer. What an absofrigginlutely awesome find!!!

The KBQ that I am currently fostering for @20stone tends to leak some grease around the legs. I'd consider setting the legs in small foil pans, so you don't stain your concrete. 

Enjoy!

Thanks for the reminder. I should make it a habit. I really like the foil pan idea with the legs inside. Which will keep the pan in place with the wind. Genius!

I did pick up a full steam pan and have that sitting directly under the ribs. Then again it's only two racks of ribs. If this thing was loaded I'd be in trouble! 

JohnInCarolina

That is an unreal deal on an amazing smoker that looks practically brand new after you cleaned it up.  Congrats!   Frank is right - it's better to be lucky than good on any day.

GATraveller

I only tried to check out the other pics in the ad a few times before I realized. 
That's a great score. Now you have me checking Craigslist. Ha! 

StillH2OEgger

That's just awesome! Congrats on the find.

JohnnyArms

this is better than when they find the old classic cars in barns. What a nice haul. 

thetrim

Amazing!  So what exactly do you search for on craigslist?  Just "smoker"?  Great find and congrats!

thetrim

In Tampa I type in smoker, and this is what I get...

$250

lkapigian

That was a sweet steal!!

Got this Klose on CL, no money changed hands ...i have alerts set with key words, I've stolen several eggs that way

Photo Egg

Amazing Deal!
Congratulations buddy.
The second pit looks good as well.

WeberWho

GATraveller said:

I only tried to check out the other pics in the ad a few times before I realized. 
That's a great score. Now you have me checking Craigslist. Ha! 

The listing is still active. He must not be getting very many emails on the KBQ. I'm guessing no one else knows what it is. 

That offset is a screaming deal at $800. I'd imagine it's a $3,000+ smoker all day long. Especially being wrapped in stainless. 

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/for/d/minneapolis-2-pit-smoker-bbq/7140314705.html

Photo Egg

Can you pick this up for me...
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/d/milaca-yoder-smoker/7135702186.html

WeberWho

Photo Egg said:

Can you pick this up for me...
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/d/milaca-yoder-smoker/7135702186.html

I'll just have them ship it to you! 

Photo Egg

WeberWho said:

Photo Egg said:

Can you pick this up for me...
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/d/milaca-yoder-smoker/7135702186.html

I'll just have them ship it to you! 

Drive up next month and pick it up.lol

WeberWho

Whats wrong with this picture? A Texan coming up to Minnesota for a smoker? 

HeavyG

WeberWho said:

caliking said:

W. T. F. 

You win for at least the rest of the year, if not longer. What an absofrigginlutely awesome find!!!

The KBQ that I am currently fostering for @20stone tends to leak some grease around the legs. I'd consider setting the legs in small foil pans, so you don't stain your concrete. 

Enjoy!

Thanks for the reminder. I should make it a habit. I really like the foil pan idea with the legs inside. Which will keep the pan in place with the wind. Genius!

I did pick up a full steam pan and have that sitting directly under the ribs. Then again it's only two racks of ribs. If this thing was loaded I'd be in trouble! 

The KBQ is intentionally designed such that the legs provide enough height differential in the back that the box is sloped enough that grease will flow towards the front door and drip out the two front corners. Assuming, of course, that the KBQ is sitting on a level surface to begin with. If it's not, then you could have grease dripping out of any of the four bottom corners.

Putting the legs in foils pans isn't a bad idea but you can buy a steam pan sized just right that you can lay across the front of the legs and it will catch any grease dripping out. The steel steam pan is heavy enough that it won't blow away so you don't need to set the legs inside of it which also means you won't have to clean any grease off the legs when you're done.

https://www.amazon.com/Winco-SPJL-2HL-Steam-Pan-2-Inch/dp/B001VZ6XUY

I place the internal steam table/drip pan as close to the bottom as possible. If you have it mounted right up near the meat that will impact airflow to some degree. No big deal really for just a couple racks of ribs but when you load it up with meat you'll want as much unimpeded airflow as you can get - the better the air can swirl around inside the more evenly the heat/smoke transfer.

If you are going to be running your KBQ on that nice clean concrete I'd be inclined to get one of those outdoor grill mats to set it on just to try and protect it from any errant drips/spills. I don't use any external drip pans but my KBQ is mounted to a stainless steel table so any drips are easily cleaned up.

WeberWho

HeavyG said:

WeberWho said:

caliking said:

W. T. F. 

You win for at least the rest of the year, if not longer. What an absofrigginlutely awesome find!!!

The KBQ that I am currently fostering for @20stone tends to leak some grease around the legs. I'd consider setting the legs in small foil pans, so you don't stain your concrete. 

Enjoy!

Thanks for the reminder. I should make it a habit. I really like the foil pan idea with the legs inside. Which will keep the pan in place with the wind. Genius!

I did pick up a full steam pan and have that sitting directly under the ribs. Then again it's only two racks of ribs. If this thing was loaded I'd be in trouble! 

The KBQ is intentionally designed such that the legs provide enough height differential in the back that the box is sloped enough that grease will flow towards the front door and drip out the two front corners. Assuming, of course, that the KBQ is sitting on a level surface to begin with. If it's not, then you could have grease dripping out of any of the four bottom corners.

Putting the legs in foils pans isn't a bad idea but you can buy a steam pan sized just right that you can lay across the front of the legs and it will catch any grease dripping out. The steel steam pan is heavy enough that it won't blow away so you don't need to set the legs inside of it which also means you won't have to clean any grease off the legs when you're done.

https://www.amazon.com/Winco-SPJL-2HL-Steam-Pan-2-Inch/dp/B001VZ6XUY

I place the internal steam table/drip pan as close to the bottom as possible. If you have it mounted right up near the meat that will impact airflow to some degree. No big deal really for just a couple racks of ribs but when you load it up with meat you'll want as much unimpeded airflow as you can get - the better the air can swirl around inside the more evenly the heat/smoke transfer.

If you are going to be running your KBQ on that nice clean concrete I'd be inclined to get one of those outdoor grill mats to set it on just to try and protect it from any errant drips/spills. I don't use any external drip pans but my KBQ is mounted to a stainless steel table so any drips are easily cleaned up.

I ran across the picture you posted with your stainless table and Karubecue. What a sweet setup. I wish I had room in the garage to store something like that. Plus it raises the whole smoker up so you don't have to bend down.