Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

OT, and possibly heretical, but... Does anyone also use an electric smoker?

I like meat, cooking, and gadgets, so I have been thinking about adding an electric smoker to the armory. Does anyone else use one? What do you think? 

Comments

  • badinfluence
    badinfluence Posts: 1,774
    Nope
    1 XXL BGE,  1 LG BGE, 2 MED. BGE, 1 MINI BGE, 1 Peoria custom cooker Meat Monster.


    Clinton, Iowa
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    Not after I started wearing long paints =))
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,168
    Save the electric smoker til you end up living (not your choice) in a place that doesn't allow flame cooking of any type.  Just an opinion and we all know what those are worth-
    Not a day drinkin influenced post?
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Zmokin
    Zmokin Posts: 1,938
    edited October 2014
    I have a Brinkmann electric vertical water smoker and I sometimes use it for long cooks.  I also use it for away from home cooks as it is easily transportable whereas my LBGE is not leaving my backyard.
    I've taken the electric to work a few times for potlucks and to a car club get together to make smoked spare ribs for about 30 or so people. 
    Large BGE in a Sole' Gourmet Table
    Using the Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter,
     and a BBQ Guru temp controller.

    Medium BGE in custom modified off-road nest.
    Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter, and a Party-Q temp controller.

    Location: somewhere West of the Mason-Dixon Line
  • This is what I wanted, tough love. I figured if there was any reason to own an electric, if I heard about it here it had to mean something. :)
  • shtgunal3
    shtgunal3 Posts: 5,629
    I've thought about getting a propane smoker for low temp charcuterie.

    ___________________________________

     

     LBGE,SBGE, and a Mini makes three......Sweet home Alabama........ Stay thirsty my friends .

  • AD18
    AD18 Posts: 209
    I had a Bradley some years ago and it worked fairly well.  Learned the basics of smoking, got some decent results, and enjoyed it a lot.  Added a 22" Weber kettle to my arsenal and there was no comparison in results.  Weber hands down.  If I had know earlier I would have skipped the Bradley all together, but again, had fun with it.  Now have my BGE and use it exclusively for my smoking needs.  I still break out the Weber occasionally for grilling, still have a soft spot for it:)
    Large BGE, Weber 22.5 kettle, Weber Genesis
    Cobourg, Ontario
  • Zmokin
    Zmokin Posts: 1,938
    This is what I wanted, tough love. I figured if there was any reason to own an electric, if I heard about it here it had to mean something. :)
    I gave a reason to own one.  I like mine, had it before I had an Egg, have no intention of getting rid of it.  I even bought a new base so i could use it with charcoal and then I modified the base so I can use my Digi-Q BBQ guru controller with it.
    Large BGE in a Sole' Gourmet Table
    Using the Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter,
     and a BBQ Guru temp controller.

    Medium BGE in custom modified off-road nest.
    Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter, and a Party-Q temp controller.

    Location: somewhere West of the Mason-Dixon Line
  • I have a custom built electric smoker that works really well.  I built it out of 2 inch foam panels covered in steel.  they are actually cutouts of exterior doors.  the panel where they make glass inserts.  It really has some great advantages, I can smoke in very very cold weather without any issues. I mainly use it to smoke cheese and make jerky.  I have a smoke generator plumbed into the side for the smoke which I can control quite nice. I also installed a fan through the top so it is actually a convection electric smoker.  Occasionally come Thanksgiving or Christmas, if it is really bad weather I use it to smoke turkeys and ham. My brother has a cook shack that he really likes. It uses about one small chunk of wood for a entire smoke. It is difficult to get a good smoke ring with electricity though, plenty of smoke flavor.  I think it is due to being really sealed while cooking. Lots of moisture. I also have a friend who owns several Hoffbrau's in Texas and they use the Cook Shack for there smoked dishes.  I have tried there smoked sirloin and iit is excellent. go figure. Very easy to cook with. Set it and forget it.

    .

    BGE, Treager LilTex, Terinan 48 SOB, Custom electric smoker, Weber kettle, Weber gas grill, Masterbuilt SS smoker, last but not least UDS

    I've never meet a cow I didn't like, with a little salt and pepper.

    Amarillo, Texas

  • ChokeOnSmoke
    ChokeOnSmoke Posts: 1,942
    I don't get it, why wouldn't you use your egg, it is a smoker?  I must be missing something?
    Packerland, Wisconsin

  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    I put together a flower pot cooker (a la Alton Brown) before I bought an egg. Still use it from time to time. Can't sear anything of course (250ish max), but it cooks a pork butt as well as any egg. In the warmer months anyway. It won't get hot enough in the dead of winter. Not with my 750 watt hot plate anyway. Bought a new 1000 watt a while back, but haven't tried a cold weather cook. Soon though.

    I posted about it on here (when here was the other forum and apparently monitored by mother). My post lasted a few hours and then disappeared. As if a flower pot might somehow hurt egg sales. Rolleyes.

    I don't use it often, but it was a fun project. Beat the hell out of trying to cook a butt on a Weber kettle!

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • Zmokin
    Zmokin Posts: 1,938
    edited October 2014
    I don't get it, why wouldn't you use your egg, it is a smoker?  I must be missing something?
    Some of us think of our Egg as just one of a whole arsenal of cooking appliances.  We don't feel a need to cook everything and anything on it.  I can smoke with my electric vertical water smoker.  I can smoke with my propane gasser.  and I can smoke with my BGE.  I choose to use the appliance I want to use based on a multitude of factors, one of which may just be what I feel like using at the time.

    Some people will use their Egg to cook food in a Wok.  I know I will never fire up my Egg for Wok cooking.  I will use the indoor gas range when I'm cooking with my Wok.  I don't get it why someone would want to use their Egg for Wok stir fry, but hey, they can do what they want to do, I will do what I want to do.

    Also, I don't think you can get an Egg to run at 160 or less, you can with offset smokers.
    Large BGE in a Sole' Gourmet Table
    Using the Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter,
     and a BBQ Guru temp controller.

    Medium BGE in custom modified off-road nest.
    Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter, and a Party-Q temp controller.

    Location: somewhere West of the Mason-Dixon Line
  • I don't get it, why wouldn't you use your egg, it is a smoker?  I must be missing something?
    I can cold smoke, nuts, jerky, fish, anything that requires about 150 degrees to cook.  Can't get my egg to operate at that temp. I have been having problems getting the egg to cook at 225. it wants to cook around 300.  I have calibrated my thermometer, tried several methods of burning lump as far as using Minion method? I made a cylindrical  wire screen stacked lump around it with a fire brick spacer, still wants to cook at 300.  Anyway there are lots of cooks that can't take the heat. HEHE

    BGE, Treager LilTex, Terinan 48 SOB, Custom electric smoker, Weber kettle, Weber gas grill, Masterbuilt SS smoker, last but not least UDS

    I've never meet a cow I didn't like, with a little salt and pepper.

    Amarillo, Texas

  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,429
    Zmokin said:
    Some people will use their Egg to cook food in a Wok.  I know I will never fire up my Egg for Wok cooking.  I will use the indoor gas range when I'm cooking with my Wok.  I don't get it why someone would want to use their Egg for Wok stir fry, but hey, they can do what they want to do, I will do what I want to do.
     
    A standard American stovetop cannot reach the heat level that proper stir-frying requires (just witness them powerful jets used in the Orient on the cooking shows/Anthony Bourdain).  
    It took some adjustment in technique/timing, but my stir-frys are head-and-shoulders better off the Egg than anything I could make on the stove.  
    ;)
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,429
    Oh, and I made many many happy meals on my electric smoker.  I obviously prefer my Egg now, but at $50 that Brinkman was hard to beat.  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Take a look at the Cookshack Smokette Original and see if that would work for you. I have an older version and I love it for low & slow cooks. Well built and easy to use.
    Large BGE, Cookshack Smokette, Weber Genesis Gold, and Weber Smokey Joe
    Canton, Ohio
    Home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
  • I don't get it, why wouldn't you use your egg, it is a smoker?  I must be missing something?
    I can cold smoke, nuts, jerky, fish, anything that requires about 150 degrees to cook.  Can't get my egg to operate at that temp. I have been having problems getting the egg to cook at 225. it wants to cook around 300.  I have calibrated my thermometer, tried several methods of burning lump as far as using Minion method? I made a cylindrical  wire screen stacked lump around it with a fire brick spacer, still wants to cook at 300.  Anyway there are lots of cooks that can't take the heat. HEHE
    This is one of the reasons I am interested in an electric... Easier to maintain low temps. I can keep my egg at about 180-200, but that's as low as I can make it stable. (I am also interested in experimenting with cooking meat sous vide and then finishing it in the smoke. Electrics seem to really pile on the smoke compared to the BGE, but it may be that I just haven't used enough wood.)

    However I recently bought a Heatermeter pit controller... well, the parts to make one... and maybe that will make the 150-180 range easier to hit. 

    Egg wokking is pretty swell. I have only done it once because I am not a big stir fry guy, but the results were definitely better than I had gotten on the stove. I need to do it more often. 
  • Gogogordy
    Gogogordy Posts: 460
    Yes, for over 2 decades. Lahr Jensen Lil Chief. Salmon only...northwest style.. Legendary amongst family and friends. A different type of cook.
    When I'm not Eggin', I'm scootin'   Eggin' and 'cueing from Temecula Ca; an hour from San Diego, an hour and five minutes from Palm Springs, and an hour and a half from Los Angeles (yeah, right. With THAT traffic?)
  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,791
    I use to use a FEC 100. They are a tad expensive but as far as quality they are without peer. Also due to how the FEC's are designed, you do get a minimul draft through them. Hence their ability to compete with stick burners and vertical cabinets. Of all the electrics out there, the FEC's are the only ones that you see on the bbq circuit. Now bare in mind I'm not counting pellet cookers. Only true electric powered cabinets. The FEC's can truly hold there own with all but the very best and highly tuned and heavily modified stick burners.

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out. 

  • DMW
    DMW Posts: 13,832
    SGH said:
    I use to use a FEC 100. They are a tad expensive but as far as quality they are without peer. Also due to how the FEC's are designed, you do get a minimul draft through them. Hence their ability to compete with stick burners and vertical cabinets. Of all the electrics out there, the FEC's are the only ones that you see on the bbq circuit. Now bare in mind I'm not counting pellet cookers. Only true electric powered cabinets. The FEC's can truly hold there own with all but the very best and highly tuned and heavily modified stick burners.
    @SGH Which circuits allow electric smokers? I know KCBS rules specifically require wood or wood by-product fired smokers. Electric or gas fired are not permitted. Just curious.

    They/Them
    Morgantown, PA

    XL BGE - S BGE - KJ Jr - HB Legacy - BS Pizza Oven - 30" Firepit - King Kooker Fryer -  PR72T - WSJ - BS 17" Griddle - XXL BGE  - BS SS36" Griddle - 2 Burner Gasser - Pellet Smoker
  • SGH
    SGH Posts: 28,791
    @DMW‌
    Any non-sanctioned event is open. You can run a microwave if you so choose.

    Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.

    Status- Standing by.

    The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out.