Smoker Recommendations?

You can tell that we're entering into  winter because I'm asking a lot of non-fishing questions lately 

One of my winter projects this year is that I want to learn to master smoking fish and maybe some other meats like turkey or ribs. I've got some halibut I want to try, and I expect to have plenty of trout soon. Problem is, I've never smoked anything in my life. I'm not looking to spend big $$$ on a smoker, so I am wondering if anybody could give some advice.

The smokers I'm looking at right now are the Smokehouse Products Big Chief Electric Smoker, or the Cabelas 7 in 1 Smoker/Cooker. The electric or propane smokers are appealing to me because they don't seem to require as much babysitting.

Jay, I been thinking the same thing recently...    After having some smoked thresher shark at BAM, been thinking about giving it a shot.  Especially want to try the smoked candied trout recipe saw on the board last year. 

I don't know anything really about smokers  except; time, low heat and smoke.  What smokers are good, no clue.  But I do recall a Good Eats episode on smoking fish using basically a cardboard box and a hot plate.  Sounds like a easy enough way to give it a shot, just need to find a hot plate!

Sorry, i'm such a good eats geek

Check garage sales!  I have bought three over the years and never paid more than $5.

Smoker are one of those things that many people never bother to figure out, and since they take up space they almost always go cheap.  I don't think you'll have to look far.

Temperature is the hard thing to regulate, so I recommend buying a digital kitchen thermometer if you don't have one already...  The kind with a probe lead so you can put it inside with the food.

Once you figure out how to maintain the temp you need, (this is where electric units excell), and brining, it's a snap.

I use charcoal too, but it's a little tougher to maintain an ideal temp.

I used a hot plate in a weber for a long time and it worked.  I recently got a Big Chief as a gift and I am wondering why I did it the hard way for sooooo long.  It is simple, cheap and well worth the price.

Smoking fish is fun and tasty, and it makes a cool gift.

Jay,

I've been smoking fish for more than 20 years and I have always used the Luhr Jensen Little Chief electric unit. The Big Chief holds 50 lbs. of fish, the Little Chief holds 25lbs. I tired the Big Chief and I found that the heating element got too hot for my desired results, its rated at 450 watts. On the other hand the Little Chief is rated at 250 watts and with the lower heat, you don't pull out too much moisture too quickly.

Over the 20 years, I have burned up two units basically because of over use. Living in Santa Cruz with Salmon, Albacore and rock fish, most every weekend the smoker is on the deck filling the air with sweet alder smoke.....

Happy smoking!!!!

I just bought one yesterday and here's my decision. I went with the Brinkman electric that I found locally for $100.

I looked at the Little Chief and I was a bit worried about it's construction. It's pretty flimsy and for the $89 I was supposed to fork out I thought they were a little over-priced. The Brinkman was only $10 more and bigger, more sturdy, and has a large water bowl to keep the humidity in check. I''m still a newb when it comes to smoking but it did a kick ass job so far.
http://www.brinkmann.net/Shop/Detail.aspx?category=Outdoor+Cooking&subcategory=Charcoal+Smokers+%26+Grills&sku=810-7080-0&id=226

Z

My Weber was similar to yours Zee.  Definitely beefier, but the goofy Chief ones are ez to load with fish, ez to reload the wood, and generally well thought out.  While hey are flimsy, the important part...the element appears to be sturdy.

Mine is similar to yours Z.  I added space for an extra rack or two just by drilling holes and installing S hooks from my garage peg board to hang the extra racks.  The racks are readily available at WalMart, Home Depot, or whatever.

I think the Front loading chief is a more preferable design.... much easier to access your meat in process or putting it in / taking it out.

I have a Big Chief (electric) and really like it , have not had overheating issues as HDRich has . I only smoke in the winter months and probably loose quite a bit of heat to the weather , quite often I take a cardboard boxthan the smoker and use it to insulate , keep more heat in .

Have also used the charcoal type smokers , was not as user friendly as an electric ! With an electric I can leave for the day and not think or worry about it , using charcoal you have to be there the entire smoking time . Not for sure but , most likely sold it in a garage sale for $5 !

My Weber was similar to yours Zee.  Definitely beefier, but the goofy Chief ones are ez to load with fish, ez to reload the wood, and generally well thought out.  While hey are flimsy, the important part...the element appears to be sturdy.

Word.

Mine is similar to yours Z.  I added space for an extra rack or two just by drilling holes and installing S hooks from my garage peg board to hang the extra racks. 

Great idea! I'm guessing you added it in between the two existing grills?

Z

The Chiefs do a great job on fish and jerky but if you are going to do a turkey,butts,briskets it's going to take days. You can smoke flavor them in a few hours then put in the oven to finnish but it's not the same as really smoking. A regular weber does a good job or you might look at the Bradly smokers I think they start at about $350. You want something that maintains 225/250 degrees so you are going to need fire or some good insulation.

Cool, thanks for all the replies! I'm leaning toward the Chief since I am primarily thinking about fish.

The Chiefs do a great job on fish and jerky but if you are going to do a turkey,butts,briskets it's going to take days.

Exactly.  There are plusses to both types, just depends on what you're doing.

My smoker is a charcoal version of the one above, but I also have a hotplate I swap in for fish. 

Another plus for the big chief is that you can buy replacement parts just about anywhere. I own and little chief and love it!

I used to have a Brinkmann model. The only thing I didn't like about it is that it did not have an access door on the opposite, for addming more charcoal evenly. When you're pushing in fresh fuel from one side, sometimes the meat closest to the side with the door cooks faster than the other side.