I am a novice when it comes to using a smoker - would this be a good unit for making venison sausage? I'm anxious to find a decent "starter" unit.
1560952
Sorry I cannot help you this was a gift for my son-in-law. He does seem to like the smoker though.
1560953
While I am certainly not an expert smoker (only been doing it 2 years) I have smoked ribs, chicken, pork loins and made the BEST beef and venison jerky in mine. The smoker itself is awesome and I see no reason why it wouldn't do right by you for sausage.
1631632
I have never used it for making sausage so that I could answer your question. However, I used it for making ground meat. I like it.
224318
Definitely, I just smoked a 11.5 lb pork shoulder in it last night and it still had about 8 inches above. I have smoked over 25lbs at once with no problems.
2128637
I have not seasoned the smoker per say. I use lump wood charcoal for smoking. In the manual it says that it is not recommended and they say use briquets which I think suck. I buy a nice brand of lump charcoal and build a small pyramid by hand on the grate big chunks at the bottom so the small pieces don't fall through. Then I bought some sawdust / candle wax mixture firestarters and I use of couple of those to get my coals. Once I have a nice bed of coals going I add the body and the lid to make sure I have temp. Then I put in the water and the meat and it does the rest of the work. I make sure to not use anything that has any chemicals in it. My coals are lump charcoal and then I throw a few cherry chunks on there.
1599880
Never used it for smoking meat. Off hand if you use care to keep moisture out of connections it should work OK.
1218906
The smokiness of the food is very similar to a tradiational smoker. And the time is very fast compared to the tradiational. It doesn't create the "bark" or crust like a traditional smoker, so if you like ribs with a bark - this isn't going to do it. But, I love chicken, turkey and pulled pork out of the pressure smoker - and, it's so fast. The tenderness is as good or better than a regular smoker. The pressure smoker hasn't replaced my stick burner smoker, but it compliments it for fast smoked foods.
1710357
Unlike Stephen, I have no problem keeping a temp. of 225 degrees after you get the burners adjusted just right. You'll need to keep an eye on it for a little while until the temp. moderates to what you desire. Nor any problem getting wood to smoke at 225 degrees (I don't get that one at all). As noted, cold and windy conditions make keeping the smoker at 225 kinda tough to do. I'm not sure that any smoker could do better in those conditions. Also as noted, the temp. gauge is inaccurate as they all are (20-30 degrees off). You MUST invest in a separate thermometer if you want a successful smoke. Mine has dual probes...one for the meat and one to monitor the temp. of the smoker. I'm quite pleased with this smoker!
890450
The booklet which should have came with the smoker kettle pretty well covers general usage. Personally I use ours on the side burner of a gas BBQ grill where it works great!! My only complaint with the kettle is that the paint coating on the OUTSIDE starts to peel off after a number of uses. Doesn't affect the use, just looks crappy! O'all we are very pleased with the Nordic Kettle It cooks fresh Trout to a "T" and pork chops are excellent. Would recommend it.
669448
I have a very hard time getting enough smoke production. Since proper smoking involves "low & slow" I just fail to see how an electric unit will ever be hot enough to burn the chips, unlike red hot charcoal. I am disappointed in the smoker.
1961081
I rarely have to cut something to cook it in this smoker. As long as the meat isn't larger than the grill it is sitting on the smoke gets on everything. I've only smoked on it 5 times or every weekend I've owned it + 6 on Thanksgiving in the morning. I plan to smoke a turkey at 6:00 am. All has come out well so far from tenderloin, ribs, brisket, chicken and turkey legs. Tomorrow's Turkey will be good.
1285437
Sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I was on a cruise and didn't want to "spoil the moment." Large packer briskets come in various sizes, as do pork butts. One of the things that sold me on thr Rec Tek was its large capacity. Although I've never tried to smoke a brisket and two butts at the same time, I think the Rec Tek will handle them. They may start out a bit crowded, but should shrink as they smoke. I know it sounds a little dorky, but you might use a tape measure to check initial fit before buying the meat. I hope this helps and I hope you got it in time.
1717653
I don't believe that would be a good usage The kettle smoker is made to operate at around 190-212 D F. We have done a pork loin roast in it on the side burner of a gas grill. (we cut the roast in 2 equal pieces) so it would fit in the smoker. it will take a long time and be sure and check the water pan so it doesn't go dry.
931444
I use the Kingsford competition briquettes. They work great. I strongly discourage using lump charcoal for this device. It burns VERY hot and VERY quickly... sort of the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish with a smoker setup.
1903879
I used it on a propane grill. It had two burners, and I sat the shoulder on one side with that burner off, and turned the other burner on with the pellet smoker and a bowl of apple juice over it and kept the flame really (I mean REALLY) low. The science doesn't change. That smoker will put off plenty of smoke once it gets going, keep your heat around 220 (and that's a little harder to do on propane, but doable), and keep it humid in there. The shoulder I made turned out better than most restaurants'.
750765
Mine arrived with a bit of a ding in it but the way I figure it, I put twice as many more in it just putting it together and setting it up. It's a smoker and supposed to look nasty. But, man, oh man, does it do a great job! To avoid any shipping dings you could go to a store, pay more, load it yourself and haul it to wherever you're going to assemble it. I just ordered online, it was shipped right to my front door the next day (in the pouring rain) and I only had to move it from the front door to the back deck. After a year or so now my smoker looks really nasty and still makes some excellent ribs, brisket and pork shoulder. Hope this helps!
1613055
I use the side fire box when I'm smoking anything. I use charcoal, charcoal and wood, or just wood. With the side firebox the food is in a different chamber then the heat source so burning is not big problem. One modification I would strongly recommend it to clamp a short piece of 3" flexible aluminum duct the smoke stack inside the the cooking chamber just long enough to come down to the cast iron grates. This forces the heat and smoke to travel all the way across the chamber at the grates level before exiting the smoker. I found that this gives a much more even temp. to the whole cooking area. You won't go wrong with the Char-Griller units. A plus for the side fire box is that it comes with it's own grill surface and can be used by it self when you just want to grill up a few hot dogs or burgers.
234621
It depends on what type of wood your using and how hot your running it. I use saw dust from a chain saw and a full pan at 250 degrees lasts 2 1/2 hours. I have had many types of smokers and once you get used to a gas smoker and it's heat this is the best one I have ever had, I learned to cut your meat smaller and use more racks. It not a stick burner for sure. This smokes perfect everytime.