Does the heat source effect the flavor of your smoked meats or is it purely just the type of wood you use?

I'm debating on getting a smoker and trying to decide what type to get. Gas, electric or pellet.

Yes. I've only done gas and charcoal with smoking woods, so I have so no experience with electric or pellet. I've used both a kamado joe (egg type grill) and a weber smokey mountain (dedicated smoker) and weber kettle grill as well as a weber gas grill with a smoker box. The charcoal smokers you will absolutely get a lot more flavor than a gas grill with a smoker box.

I've heard/read very good things (mostly on here) of how great the pellet grills and some electrics are. Electric or pellet will be easier to regulate temperature than charcoal or gas......charcoal being the hardest, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to get it where you want it.

I have limited experience with gas and electric smokers, but in my limited experience, they do provide less flavor than a wood or pellet smoker.

I think pellet smokers are the sweet spot for most home users. More convenient than traditional wood/charcoal smokers, with nearly the same level of flavor.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK,

I know I can produce a better brisket than most restaurants in my electric smoker. So, I'm happy with it.

I used to use a charcoal smoker, (not egg type) and I had to sit and baby it all freaking day. Too much effort for the same return. With my electric, I just go add some wood chips every 30-45 minutes and never have to worry about temp control at all. Plenty of smoke and smoke flavor.

I smoke everything but fish on a Weber kettle with very good results. Fish I smoke in a dedicated electric smoker. I like using milder wood for smoke like apple, cherry and hickory. I stay away from mesquite and oak and other harsher smoke. It's just a matter of taste and preference.

Jim

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Originally posted by SBrooks:
I used to use a charcoal smoker, (not egg type) and I had to sit and baby it all freaking day. Too much effort for the same return. With my electric, I just go add some wood chips every 30-45 minutes and never have to worry about temp control at all.

Pellet smokers offer even greater convenience. Fill the pellet hopper and leave it alone. (You sometimes need to refill it on longer smokes if it gets low after 8ish hours.) No other babysitting needed. The smoker controls the temp and keeps it steady automatically by speeding up or slowing down the feed of pellets as needed.

Ditto to SBrooks.

Being able to keep a consistent temp helps you get repeatable results.

Pellet, gas, and electric smokers help you keep it consistent.

Key to a gas or electric is how you manage your smoking wood. I used chips in my gas smoker I keep in a bucket of water. I use a skimmer type spoon that came with an old electric Fry Daddy to scoop chips from the bucket and feed them into the tray in the smoker.

I also keep the water pan full of water to keep it humid in the smoker.

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Originally posted by Jimbo54:
I smoke everything but fish on a Weber kettle with very good results. Fish I smoke in a dedicated electric smoker. I like using milder wood for smoke like apple, cherry and hickory. I stay away from mesquite and oak and other harsher smoke. It's just a matter of taste and preference.

Jim

I also do all my smoking in my Weber kettle grill.

I also think it's generally accepted that oak is milder than hickory.

Pellet smokers have come a long way, now you can get them with dual temp probes and bluetoof/wifi built in and an app.

Green Mountain offers probably the best bang for buck with all those features, Traeger just released a new offering with a new wifi controller.

The advantage to wifi is you don't need separate devices to check temps on the smoker and the meat, and you can leave the house to go pick up things or take a walk and still have monitoring capabilities.

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. You just use wood in the firebox to smoke meat.

For the typical user I doubt it matters, convenience (and budget) trumps heat source. I have an inexpensive vertical gas smoker i get great results with and replaced my old hoopty gas grill with a Weber kettle. Did a killer tri-tip on the kettle the other day, tossed some wet pecan chips onto the coals and cooked over indirect heat to 135.

I like pecan and apple, mostly pecan, great flavor on pork shoulder and ribs.

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Does the heat source effect the flavor of your smoked meats or is it purely just the type of wood you use?

IMHO it really is the skill of the user/operator.

I gave away a like-new Little Chief to a long time buddy skilled chef-school training.

I basically failed at the 'wood shavings in an electric fry pan' style heat source.

He soon mastered it in all forms of smoked meat & fish. She lavished both his products & his attempts at training me to better use such device. Then he moved 3000 miles away to Georgia. I never did rise above 'barely edible'

I favor charcoal but am looking closely at the pellet devices. I prefer actual smoke from various woods. Gas doesn't give much of that.

The other thing I would look at is versatility. You're not going to smoke meats every day of the week and usually not even that often, SO I would look at what else you can do with the grill you're buying.

For example the Kamado joe or egg cookers, you can smoke meats on them, but they're also a dedicated bbq grill, can grill everything from steaks to pizza's. I have a weber smokey mountain that's only good for smoking and it just sits there in my garage 99.5% of the time.

I don't own and have never used an electric smoker or pellet smoker. I hear pellet smokers are the best of the bunch for smoking, constant temperature, good flavor, etc. But see how versatile a pellet or electric is for grilling etc. before buying.

I have had a side box smoker and currently have a R2D2 barrel type smoker...

The type of fire defines the smoke and flavor you get.

The electric or pellet types offer the ease of starting it and walking away. While the machine keeps the temp constant.

But you will get a better flavor from wood fire followed by charcoal then gas.

Of course the type of wood used for the smoke makes a difference also. Oak is a lighter flavor than hickory or mesquite...cherry and apple do really good for a lighter sweeter flavor.

I had a charcoal smoker that rusted out and I replaced with an electric. The set it and forget it convenience was nice but when is went I replaced it with another charcoal offset. I really missed the flavor and I could not replicate it with electric. I have friends who swear by pellet and perhaps I should have looked harder.

Yes, I do believe the heat source makes a difference in flavor.

My second smoker was electric, and while that was convenient, the flavor was different I found it to be lacking. Neighbor's electric smoker had similar results. I replaced my electric with the Weber Smokey Mountain. The WSM is awesome - especially after I build a temperature controller for it (Google HeaterMeter).

This spring I picked up a Kamado Joe. As a result, I switched from Kingsford charcoal to lump charcoal and I can taste a difference between those sources as well. At some point I'll make an updated version of the HeaterMeter for the Kamado Joe, but the need isn't as pressing because that seems to hold the temperature pretty steady once I get it dialed in.

I have had gas and charcoal smokers. I have stepped up to two Big Green Eggs, a large and an XL, and in my opinion there is no comparison between gas and lump charcoal for flavor. In addition to the charcoal I add smoking wood chips that have been water smoked, usually pecan or cherry.

I use a Digi-Q for temperature control and can set it at 225 and it will hold that temperature for 16 hours, (probably longer but I have only run it for 16).

Other major flavor factors include the rub and or marinades you are using, wrapping certain cuts, resting time, and how you slice the meat. You have to be willing to put the time and effort into the preparations to get great results. We have done just about every entrée recipe from the Big Green Egg cookbook over the past 8 years and it never disappoints. Also read Adam Perry Lang's recipes from Serious Barbecue to get a sense for what goes into really great barbecue.

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Originally posted by frayedends:
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. You just use wood in the firebox to smoke meat.

That is what I thought, too. And yes, you have to tend it and know what you are doing.

Any great barbeque place has a wood fire going. No electrics and no pellets. I think you get convenience and less flavor.

I've got a few different smokers, one of them being a Yoder Pellet Smoker. Pellets are great for set it and forget it but if you like a lot of smoke flavor they don't excel at it. A lot of us use some type of different smoke generator to add a little more smokey flavor. The pellets burn so clean they don't make a lot of smoke over 175 degrees or so.

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Originally posted by Scurvy:

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
I smoke everything but fish on a Weber kettle with very good results. Fish I smoke in a dedicated electric smoker. I like using milder wood for smoke like apple, cherry and hickory. I stay away from mesquite and oak and other harsher smoke. It's just a matter of taste and preference.

Jim

I also do all my smoking in my Weber kettle grill.

I also think it's generally accepted that oak is milder than hickory.

Like I mentioned, it's all a matter of taste. Both my wife and I didn't care for the one time I tried Oak. I'll give it another try. Maybe try it on shorter cooks like game hens.

Jim