Smoker: electric or propane

Joined
Oct 19, 2012
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1,747
Location
Western Montana
SMOKER: I've been looking at the Masterbuilt smokers at Cabela's and Sportsman's Warehouse and am planning on getting one. My question is would you go with the electric or the propane smoker? If so why?

Thanks for the help.
 

go4thegusto

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May 16, 2012
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Fargo ND
My son is quite a smoker. He does salmon, wild turkey breasts, brisket, venison, etc all on an electric smoker. Likes the temp controllability of electric without the hassle of filling tanks. tasty stuff!.
 

Griz34

Lil-Rokslider
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Dec 29, 2015
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Eastern SD
I agree, go with the electric. I've had both, my first two were propane. It was extremely difficult to regulate the temperature on both of them. It was also hard to get them up to over 170 degrees in cold weather meaning under 40 degrees. The regulators just wouldn't let it get there. Now I have an electric smoker and not all the headaches.

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jmez

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Jun 12, 2012
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Piedmont, SD
I have electric and it works good. Never used propane. I'd recommend getting the add on smoke box for the Masterbuilt. You don't get good smoke with them as they come.

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4ester

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Nov 2, 2014
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Steep and Deep
I have had the master built electric for quite a few years. It works ok, but I would reccomend a pellet grill. Better flavor to me.


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ACC

FNG
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May 19, 2012
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81
Propane sucks because it's hard the get the temperature regulated correctly. I use a gateway now.
 

Bughalli

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Nov 16, 2012
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Bend, OR
There's a small group of us who smoke meats and fish pretty regularly. We're constantly comparing and changing setups. All types of smokers are fun and produce great smoked meats. Some day I'll build an old school smoke house., just because. But for how busy I am and where I live, electric was the way to go. I've been very happy with it, but I did make some modifications. The smoker is an older Bradley that I picked up on Craigslist for $50. It was unused, but dented in shipping, so they shipped this guy a new one and told him to throw the old one away. But the dent wasn't a big deal at all. There's other electric smokers that are just as good, if not better. I heard good things about Smoke-it, well built but they're pricey. The Treagars are nice too, but crazy pricy. The internal temperature controls on the older Bradleys are pretty crappy (not precise at all), so I bought an external Auger Instruments control module (little pricey). It's awesome and I can use it with most electric smokers, so I didn't mind investing in it. It measures meat and box temperature, allows for customized temperature goals and other features. You can truly set it and forget it, knowing it will follow the instructions you set.

While I could control the temps precisely for specific periods of time, I found electric smokers very slow to get up to your ideal temperature and recovery back to your ideal temp after the door is opened took longer than I wanted. This just added to the cooking time. So I added a second filament, basically doubling the potential heat output. The upgrade was pretty easy ($20 in parts and hr of work) and now I REALLY love it. It's so nice. Yes you do have to buy the Bradley wood pucks, but man it makes the smoking process easy. I'll be the first to say not everything in life needs to be "easy", that's why we bow hunt and fly fish, but staying on top of a smoker is a lot of work and unfortunately "a lot of work" means I won't smoke meat as often. So in that regard I appreciate the ease of use and gets me smoking more often.

P.S.....I've also started Sous Vide cooking (water bath at low temp) in combination with smoking. I'm still relatively new at it (year or so), but find there are a lot of really nice benefits. i.e. 1) yet another "set it and forget it" form of cooking with precise temperature control; 2) avoids drying your meat out; 3) greatly reduces the amount of cleanup in the smoker when you Sous Vide it first (as in almost no cleanup); 4) you capture all the juices from the meat in Sous Vide, which you can add back to shredded meat when it's done in the smoker. That juice adds amazing flavor and is otherwise lost in a smoker.

Just my two cents...have fun with it.
 

muddydogs

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May 3, 2017
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Utah
I prefer propane smokers as they heat faster and can be used about anywhere. I have an old version of one of these, Landmann USA Grills Smokers & Fire Pits Manufacturer, and it smokes great. I don't have any problem getting over 200 degrees when it's cold as mine will hit over 500 degrees on high. I do use a regulator that has a needle valve in it which makes controlling the temp very easy.
 

napeequa55

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 28, 2016
Messages
168
I run a campchef smoke vault. Like it a lot. Heats up fast, easy to maintain temps where you want em.


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LostArra

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May 9, 2013
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3,435
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Oklahoma
Electric for me: Cookshack
Almost too easy to get great results.
Cookshack is pricey but worth it to me (and it's made here in Oklahoma)
 
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