Looking for a good smoker but which one?

[tmb]

New to the forum so excuse me if i'm not up to date on these smokers.

I have a Bradley 4 rack which is nice but not reliable enough for me to trust 10 to 20 lbs of sausage or jerky with for and over night smoke.

Looking at the Model 1 but not sure if it's the right one for me or should I just bite the bullet and go up to the Model 2 ??  I have a Rec-Tec smoker for the big cooks and infrared for most other things but a good low finishing smoker that can hold 150 or so all day and I don't have to worry about it is what I need to complete my arsenal of cookers 

Any thoughts and ideas would help a lot

Thanks,

Tommy

 

[old sarge]

Get the largest your budget will allow consistent with future needs.

 

[Meatball]

Get the largest your budget will allow consistent with future needs.

Wise words... About sums it up in a sentence. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Glock_21]

Get the largest your budget will allow consistent with future needs.

^^^ This ^^^

For me it was the #3.  I wanted to be able to smoke full racks of ribs and whole packer briskets without cutting into multiple pieces.

There was some sticker shock and a little buyers remorse for a few months.  Now I look at it as one of the best appliance investments that I have ever made.

 

[NDKoze]

I would say a #2 is the minimum if you want to smoke sausage or jerky.

I regularly smoke snack sticks in 25-28lbs batches and these batches are a very tight fit in my #3 with 6 racks. You could "maybe" do 10lbs in a #1, but I have a feeling that it would be stretching it. And trying to do 20lbs in a #2 since they are smaller racks is still probably going to require at least 6 trays if not 7.

Jerky gets even tougher, because you need a lot of shelf space and the #1 just doesn't have it. The #2 will work if you work in smaller batches.

And regardless of which SI smoker you would get, if you want to smoke Jerky or Sausage, the Jerky Dryer is a MUST have. Without it you will only steam your meat because these smokers are some tight and do not let moisture out. While this is a great thing for ribs/butts/brisket, it is not a good thing for jerky and sausage.

If you just wanted to smoke a Pork Butt or halved Brisket or halved ribs, the #1 would probably be just fine.

But, if you want to smoke whole Packer Briskets (without separating the point/flat), Multiple Pork butts, and whole racks of ribs, the #3/#3D is what you are going to want.

I know you have your Rec-Tec for your big cooks, but I can almost guarantee you that after using your SI for a while and see how fast, easy, and low maintenance they are, when you want to smoke a Packer Brisket, 2-4 butts, or a half dozen full racks of ribs you will opt for your #3 instead of firing up the Rec-Tec. Then pull the Rec-Tec out for the large smokes or when you feel nostalgic.

Depending on how big of a Rec-Tec you have, I am not sure what you would consider Medium or Large smoke I guess.

 

[RG 2.0]

I went with the #3 because I liked the idea of being able to smoke a whole brisket (packer) without cutting it. I am glad I spent the extra to get it!

 

[Meatball]

Tmb....  somewhere on this site is a well done comparison chart someone did of the SI smokers...  it was a breakdown of sizes, wattages, temps etc. Very informative and helpful. I will look for it but hopefully someone can beat me to it. Good luck!

 

[ibbones]

I went with the #3 because I liked the idea of being able to smoke a whole brisket (packer) without cutting it. I am glad I spent the extra to get it!

Same here.  Go for the biggest you can afford.

 

[EFGM]

Get the largest your budget will allow consistent with future needs.

What David Said! Wise Advise from a wise man! You won't regret it.