Charcoal vs propane and electric


 
J

James H

TVWBB Pro
Hi all,

My friend wants to get a propane or electric smoker. I have the wsm and love it but not sure why or if charcoal is better than propane or electric smokers. It would seem like you have convenience, consistent temp, and long fuel supply. What do you all think the advantages an disadvantages of charcoal smokers are?

Thanks

James
 
James H said:
Hi all,

My friend wants to get a propane or electric smoker. I have the wsm and love it but not sure why or if charcoal is better than propane or electric smokers. It would seem like you have convenience, consistent temp, and long fuel supply. What do you all think the advantages an disadvantages of charcoal smokers are?

Thanks

James
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I think it's just a matter of what you want out of the hobby. Stuff cooked on charcoal or wood tastes better but you can get great results from propane or electric smokers. If you absolutely can't be bothered with adjusting vents and you really just want a "set it and forget it" situation then maybe charcoal isn't your thing.

I personally enjoy the process. I find it relaxing and theraputic. I don't like stokers. The most hardcore thing would be cooking on an offset with wood which I'm tinkering with but I think a charcoal smoker is the next best thing. Propane and electric just seems like cheating to me. People could say the same thing about a wsm. Or they could say the same about offsets because they believe shoveling coals into direct heat pits is the thing. It's really all a personal thing and I don't judge anyone on what they wanna do.
 
James;
I don't have a definitive answer but I can tell you "where I am coming from". I have an electric range. I CHOOSE to use my charcoal grills as often as possible. I am sure that the electric range in the kitchen is more convenient and costs less BUT-T-T, I cannot begin to get the flavor that a charcoal grilled (fill in the blanks here as it applies to most anything).

The same applies to smokers. I am sure that you can get decent smoked food from electric and propane smokers but I don't believe you can get the BEST from those. I DO strive to get the best. I am the first to admit that my BEST may not match a celebrated Pitmaster's efforts but as long as I am making progress, then I am happy.

Expense always raises it's head to most of us, sooner or later. The WSM in all of it's guises is a MOST economical smoker and it is such high quality that it is a twenty year piece of equipment (few of us expect our cars to last that long) and will turn out the BEST smoked food in the world (depending almost entirely on the skill of the pitmaster).

I buy charcoal when it's on sale and money yearly totals (even with a good bit of smoking and grilling) is relatively small. Electricity is cheap where I live but propane is getting pretty dear. However, cost of fuel should not be a problem for most of us whichever you elect to use.

Don't discount the pleasure of learning to maintain real fire in a safe manner, either. It's in the genes;)...

Just a thought or two,

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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Dustin and Robert hit the nail on the head. While the WSM is a "cheat" at least it's real bbq and I honestly don't think it's that much more difficult to use than an electric. I guess if you plan on leaving the house for your smokes an electric would be better, but that would be about it. I can't see much of a reason to buy a propane. wsm is cheaper too.
 
Len Dennis said:
Why do you say it's a cheat? Then says it's real bbq?? Something you read on another site/blog?
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because you are using primarily charcoal instead of all wood and it's a vertical smoker and not an off set. some people do feel this way. personally I do not care. and notice I put cheat in quotes. no. not something I've read on other sites. I was referring to dustin saying "Propane and electric just seems like cheating to me. People could say the same thing about a wsm."
 
James H said:
Hi all,

My friend wants to get a propane or electric smoker. I have the wsm and love it but not sure why or if charcoal is better than propane or electric smokers. It would seem like you have convenience, consistent temp, and long fuel supply. What do you all think the advantages an disadvantages of charcoal smokers are?

Thanks

James
Click to expand...

I've see countless stories of people who started on gas/electric and moved up to charcoal. I've only seen a few who went from Charcoal to Electric/Gas. I agree with some other posters who enjoy tending the fire, but some people just don't have the time to manage a day long cook and go for gas or electric.

I use a Temp controller because i simply don't have thetime to manage an all day fire but i appreciate the flavor of an all day fire. To me its the best of both worlds.
 
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Charlie L said:
I've see countless stories of people who started on gas/electric and moved up to charcoal. I've only seen a few who went from Charcoal to Electric/Gas. I agree with some other posters who enjoy tending the fire, but some people just don't have the time to manage a day long cook and go for gas or electric.

I use a Temp controller because i simply don't have thetime to manage an all day fire but i appreciate the flavor of an all day fire. To me its the best of both worlds.
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I've done many overnight cooks and set my maverick to go off if the WSM gets below 200 or above 300 and it's gone off maybe twice. once because it lost the connection and another time when it spiked briefly (literally 10 seconds) over 300. what I'm saying is one shouldn't worry about the effort of maintaining a fire. I've also left my house for many hours with it running and haven't had an issue. in fairness my wife is usually home and I give her my maverick and tell her to call me if there is an issue. there hasn't been. I can understand not wanting to leave a fire unattended at your house though.
 
Matt H. said:
I've done many overnight cooks and set my maverick to go off if the WSM gets below 200 or above 300 and it's gone off maybe twice. once because it lost the connection and another time when it spiked briefly (literally 10 seconds) over 300. what I'm saying is one shouldn't worry about the effort of maintaining a fire. I've also left my house for many hours with it running and haven't had an issue. in fairness my wife is usually home and I give her my maverick and tell her to call me if there is an issue. there hasn't been. I can understand not wanting to leave a fire unattended at your house though.
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I've done overnight cooks "unassisted" as well, but I slept terribly because I was paranoid that something would go amiss, set off the alarm on my Mav and (worst of all) wake up my wife. The 4 overnight cooks I've done since getting my PartyQ I've slept like a rock. I pretty much only plan to use it for those long stretches when I know I'll be otherwise occupied and can't pay a lot of attention to the smoker. For shorter cooks, I go old school.

But, back to the topic at hand, my MIL saw an "electric infrared smoker" on QVC or HSN or one of those networks and asked my wife if she should buy it for me as a gift. I told her it'd be a waste of money for me, but if they (my in-laws) wanted to get a smoker for themselves, it'd be a good choice given my FIL's love of the "set it and forget it" lifestyle. I'm sure you could turn out some great tasting BBQ with an electric or gas-powered smoker (Alton Brown has demonstrated it), but at this point in my life, it's not for me. If charcoal quadruples in price or burning it becomes illegal, then I can revisit electrics, but for now, give me my WSM.
 
Can a lectric or propane smoker be modded to use charcoal? I don't think so, and the WSM can be modded to use propane or lectric and go back to charcoal if you wish.
Check out the Mods sections.:wsm:

Tim
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I think it's just a matter of what you want out of the hobby. Stuff cooked on charcoal or wood tastes better but you can get great results from propane or electric smokers. If you absolutely can't be bothered with adjusting vents and you really just want a "set it and forget it" situation then maybe charcoal isn't your thing.
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Another consideration would be the other capabilities from the wsm - there are at least 4 different ways to grill on the thing (original way with water pan, no waterpan, raise the charcoal grate from the bottom section & set on the lower grate/water pan mounts, & then "the little black egg" where you remove the center section & place the top cooking grate right on the fire ring).
 
Clint said:
Another consideration would be the other capabilities from the wsm - there are at least 4 different ways to grill on the thing (original way with water pan, no waterpan, raise the charcoal grate from the bottom section & set on the lower grate/water pan mounts, & then "the little black egg" where you remove the center section & place the top cooking grate right on the fire ring).
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Without a doubt. The Wsm is by far my favorite smoker.
 
James H said:
Hi all,

My friend wants to get a propane or electric smoker. I have the wsm and love it but not sure why or if charcoal is better than propane or electric smokers. It would seem like you have convenience, consistent temp, and long fuel supply. What do you all think the advantages an disadvantages of charcoal smokers are?

Thanks

James
Click to expand...

James,
I have three smokers on my deck. One a Little Chief electric smoker, a Mastercraft Electric, a WSM, and my Weber kettle which I also smoke on. I had a LPG grill and got rid of it.

Each of my smokers is intended for different things, but that is not how it started. The Little Chief was my first purchase and I discovered it was only good for smoked salmon or jobs like that. I bought it because I didn't know anything and it was cheap.

My next acquisition was the Mastercraft 30" model. It actually did a pretty good job, but it either over smoked or under smoked; I never could get it just right. I now use it for chicken as it doesn't take much to smoke chicken. I went through all of this with my Weber gas grill, but the result was not as good.

I finally bought a WSM. I discovered that with a chimney I could heat up my smoker faster than I could heat up my gas grill. I also found what most others already knew, real fire and proper selection of wood makes superior BBQ. There is only a minor issue with convenience and that can be addressed with something like a PitmasterIQ or equal temperature controller. A chimney and a temperature controller makes the issues disappear.
 
In my 20 years of smoking with propane smokers, I can't recall anyone ever complaining about lack of flavor, or not eating "real BBQ". What I CAN recall happening too many times to count is platters of ribs, pulled pork and/or brisket getting scarfed down and people arguing about who gets to take any leftovers there might have been.
 
Like a lot of others that have commented I think you can turn out really good food on electric or propane but i just think cooking with charcoal or lump takes it to another level. A couple friends of mine run pellet poopers (i poke fun at them every chance i get) and they constantly turn out great food. Another reason I will stick with charcoal is that like Dustin i think the entire process of starting the coals to tending the fire is very relaxing, and i love the smell of it that you dont get with anyother fuel source!
 
While I have had good BBQ from a friends electric Brinkmann, I like my 14.5 WSM and the fact that I can take it most
anywhere and get BBQ my way when I want it, even on a boat.
 
I prefer the "all natural" way. While I know people can make killer Q with propane or electric, I think of it as cheating. Using 100% charcoal is the most difficult to master, more can go wrong than the other 2 but I will only use charcoal.
 
I have all three - propane, charcoal and electric. I had used propane grills for 30 years, then about 5 years ago my adult son said that I should get back to charcoal because it tastes so much better. I bought a 22.5 Weber kettle and really enjoy it, especially on weekends. My wife then bought an electric smoker for herself. She uses it to smoke salmon and chicken. I have never used it.
I have been using the 22.5 kettle to learn to perfect my ribs, but I am tempted to purchase a 18.5 WSM.
 
I started with an electric smoker and switched to the WSM. I have never regretted it for a minute. The electric is easier as you don't have to start charcoal, adjust vents etc. You can't replace the charcoal taste of a real BBQ. If quick and easy is your goal I understand if you pass on WSM but if you want better tasting results go with WSM.
 
Kim H. said:
I have all three - propane, charcoal and electric. I had used propane grills for 30 years, then about 5 years ago my adult son said that I should get back to charcoal because it tastes so much better. I bought a 22.5 Weber kettle and really enjoy it, especially on weekends. My wife then bought an electric smoker for herself. She uses it to smoke salmon and chicken. I have never used it.
I have been using the 22.5 kettle to learn to perfect my ribs, but I am tempted to purchase a 18.5 WSM.
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can the electric smokers cold smoke salmon? that's the only thing I'd love to do and I don't really want to do the modification for the wsm.
 
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