re: What type of smoker do you prefer?

The large door has a gasket all the way around that works really well. I put high heat silicon on all the other edges. It has very minimal leaks. It's pretty thin, but somehow it works. My top gauge was hovering around 250 for 8 hours. Even if you have to open the door, it bounces right back.


So the racks are probably 5-6 inches apart, so you could theoretically put one brisket on every rack. The only issue with that is the temp difference. You can see the bottom gauge is about 350 while the top is about 250. I probably wouldn't use more than 3 racks at the top for briskets.

With butts you would have to remove racks, but I bet you could do 2 per rack, maybe 3. Haven't even smoked one on this thing. Just got it about 6 months ago.

So maybe 5-6 total if you kept it away from the bottom.

Thanks. I’ll look in to that. It really didn’t start doing that until I put the foil on the bottom rack. Lower one used to actually run 25-30 degrees cooler.

But the alternative of fire shooting up and burning the meat is what I was trying to stop. And it worked for that.

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im wondering if you can put a big pan of water at the bottom to may your heat more consistent, or deflector plate or both. anything to absorbe heat and radiate it better. 350 to 250 in that small area is a big difference.

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A water pan was going to be my suggestion. Water boils at 212F. As you add more heat to the water pan the water pan itself never get above 212F and additional heat energy vaporizes the water. This give you a constant thermal mass under the meat that is always 212F. The water vapor coming off the top can be hotter than 212F but because it's so humid it won't dry out your meat. The water vapor is too saturated to hold any more water so it won't pull the moisture off the meat's surface and dry it out. Hotter dry air will flow around the water pan and move up the sides of the smoker and tends to pool at the top. Once the water pan is on place I would expect to see the top of the smoker hotter than the bottom. Your bottom racks will have the most consistent temperatures and you will want to adjust the fire to control the temps at the top of the smoker.

This type of smoker I like to leave one rack open and shuffle the racks a couple of times during the cook.
Meaning I leave the top rack out. After a couple of hours I will move the bottom rack to the open space at the top then shuffle all the rack down until the top is open again. That way one piece does stay at the top the whole time and one doesn't stay at the bottom the whole time so all of the meat is cooked about the same.

im not looking at spending a ton of money so im looking at getting that one and trying to mod it to meet my needs. probably gonna get the wide version. LINK

I mean for $225 compared to 3k for a custom one...yea it wont be thick steel, i could wrap with a welding blanked. Sure it might rust through in a few years, but it was 225.

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When I add fresh wood to the coals, it can get pretty intense. Not grease. Usually only lasts a minute or two, but over a long cook, it can do some damage.

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sound like you might want to dampen your box when you add new fuel.

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Have you found a cover to fit your Masterbuilt 40 propane smoker?

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Yes but it's probably more expensive than you are looking for. It's called a basement

My 18" GOSM has been outside uncovered for 10 years and still cooked great. Just a little redder than it used to be.

UDS for personal, and sometimes competition use. Oklahoma Joe now has their version that I wouldn't mind testing one day. It's an interesting build, and seems sturdy. As most people on here said, you really can't go wrong with a WSM as well.

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I just ordered a Rec Tec Stampede.

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I was going to get the Rec Tec Bull because of the bigger size and the 6 year warranty vs. 2 for the Stampede. I looked yesterday and the Stampede now has a 4 year warranty! I think my Webber Silver Genesis has grill is big, but the Stampede has an ever bigger surface area than my Webber. I’ve changed my mind to the Stampede for $300 less. Let me know how you like it.

Gonna unpack my new PBC today.

First brisket on the Rec Tec Stampede. Going from traeger was like getting my first car after riding a bike for years. It’s built like a Sherman Tank