what is a The Propane Smoker

Propane smokers are quite easy to buy for. Unlike gas grills pellet grills that may keep the company with a crazy amount of features (and marketing jargon), most pellet smokers share the same design. Here are some key features and potential issues you must look out for.

Two doors are best

You want to be ready to access the wood chips without opening the door to the most cooking chamber.

Most of the smokers during this guide utilize a two-door design. Sometimes you’ll find a smoker with one door, but the chip trays are loaded separately just like the Smoke Hollow 44.

Watch out for the smoker width

If you simply explore the whole amount of grill space you wish to use caution. Propane smokers can brag about huge square inches of area, while the particular width is kind of narrow and can’t fit a full brisket or aRack of ribs.

Build quality and leaky doors

A lot of those smokers are built from cheap, thin metal. The door to the cooking chamber is often especially at risk of leaking.

We’ve found out within the smoker reviews above which smokers struggle with leaking. It’s not a deal-breaker, as you’ll always do a simple mod and install high temp gasket seal.

A bit of leaking is okay and won’t affect your food quality. Luckily propane is already incredibly cheap to run.

How propane smokers work

Like their cousin the electrical smoker, propane smokers use a really simple design. you’ll nearly always see a burner at rock bottom connected to a propane tank.

The most popular is the cabinet style. Racks for holding your food are stacked vertically above the water pan, wood pan, and burner. This explains why you may also hear these described as “vertical smokers”.

Meathead goes into more detail about how a typical gas smoker works, and why you must always search for a smoker with two doors.

Meathead Goldwyn, Gas Smokers: Buying Guide

There is a burner at an all-time low, usually brass or cast aluminum, very durable, with numerous jets. Above the burner maybe a shelf for a pan for the wood, and above that’s a shelf for a water pan.

Above that are four or more shelves for food. rock bottom vents can’t be adjusted to form sure the gas gets enough oxygen.

At the highest, there’s either a chimney or a damper or two. you ought to always leave the highest vent open all the thanks to preventing soot buildup on your meat.

My favorites have two doors. a little one at the lowest so you’ll check the flame and add wood and water. the most door provides access to the cooking chamber

The pros and cons of buying a propane smoker

As we’ve mentioned tons of the pros and cons of shopping for a gas smoker are similar as you’d see with an electrical smoker.

• Set it and forget it smoking – There’s little question that like electric smokers, gas is way less work to take care of than a charcoal or wood smoker
• Easy temperature control – associated with the benefit of use, most gas smokers have an electrical switch ignition and easy temperature controls there also are a couple of advantages unique to cooking with propane.

• More portable – Unless you’ve got an electrical generator, you’re not attending to bring your electric smoker camping with you. Propane tanks are much easier to require with you camping or tailgating.
• Better smoke flavor – While it won’t match cooking with charcoal or wood, the overall consensus is that gas produces better flavor than electric.
• More reliable – There’s less which will fail than with an electrical smoker. and since you don’t believe electricity they’re more reliable and make an honest copy just in case you lose power to your house. Gas smokers aren’t without their issues though. Some potential problems include:

• Sometimes you’ll need to switch out the propane tank during an extended cook – you’ll minimize this by always starting with a full tank and ensuring you have got a couple of spares available. This isn’t any different from having to top up the charcoal though, but it does give the sting to electric smokers for convenience.
• Some models run on the narrow side – Makes it difficult to suit in larger cuts of meat sort of a whole turkey or large brisket. In our reviews for the simplest gas smokers above we’ve commented on width for every smoker.

While this last point isn’t unique to the current sort of smoker, there does seem to be an oversized number of cheaply made smokers that leak heat and smoke.

Poor insulation makes it especially hard to take care of a protracted and stable cook.

Getting the most smoke out of your propane smoker

When you buy a propane smoker you’re getting simple use, for an excellent price, at the expense of quality.

The most common issues people run into are associated with cheap construction. after you check out the value tag compared to other smokers, that’s understandable.

If you would like a top quality set it and forget it, a smoker that’s super easy to use, then we recommend saving a touch additional cash and investing in a very pellet smoker.

But before you think that we’re gas smoker haters, let’s make one thing clear: You don’t get to spend an arm and a leg to provide great barbecue

Many home barbecuers are ready to produce fantastic results by making some simple modifications to their gas smokers.