1975 coming my way this summer. My wife has been informed that I am going to pull the trigger by 4th of July as a gift for my early retirement, Father's Day and Birthday!
I was going to try that but couldn’t find any nearby. I saw the LSG Fire Management Basket and figured I’d give it a try. I have been very happy with its performance, but I’m glad to know there are other options out there for Smokehouse owners!
To be honest the best product they make is the brazos. I was going to go with the smokehouse as I’m space limited. I prefer to store it in my garage when not in use to prevent rust. I bought a Shirley 24x24 vertical. All I can say is the difference in the metal is night and day. But there is a big difference in the cost.
I have the same smoker and considering drilling the hole for the fan. So I want to know why are you planning to cover/weld up your fan port vs buying a billows fan to go along with your thermoworks thermometer. I know you mentioned you had one that didn't work before. I was thinking of getting charcoal basket and with wood chunks for unattended cooks. Your thoughts please!!
Two things that I have not had luck with in this smoker are running it with charcoal and running it with a fan. Your experience may vary for a few reasons: 1. I never had a charcoal basket. I was using a variety of briquettes, lump, and log style charcoal on the original firebox plate early on with much difficulty in reaching cooking temperatures as well as wildly varying temps. It was very frustrating. Which led to… 2 The purchase of the world’s worst WiFi thermometer/controller and fan which I will not name here, but you can clearly see in most of my early videos. I installed the fan duct ant had zero success with charcoal & chunks and the fan. The company offered ZERO help with my process and went directly on my sh*t list. At the time it was no big deal because I still had the silicone plug to the fan duct, so I was able to plug the leak and still use the factory damper. Around this time I realized that the smoker worked best with just wood so I focused on that UNTIL I somehow lost the silicone plug to the fan duct and had all kinds of problems with runaways, etc. I called the manufacturer asking them to spot me a new plug and they declined, but offered to SELL me one and that was the final straw with me and them and I switched over to my current Thermoworks rig which I love. I have not looked back since. About charcoal vs wood and the fan situation: I had no luck with charcoal, which doesn’t mean you will have the same experience, however, I do feel that this smoker is designed to burn splits and confirmed that with a lengthy conversation with the manufacturer. If you are able to obtain a sufficient amount of hardwood and have room to store it, I strongly suggest you go that route. If you are unable to do it, find a suitable basket and start experimenting and let me know how you make out! I would interested to hear. My feelings on fans is that they really are designed for low flow situations like an egg or a Weber but they won’t really help you with a smoker like this due to the large volume and higher flow. I hope that this helps you and don’t hesitate to contact me again to pass your ideas by me.
@@smokerschuggin475thanks so much for the info. I'm undecided on the fan and controller at the moment. I have currently a half cord of live oak and a reliable source for continued wood splits. I might try just a basket without the fan and control it with the air dampner and stacks. I can use my drum smoker charcoal basket. I'm just hesitant to purchase if it doesn't work well. I'm also looking at gravity smokers and IVS smokers too for unattended cooks. Its my experience that brisket cooks are best with the no wrap method, as you may know though this could take 12 hrs plus that's a lot of fire management and not much sleep. This beast of a smoker is definitely my rib cooker. I will experiment with it though. Hey thanks a lot for responding to my question, I really appreciate it!!! Keep rolling smoke man!!
Well, I'm switching to pellets... I can't find a single m/fer to be dependable with my wood splits. SO! Pellet smokers it is. I like the looks of this thing, it's kinda spot on for what I (wanted).
Not sure what your budget is, but there are some pretty good insulated charcoal smokers out there, too. A few years ago, when I ended up getting this smoker, I had planned to get a Lonestar Grillz Large Insulated Smoker. I had the money, but I also had almost as much credit card debt. Before I hit the go button, I figured it would be irresponsible not to pay the debt off. That decision led me to this smoker, which I could still afford after paying the bills.
I really struggled with getting wood to cook with, finally I posted on Facebook and a friend of mine asked around work if anyone had any maple they needed gone. Turned out that someone had taken down a couple maple trees in their yard and I ended up with it all for free just for taking it out of his yard. I have since gotten red & white oak from friends or through work. Wood is out there, but sometimes you have to beat the bushes for it.
The quality is about what I would expect for the cost. They must really have to crank them out at the factory. Overall, I think it is pretty good for the money. BTW, the purchase price is exactly the same as it was when I bought mine, but I believe the shipping has gone up significantly.
I highly recommend workhorse pits! I’ve had the 1975t for just over a year and it’s been a breeze running this thing! Definitely worth the wait!
Amen! I would DEFINITELY not complain! LOL!
1975 coming my way this summer. My wife has been informed that I am going to pull the trigger by 4th of July as a gift for my early retirement, Father's Day and Birthday!
I have one, I added some fire bricks on the bottom and it helped with fire management
I was going to try that but couldn’t find any nearby. I saw the LSG Fire Management Basket and figured I’d give it a try. I have been very happy with its performance, but I’m glad to know there are other options out there for Smokehouse owners!
To be honest the best product they make is the brazos. I was going to go with the smokehouse as I’m space limited. I prefer to store it in my garage when not in use to prevent rust. I bought a Shirley 24x24 vertical. All I can say is the difference in the metal is night and day. But there is a big difference in the cost.
I have the same smoker and considering drilling the hole for the fan. So I want to know why are you planning to cover/weld up your fan port vs buying a billows fan to go along with your thermoworks thermometer. I know you mentioned you had one that didn't work before. I was thinking of getting charcoal basket and with wood chunks for unattended cooks. Your thoughts please!!
Two things that I have not had luck with in this smoker are running it with charcoal and running it with a fan. Your experience may vary for a few reasons:
1. I never had a charcoal basket. I was using a variety of briquettes, lump, and log style charcoal on the original firebox plate early on with much difficulty in reaching cooking temperatures as well as wildly varying temps. It was very frustrating. Which led to…
2 The purchase of the world’s worst WiFi thermometer/controller and fan which I will not name here, but you can clearly see in most of my early videos. I installed the fan duct ant had zero success with charcoal & chunks and the fan. The company offered ZERO help with my process and went directly on my sh*t list. At the time it was no big deal because I still had the silicone plug to the fan duct, so I was able to plug the leak and still use the factory damper. Around this time I realized that the smoker worked best with just wood so I focused on that UNTIL I somehow lost the silicone plug to the fan duct and had all kinds of problems with runaways, etc. I called the manufacturer asking them to spot me a new plug and they declined, but offered to SELL me one and that was the final straw with me and them and I switched over to my current Thermoworks rig which I love. I have not looked back since.
About charcoal vs wood and the fan situation:
I had no luck with charcoal, which doesn’t mean you will have the same experience, however, I do feel that this smoker is designed to burn splits and confirmed that with a lengthy conversation with the manufacturer. If you are able to obtain a sufficient amount of hardwood and have room to store it, I strongly suggest you go that route. If you are unable to do it, find a suitable basket and start experimenting and let me know how you make out! I would interested to hear.
My feelings on fans is that they really are designed for low flow situations like an egg or a Weber but they won’t really help you with a smoker like this due to the large volume and higher flow.
I hope that this helps you and don’t hesitate to contact me again to pass your ideas by me.
@@smokerschuggin475thanks so much for the info. I'm undecided on the fan and controller at the moment. I have currently a half cord of live oak and a reliable source for continued wood splits. I might try just a basket without the fan and control it with the air dampner and stacks. I can use my drum smoker charcoal basket. I'm just hesitant to purchase if it doesn't work well. I'm also looking at gravity smokers and IVS smokers too for unattended cooks. Its my experience that brisket cooks are best with the no wrap method, as you may know though this could take 12 hrs plus that's a lot of fire management and not much sleep. This beast of a smoker is definitely my rib cooker. I will experiment with it though. Hey thanks a lot for responding to my question, I really appreciate it!!! Keep rolling smoke man!!
Thanks for video not too many out there.
Thank you. I’m always trying to improve and I think there’s only one other channel showcasing a Smokehouse.
Great video 👍🏽🔥
Thank you!
What type of oil do you spray it with?
@@joeyrave70 generally whatever spray is cheap, like the generic version of Pam.
Well, I'm switching to pellets... I can't find a single m/fer to be dependable with my wood splits. SO! Pellet smokers it is. I like the looks of this thing, it's kinda spot on for what I (wanted).
Not sure what your budget is, but there are some pretty good insulated charcoal smokers out there, too. A few years ago, when I ended up getting this smoker, I had planned to get a Lonestar Grillz Large Insulated Smoker. I had the money, but I also had almost as much credit card debt. Before I hit the go button, I figured it would be irresponsible not to pay the debt off. That decision led me to this smoker, which I could still afford after paying the bills.
I really struggled with getting wood to cook with, finally I posted on Facebook and a friend of mine asked around work if anyone had any maple they needed gone. Turned out that someone had taken down a couple maple trees in their yard and I ended up with it all for free just for taking it out of his yard. I have since gotten red & white oak from friends or through work. Wood is out there, but sometimes you have to beat the bushes for it.
So overall it's a high cost low quality cooker. Especially now in 2023 what they cost.
The quality is about what I would expect for the cost. They must really have to crank them out at the factory. Overall, I think it is pretty good for the money. BTW, the purchase price is exactly the same as it was when I bought mine, but I believe the shipping has gone up significantly.