Newcomer help..bullet vs horizontal?

[Robinsonpr]

Hi, I am a newcomer to this site! Looks great for help and tips, which is why I'm here....

I need a new BBQ and am considering a smoker. The whole concept of slower cooking sounds great, and I don't want to be serving up black burgers and chicken from my grill anymore!

So first question...can I cook EVERYTHING on a bullet smoker like the ProQ excel 20? When I say everything I mean all the usual British BBQ food. I know folk do chicken , pork, ribs etc but what about stuff typically associated with a grill like burgers and sausages? Do people do these in smokers too? Burgers are great with a bit of flame on them so do people not really smoke these?

Do I need a grill AND a smoker?

So the main question I'm battling with is bullet vs horizontal. My brother has a brinkmann smoke n pit which I kind of like the sound of because of the versatility of being able to do indirect cooking plus conventional grilling. But it sounds like this type of cooking still needs lots of attention. I like the idea of loading up a bullet and then only having to check on it periodically rather than standing over it getting covered in smoke.

Other thing is the only horizontal ones I can find for sale in the uk seem a bit cheap n cheerful. I want something that is going to work properly and last a good few years. And have a fair size cooking area.

That's where I like the idea of the ProQ...you can add another stacker if you need more cooking area (or do people not do this in practice?)

So a bit confused really. I really like the idea of a bullet and want to go down that route, probably with the Excel 20 rather than the frontier. But I have young children and want to be able to cater for them with a nice juicy burger and sausage, but not sure if these are good out of a smoker.

Any help and advice greatly appreciated!

[JEC]

Hello and welcome, you will certainly find lots of advice on here

In answer to the question about the Pqo Q's yes you can cook everything on them from grill food to smoked, to grill you simply remove the centre sections and just use the base like a kettle BBQ, unless you want a bad back then you will want to find a table to put it on, remembering it can get hot though!

Personally if you can afford it you will be better off with 2 units, a 57cm Weber Kettle and a 47cm Weber smokey mountain, or the ProQ equivalent if your budget won't stretch that far, unless you are competing or feeding a small army the 57cm would probably be too large in either the Weber or the Pro Q. I'm not a fan of the cheaper horizontal smokers and would buy a bullet over them everyday, but that's just my opinion

[keith157]

With the ProQ it can come down to a basic base and dome lid for picnic/beach use as a standard BBQ, However as JEC rightly says in it's smallest form you need something to put it on (heatproof of course) or spend a lot of time bending real low

[Robinsonpr]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I saw that the bullets can be used as portable kettles, great feature.

When I said can I cook burgers and sausages on a smoker I meant in its full smoking setup. I would rather not have to have two units, one for grilling and one for smoking. Ideally I'd like a big bullet smoker and be able to have cuts of meat in there and later in the cook add kids stuff like burgers etc.

I guess the question I'm asking is do people smoke burgers? Or always grill them?

[keith157]

You are talking about two different types of cooking, cook your meats low n slow, remove the water pan (bullet smoker) then you can go hot for grilling. As you know the closer to the charcoal the hotter the temp. I don't know enough about the switchover to say what sort of temps you would get keeping the stacks together and tring to cook burgers as I doubt the heat would be high enough. This is only a theory as I've never tried using the residual heat to cook on once the smoking is done.

[JEC]

You certainly can cook burgers and sausages at a lower temperature, smoking 225 to 300, they are quite different in texture and unless you raise the temperature to something like 350 they won't have that crispy crust, that's not to say they're not nice they're just different

[KamadoSimon]

If you must only have one item to do it all - then the cheapest option would be a weber kettle. From reading stuff on here, you'll have to modify it a bit to be able to smoke properly on it - but there is plenty of information on how to. Another option is a ceramic cooker (Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, Primo etc) - they will do all the things you want without modifications. But they're (comparatively) expensive. The half way house (price-wise) is a kettle BBQ & smoker like the Pro Q or Weber Smokey Mountain. This last option would give you more flexibility than a single unit. Let us know what you go for.

[JEC]

I'm with Simon of the 100% on the ceramic, you really can do everything on it, it will happily cook away at 225 all day then then you can open the vents and sear burgers and steaks to go with your perfectly cooked BBQ food

[RobinC]

Personally I would go with the 2 cooker option. Gives you so much more flexibility, I couldn't imagine ever going back to just having one BBQ

[JEC]

Personally I would go with the 2 cooker option. Gives you so much more flexibility, I couldn't imagine ever going back to just having one BBQ

Yes but this is coming from the person who has 10