"Perfect Flame" brand smoker questions

[wrangler]

Hey all,

I have read every post in this propane forum, and did not see any about the "Perfect Flame" brand smoker I saw at Lowe's hardware store

I looked a walmart and saw a $60 Brinkman, which was very flimsy, with thin metal and thus not of any interest for me.

Walmart also has thru the internet a GOSM, but I can not see that at a store, so I could not tell if it was flimsy. The GOSM has a cooking capacity is 20"W x 14"D x 34H", and costs $139.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3342508

Back to my question.....

My next stop was at Lowes. This was the 36 x 16 x 14 model GS-2001 for $150. This unit was not flimsy, was rather solid, and had the features I have read about so it is of interest to me. Its interesting that they don't sell it at any Phoenix stores, but I found it in Prescott, two hours away. I go up there every weekend, so it is not a problem for me to pick one up.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...esc&lpage=none

Since I have not seen any discussion on it, I thought I would ask here what anyone thought of it.

 

[desertlites]

Hello fellow desert dude-Marana area here,u read Every post in here?You musta missed the 1 about roll call,We like to have our fellow smokers to run through there first so we can get to know them a little-ya were nosey! Can't belive little LA don't carry the smokers you looking for,I wouldn't buy 1 from wally world period,ansd sorry but I not to partial about lowes either-maybe try sportsman wearhouse-or cabbiles(sp) a little more money but better quality.more will be in to help ya out.glad you stopped by.and if u gonna want to stay think about the roll call.

 

[mofo]

My concern has been the width of most of these smokers I am looking at. Are they wide enough to lay out your typical rack of Babybacks? How wide of a cooking surface should one be looking for in a gas smoker? On my old brinkman smoke n grill, I usually had to cut racks in half and use a rib rack to cook them. would like to avoid that on my next purchase...

 

[mofo]

I did notice that fastalkintn mentioned that he had purchased the GS-2001 in this thread:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16569

perhaps he will read in and reply...

I might swing by Lowes tonight and take a look at one myself.

 

[ajthepoolman]

The GOSM at Wal-Mart is rather flimsy if you ask me. The vertical Brinkmann seemed to be a bit more solid.

 

[user24]

I have the Perfect Flame smoker. It's a private label through Lowe's so the name might change often. I can post some pictures and measurements once I return home in a few days.

It looks similar to the GOSM--perhaps the same manufacturer is behind all these budget vertical units. Probably similar end results in cooking.

 

[goodwyne]

Haven't posted here in a while but since I just bought a new smoker I thought I'd check back in.

I just bought this smoker after using an electric ECB for the last two years. That was my first smoker and that's when I discovered this place! It worked great but when the element finally went, I was ready to move up a little.

Just did my first smoke (country style ribs with dry rub) on the Perfect Flame from Lowes and I'm pleased! Ribs came out tender and moist and tasted great! Fed my daughter's new boyfriend and he was impressed.

There are some things to get used to though.

First, I was used to the ECB where whatever rub fell off the meat as you were putting in on just fell in the water pan. With this you have the rack pulled out so it falls on the ground. Since I'm using it on a screened porch, that's an issue I'll have to deal with. I'll probably just slip a pan underneath.

The water pan is was too small! It's shallow and only about 2/3 the length of the racks. Why they didn't make it the same length as the racks is beyond me. Not sure what I'll do about that. Where do you come up with something larger that fits in the slots?

I like the smoker box. It's big enough and, contrary to what I've heard others say, I had smoke in a couple of minutes using wood woaked for half an hour. After we ate I went back out to take a look at the inside and the wood was not burned up. It was charcoal! I've never seen that before. I can use it in the grill next time around.

I didn't have much trouble managing temp. Others have mentioned how touchy the control knob can be and I noticed that too but I was paying close attention since it's a new smoker and had no trouble. I kept it right around 250 the whole time. I did notice a big difference between the dial thermometer on the front and my digitals. The dial thermo was generally about 50 degrees higher than the digital, which I trust.

I seem to be able to get it up to about 350 if I want to so that's nice. With the ECB I couldn't finish off wings in the smoker, had to move 'em to the oven. I should be able to finish just fine with this.

There's some smoke leakage around the door but not bad and it didn't seem to affect the temp so I'm fine with that. I do think I'll look for one of those grill mats to go under it so I don't ruin the floor under it.

I also ran a digital probe about 2" from the outside to see how hot it gets on the outside. It averaged about 185 or so. I've got it about a foot from a railing in front of the screen and I was concerned about that but I think it's okay.

All in all I think it's a nice step up but I wonder just how much propane I'm going to use. The country style ribs only took about 4 hours but a couple of butts for 12-16 hours could use a good bit of propane!

 

[patpend]

I too just bought the Perfect flame 36" smoker from Lowes. This is my first foray into smoking. I have a 53" grill and have used the indirect method to slowly grill meats before, but never used a smoker.

The Lowes unit was easy to put together by one person, with only a handful of bolts to install. It is higher quality than you might expect for the price, and fairly sturdy. It is not 'double wall' construction, but I wouldn't expect that at that price.

Because this was a last-minute purchase yesterday and I had a recipe for my tri-tip that called for indirect grilling at 350, I loaded the smoker and used the same recipe. It easily held all the meat I purchased for the party - 20 lbs of tritip and 8 lbs of ribs. With that much meat, it took a while to get to 350, but I did reach 350 and lowered the flame to hold it there.

I soaked the wood for several hours first and it did smoke nicely. As someone noted above, smoke does leak from the door frame a bit.

The results were excellent! I can't wait to try it again, next time a lower and slower cooking. Plus it freed up my grill for other uses.

 

[techguy]

I too recently purchased the perfect flame smoker from Lowes and so far I'm pleased (what limited experience I have with it). But I have a question of my own. When using the smoker, I notice that when using chips (all I could find) they don't really burn down to ash like one would expect. They really just kinda char up and that's about it. They smoke like a champ at first, really thick smoke, then about 15 min later, that's about all they do for smoke. Is this normal? I've never had them burn completely down to ash, even when I did a turkey for almost 9 hrs. I'm keeping the temp around 250ish depending on wind, verified w/ a temp probe inside. I've tried the bottom vents open and shut, no difference there. Not sure if the stock wood box is getting hot enough. Or if it just has lack of air flow to/inside the box to really get them smoldering properly. Or maybe I'm just seeing something that's normal? Any input/advice would be appreciated.

 

[forktender]

I bought the 48" PSmoker....Love it easy to use hold temp well.
Sure the door does leak smoke ...but then again so does the top vent.(when smoking run all the vents open about 1/4 ")
my meat gets plenty of smoke with one full pan of chips and a few good size chunks set off to the side of the burnner.

One thing I do is cover the smoke pan lid with foil and just poke a few 3-5 small holes ( about the size of a wooden spoon handle) in the foil covered lid.

Bring your smoker up to running temp with smoke pan loaded with dry chips and or chunks.
plop in you meat and let'er roll.

 

[micker]

I bought the GOSM at Walmart about a month ago. I like it. I suppose the metal could be a little thicker, but I dont have any complaints with it.

 

[vlap]

I looked at the smoker you are showing from Lowes. It seemed well built and I liked the look and feel of it. I maybe tempted to buy one down the road.

On a side note I own one of those flimsy brinkmann verticals. Yes they are flimsy but with one minor mod (charcoal basket) it does cook very well. The major drawback is cooking space. If not for that I would not feel the need to buy another smoker.

 

[pinkmeat]

exactly...

 

[reelkeen]

I have this smoker as well guys. My only complaint is that the wood chunks/chips are burning through very quick. How long do you get out of a tray of chips on this smoker?