Serious Hobby Chef / Brand New to Smoking

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culverin

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 30, 2014
2
10
Hi there,
I’m looking to get into smoking, I’m starting from zero and willing to learn.
I’m a pretty serious home hobby chef
I have tackled some fairly large projects as well as more detailed ones.
http://instagram.com/ronsarlo

Moving to smoking doesn’t so much scare me off much, I know you guys are here as a resource :)

I do some pretty ridiculous community dinners and some of my friends are helping to invest to get me the proper equipment.  In exchange, I’ll be able to feed them smoked goodies of all sorts.

I’m looking for some thoughts and recommendations into different smoker models.
Building something isn’t out of the question, but I’d rather just throw money at this and get up and running quick.

Type:
I’m looking to do both hot smoke and cold smoke.
I want ribs, brisket and pulled pork.
Lox style salmon, bacon and cheeses.
I will be grinding my own meat and making sausages too.
Am I sacrificing quality by getting 1 machine that can do both hot and cold?

Capacity:
I am likely going to be feeding 20-40 person meals in the foreseeable future. 
I also want to be able to crank out the bacon come Christmas time.  Is 6-8 belly per batch reasonable?

Ease of Use:
I’m new and I learn quickly.
But I still don’t want to have to fuss with it.  Ideally, I can load it up with meat for a hot smoke and I won’t have to touch it.  Mostly set it up and forget about it.
Cold smoke would be nice if I can just leave it running overnight while I sleep.

Durability:
I’m in Canada, this may sit outside, I will definitely keep it covered, but in a moist climate.
Do I need to worry about rust?
Are electronics a necessary evil?

Thanks guys!!!

Hope I can learn quickly and contribute back to the community! :)
 
p.s.

I learn quickly.
I also intend to scale up my operations too as I improve.

No point in getting something I'll just need to replace in a year or so.

I'd rather just spend a bit more and have something that my skills can grow into.

thanks again!
 
Hello and welcome from East Texas, I am a stick and charcoal burner, have an RF  so you do have to spend time watching it. There are a lot of members who cold smoke and a lot of electric and pellet smokers so someone should be able to help you.  Good luck

Gary S
 
I would recommend a large cabinet electric smoker. I use a cookshack at work. Smokinit has some nice smokers as well.

To cold smoke I'd just put a amnts or amnps for my smoke generator.
 
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