Pit Barrel Cooker Baby Backs vs SS Electric smoker

[smokeasaurus]

It is charcoal vs electricity!!
Used Pit Barrels most excellent Meat and Game rub on -5- racks of baby backs.
-4- racks in the Pit Barrel and -1- rack cut in half (for comparison) in the electric smoker.
The Tex got one small hunk of pear.
The Pit Barrel Cooker got one large hunk of pear.......catch ya in -4- hours!!

[muebe]

Should be interesting

[smokeasaurus]

OK...the ribs in the electric smoker were cooked for a total of  4 hours 15 minutes and were basted at the 3hour 45 minute mark and were not bad but not very tender.
I gave a couple to an unsuspecting neighbor and he said not bad.


The ribs on the Pit Barrel were basted at the 3 hour mark and pulled 40 minutes later. I then gave the now not so unsuspecting neighbor a couple of ribs off of the Pit Barrel Cooker.


He ended eating a whole plate full!! Ladies and Gentlemen there is NO way an electric smoker (at least the kind I use) can give you that old fashioned Grandpa pit flavor...the Pit Barrel delivers that in spades!! The ribs were moist and very tender and there was still a slight tug off the bone. The flavor is just indescribable!! The chunk of pear burned completely but the flavor is just as awesome as with straight Kingsford!!

Mama says she doesn't want anymore food off of the electric and for me to exclusively use the Pit Barrel for smoking....a decision that I had already made!!!!

[sparky]

ribs looks really good.  nice color.  do you have a pic of a whole rack.  did the bottoms get cooked more than the tops.  i'm really liken that pit maker cooker.  it cooks differently than a drum but it is a drum.  i really like the hanging idea.  really easy, no turning or flipping. 

[muebe]

Smoke it is obvious from the pics that the ribs in the electric smoker did not pull away from the bone on the ends. What temp did you set the electric to?

The ribs from the drum look more done to me and this may have added to a dis-advantage for the electric.

[teesquare]

The electrics have very small air intake ....So - they cannot evaporate moisture like many other types of cookers. That would be my thinking as to "why" the ribs from the electric did not contract.

[mikecorn.1]

How far off the bottom or away from the charcoal were the ribs while they were hanging?

[Pappymn]

I have found this thread and the other on this new pit type. Very interesting. Keep it coming. Something about hanging meat over a heat source brings out something primitive.

[smokeasaurus]

The electric smoker was set for 225. I don't have a picture of the whole rack Sparky but I can assure you that the bottoms of the rack were as nice as the tops of the racks were. It is amazing how nothing burns hanging over the coals! I just checked the cooker cause I am sacking out and I noticed that there isn't an ounce of grease on the bottom of the barrel..it all dripped on the coals!!

My electric smoker will now only be used by my gal...I see no reason to never use this barrel when smoking meat!!

[Smokin Soon]

That is impressive! I don't understand how the lower parts would not cook faster, but 'ol smoke has gone through more pits than most of us, so I'm a believer!

[TentHunteR]

Nice comparison and report!  Those ribs off the pit barrel even look a little better.

Mama says she doesn't want anymore food off of the electric and for me to exclusively use the Pit Barrel for smoking....a decision that I had already made!!!!

Oh man, I hope you didn't tell her that!  Play it up with something like, "You know, Sweetie, If it makes you happy, I'll do it," and score some points!

[smokeasaurus]

I was kinda going over this post and I changed the Mfg name to just electric smoker.

In the spirit of this forum, I felt I should not have used the MFG name because that is not what we are about.

So, to all owners of the Smokin-Tex, I apologize, it is a darn fine smoker and this was just a comparison.........

Smoke