Barrel Cookers

[LostArrow]

Myths about Horizontal cookers/ smokers
they take too much effort & you can't get a good nItes sleep.
You can't control the temperature .
To get one to work you have to spend a fortune or be a mechanic or engineer.

I've been cooking on cheap barrel smokers for almost 40 years , it's the only cooker at hunt camp & I have one at home. Over time & stealing oops learning from the ideas of others I've found easy fixes to the problems.
I can get 8 + hour burns on both barrels either indirect or using a fuse burn with a heat shield. Indirect requires a charcoal basket & a fire brick & the heat shield requires HD pans ( cheap) & fire bricks. With the  shield method you don't lose cooking area but you vaporize the meat drippings, with indirect you get only the meat, seasoning & smoke.
You can't control the temperature
Well there are higher temp swings than automated cookers but my cookers may range from 200F to 300F but on a set & forget cook are largely between 225F & 275F
I don't think it makes a significant difference in that range.
3) good cookers are too expensive.
The cooker at deer camp we made & my barrel was about $250 10 years ago.
Sure I've modified, I'm a tinkerer, but barrel cooker need a lot of airflow, it's ok if they leak like a sieve.
A good CHEAP cooker for someone looking to go retro would be a Chargriller Outlaw.
A charcoal basket is easy to make , pans & firebricks are cheap.
LostArrow cooker


Home cooker using fuse




Home cooker using indirect
Wood is buried underneath charcoal & lit in one corner

[smokeasaurus]

This post brought a tear to my eye. I have cooked this way for a long time and sometimes I sure miss it.  :'(

It looks like your home pit has an adjustable charcoal grate, and if that is the case, do you have it at the lower setting?

and

I take it you can always use it for a big ole grill?

[teesquare]

Not to dispute anything you say LA...but - it ain't the cooker...it is the cook. And - I think you could cook good on a hot rock - using a prism to focus sunshine on the meat

[TwoPockets]

Not to dispute anything you say LA...but - it ain't the cooker...it is the cook. And - I think you could cook good on a hot rock - using a prism to focus sunshine on the meat

While he holds a beer in one hand and scratches Lucy behind the ears with the other.

[hikerman]

Not to dispute anything you say LA...but - it ain't the cooker...it is the cook. And - I think you could cook good on a hot rock - using a prism to focus sunshine on the meat

Good post LA
And I couldn't agree with you more T. My Italian grandma, rest her soul, had a very small arsenal of cookware in her kitchen. At first because of necessity, later because of comfort/sentimentality. She could have gone "modern", but chose not to because one of the ways she expressed love was thru her wonderful culinary delights, which she shared with everyone. And that for her required a "process". Great memories were the reward of her "process".
So, in a long-winded response, the way we do things is every bit as important as what we do. A lot of times, the easier, modern ways of doing things just don't seem to reward us with a great deal of sentiment or pride.
 Cheers, Gene

[teesquare]

Nice story - and a GREAT POINT! Gene.

Because most of us here are not paid to do our cooking - it is the love of it, and all things connected to it that make it such a compelling hobby. And - those "things" are always memories of friends and family. Good times.....good times indeed.

[muebe]

I think the complaints and problems apply more to off-set barrel smokers. Those are the ones that look to be easy to use but are actually very not easy to control and require a learning curve.

When someone who is interested in getting a smoker and has zero experience gets one it usually ends up for sale after a month or two.

[sliding_billy]

I for one enjoy the "challenge" of the offset.  Sure, there are times when I want to sleep through a cook.  That's what my WSM is for (it is as close as I can get to set it and forget it and still feel like I have given some effort towards the cook).  There are also times when I want to eat at a restaurant or even cook in the oven.  For me though, tending the pit is still what gives me joy.  When the meat comes off of at the end of an overnight cook, and I stink to high heaven like the smoke (and have got a little bit of choppy sleep at best), I know I have accomplished something.  Thanks for the post.