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I passed on a Traeger and built my own offset smoker instead. No regrets after 8 months.

My buddy kept pushing me to get a Traeger for convenience. But I wanted more control over the smoke flavor. So I spent $150 on steel and a welder rental and built a 55 gallon drum offset in my garage. First few cooks were rough, temp swings all over. But after tuning the draft and adding a baffle plate, I got a brisket last month that beat anything off his pellet grill. Takes more work for sure, but the bark and smoke ring are way better in my experience. Anyone else go the DIY route instead of buying a brand name rig?
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3 Comments
finley729
finley7297d ago
$150 is cute but my Traeger holds 250 degrees all day with zero babysitting while I'm at work or sleeping... I'll take the convenience over a slightly better smoke ring any day of the week.
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riley_schmidt
That's the whole 'right tool for the job' thing @finley729, convenience wins every time in real life.
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lopez.simon
That "set it and forget it" mindset is taking over everything these days.
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