Charcoal grill/smoker recommendations?

lol I like how they're holding the dogs back from attacking the smoker
Looks like those are naked ribs, no rub at all?
Interesting, I've thought of trying a rack "barbarian style" but haven't been able to resist gilding the lilly.

hell YEAH!
What is that about 4lbs worth of cow? Where'd you get it?
Looks like the bottom is a bit rarer than the top (I like my roast pretty rare, looks great) did you not touch it for the whole time?
What sides and any dip (aus jus, horseradish, nuttin etc)?

My wife is having a party at our place tonight (all girls so until they start the lingerie pillow fight I'm holed up in the office) and earlier today I made an El Rey run: barbacoa and birra tacos, rajas tomales, guac, beans and mexican rice. I'd love to try roasting a goat some day but am big enough to realize that I'll probably never be able to top a real pro like they clearly have at El Rey....

 

OK all you smokers are surely prepping for the big day tomorrow.... be sure to have your camera ready for documentation.
An 18lb monster bird is chillin in the fridge to be broken down and put on the smoker tomorrow around noon with 2 extra turkey thighs and a lb of hot italian sausage.
Made up the cranberry sc w/ mandarin orange last night and will be cooking up greek-style green beans while the smoke works it's magic. Wife, sis and friends will be taking care of the other sides and deserts.
This guy goes into great detail on smoking turkey, much of which I'm ignoring since I'm taking the easy way out and cutting the bird apart instead of smoking it whole, but still good reading:
http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/chicken_turkey_duck/ultimate_smoked_turkey.html?utm_source=2012-11-12&utm_campaign=Nov+2012&utm_medium=email

Gonna be a FEAST, oh yeah!

 

Rigged up a double-decker rack so everything can fit.
Temp slowly coming back up, will try to stabilize it at 225F with the help of my Sour-Patch kid loving nephew.
T-minus 2.5 hours till smoked turkey and sausage!
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Semi-successful turkey smoke: even though it was a relatively warm day yesterday and I used plenty of charcoal (and a number of chunks of hickory) I had trouble getting the temp up to even 200 on the 'hot' side. This was probably due in part to the large tray of water (with lemon and spices) I put under the meat, but still after an hour or so this should have come up.
Anyway after 3 hours of "cold" smoking finished the pieces for ~30 minutes in the 325F oven along with the stuffing and yams.
That brought the center of the breasts from ~140 up to my goal of 160F and the drums&thighs up to ~165F, pretty much perfect.
There was enough food for 20; since we had only 10 there are tons of leftovers that I can't wait to hit again.
The wife's boudin & cornbread stuffing was the star of the sides, also very good black eyed peas, greek style green beans, cran sc, hot italian sausage and whipped yams.
The gravy was one of my best ever: browned the turkey neck and back with onions and garlic then deglazed with veggie stock and a couple ladles of juice from the greek style green beans. After straining and a bit of reduction stirred in a couple tablespoons of butter&flour rioux. Light & fresh taste yet sumptuous and deep, went just as well on the dressing as the turkey.

After a FULL plate of all don't know how I fit in a piece of pumpkin pie and another of mixed berry tart with a cookie crust....
Lots to be thankful for!

So Mark, how was your seriously un-american, but surely phenomenal osso bucco?
Bird come out tasty Vincent?
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She's doing great IMO.
Always keep her covered and the only rust was a bit on the surface of the firebox's cover that I sanded down and shot with some BBQ paint. It's a flat surface so even a little bit of water can collect there. If I was really anal about it could cover both the firebox and searing station lid with tin foil between uses to keep water off, may do this for the winter.

The whole structure is still very tight and solid. Using LocTite on all the bolts during assembly didn't hurt.

I've been meaning to install the 3 new gas burners, valves and knobs ($45 direct from Smoke Hollow) since the original ones got pretty torched when I let it go too far before cleaning out the grease, but other than needing to start them with a goose-neck lighter they still work fine so no rush.

Wish the searing station was a few inches wider and had 2 IR burners instead of just one (would make searing more than 2 little, or 1 big steak at one time possible), and the smoker's cover-seam, lower damper and charcoal-tray adjustment lever allow more smoke leakage than I'd like, but except for this last time didn't have trouble getting it up to 225F.

So 1.5 years, ~12 smoke sessions, ~5 direct charcoal, 25+ gas grill and ~12 searing station uses later I don't regret the purchase at all.

Will do.
It was pretty breezy Thursday but over 50F so scratching my head why it wouldn't get up to temp like it did in the past with the same amount (about 1.5-2 full chimney's worth, roughly constant for 3 hours) and type of charcoal (mix of Kingsford regular and Mesquite). Starting with hot water in the drip pan would have helped a bit but probably not THAT much.
The ~16lbs of turkey wasn't quite room temp at the beginning but I did leave it out on the counter all morning after breaking it down and rubbing with oil&spices so wasn't that cold.
The air temp coming up the chimney was ~185F, but the Tell Tru thermo (right over the water pan and close to a big turkey thigh) never got above ~180.

While it's a little troubling, can't complain at all about the results. The dark meat was awesome, the breasts about as juicy as white meat can be, and the smoke flavor was just great. The final 30 minutes in the oven did extract more juices than I wanted but all the meat was VERY tasty overall.

Here's what about 1/2 of it looked like after the oven
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Jimi - very nice!
You were able to get the smoking section up to 400F burning just wood in the firebox only? Impressive.
What temp and how long on the ribs? Did you wrap them at some point?

BTW I installed a tel-tru thermomether next to the one that came with my smoker. Got it on Ebay for $20 or so:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=140653918&postcount=87

It's NOT outdoor smoking weather in WI, but doing a 5lb pork shoulder in the slow cooker today for the wife's birthday dinner. Trying liquid smoke for the first time, along with a bottle of local beer, onions, carrots, garlic, S&P and some nice store bought BBQ sauce.
At $1.49/lb it's a damn good cut of meat, have to do more shoulder once temps get more reasonable outside...
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