Yes that's right Aaron Franklin of the world famous BBQ place in Austin is making BBQ offset smokers.for the backyard cooks..
Starting price is right at 3,000 dollars.
A little small and expensive but what folks buy isn't any of my business.
Not everyone has a welder and machine shop like me or the knowledge to use it.
These are very nice products built by someone that knows what they are doing.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... at--pZe2QV

Nice looking smoker I will say. I'm happy with my 18" Weber Smokey Mountain smoker. Just bought a pork butt this weekend so I'll plan to start the BBQ season later this week.

I like this idea:
https://justtwofarmkids.com/2010/01/16/ ... house/amp/

Cole_Robbie wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:01 pm I like this idea:
https://justtwofarmkids.com/2010/01/16/ ... house/amp/

Great article Cole.
Thanks.

ponyexpress wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:12 pm Nice looking smoker I will say. I'm happy with my 18" Weber Smokey Mountain smoker. Just bought a pork butt this weekend so I'll plan to start the BBQ season later this week.

People will do anything they can to mimic Aaron's BBQ.
Never had it myself and probably won't.
Not paying 20 dollars a pound for brisket.
Also not saying it's not good.
I

I have Aaron Franklin’s book “Franklin’s Barbecue, A Meat Smoking Manifesto”. Never eaten at Franklin’s Barbecue. Not a fan of standing in long lines to eat. Don’t live close enough to Austin just to drop on by. The book describes the several cookers he uses at the restaurant. Also goes into nice detail about building smokers, various types. I’ve got the kindle version, it is an enjoyable read for anyone that’s into barbecue.

Offsets can do more meat at one time than something like my Big GreenEgg or a Weber. Then there’s the Reverse Flow Offset design. Then, I see a lot of fancy trailers sporting big fancy smokers in my area. Thousands and thousands of dollars sunk into these rigs. Tailgating, barbecue cook offs, big gatherings, church fund raising, these rigs are at most everyone. These are cook hundreds of pounds of meat at once deals.

https://www.meadowcreekbbq.com/blog/wha ... ow-smoker/

https://www.thespruceeats.com/barbecue- ... ion-336210

I don’t think the links even cover all the types. Then one can go down the many what to smoke, at what temperature, wood, and for how long paths.

Many People from the feedback I get find Kamodo style cookers like my Big Green Egg daunting, but they couldn’t be easier to control. It’s all about Oxygen control and quality Kamado style cookers are very air tight so easy to make minute adjustments to the air in/air out mix. Air flow along with the nature of the fuel determines the heat produced. There’s even devices that have blowers and food and smoker thermostats and controllers and wireless Bluetooth links to make the Kamodo completely fool proof. Kamodo types retain heat so very well with the air tight thick ceramic construction so there’s no metal box or shell doing what metal does and radiating heat in rapid ways.

I can set my BGE up to do a brisket or whatever and basically walk away until it’s done. No need for the fancy controler if I build my fire right. Never have to add additional fuel or monitor a fire if it’s set up correctly at the get go. My buddy does his 22” weber the same way, but it’s pretty tricky constructing the snake of charcoal and wood to pull off a long cook brisket.

One thing or principle that seems to be in play is how scalable anything is. Some things are easier to pull off if you are cooking for 4 rather than 400. Aaron Franklin is definitely a details oriented guy if the book is reflective of him. I know people that can cook a lot of meat at once, but the quality suffers. Barbecue seems very scalable, but there’s still a lot of details to manage.

Competition barbecue is different than most other barbecue you’d find at a restaurant or home cook. What might win a competition may not be the barbecue you would want to eat. For example, Competition winning ribs are well underdone for my tastes. It’s like dogs, the dog that wins best of show may not be the dog you’d want to take home.

karstopography wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:11 am
Never have to add additional fuel or monitor a fire if it’s set up correctly at the get go. My buddy does his 22” weber the same way, but it’s pretty tricky constructing the snake of charcoal and wood to pull off a long cook brisket.

I don’t find my 18” Weber too difficult to use. Maybe the first couple of times but since then, a breeze. I fill up my charcoal ring. I take enough charcoal out of the middle to form a coffee can and fill my chimney starter about 2/3. Get the starter going. Dump it in the middle of the charcoal ring. Put the smoke wood on top of the uncooked charcoal. Put the smoker together without water in the pan. Let it come up to temperature, put the meats on. Then I probably adjust the vents four times over the course of a smoke. I’ve done pork butts which take close to twelve hours but still have 1/3 of my charcoal left over. I use Weber charcoal briquettes which I have about 30 bags left.

I do have a temp controller and a blower but have not used it yet.

I couldn't agree more on the competition BBQ.
One guy I knew in Lake Jackson did it and his brisket sucked but he won ever now and then.
All I could taste was salt.
Ribs were horrible and don't even think of letting him ruin a steak.
One thing that stands out glaringly at me with the Franklin smoker is the ash dam on the bottom of the fire box.
Total pain in the rear to clean out.
Another seems to be you can't choke the fire box completely off.
I like to shut one completely down and put the fire out.
Needless to say he is going to make bank on the things due to his celebrity status.
I wish him and his family ll the best.

Yep, the door cut should be flush with the fire box base. They make a simple curved tool from the same pipe material that conforms to the fire box pipe so ash removal is super easy. And why waste the remaining charcoal and wood by letting the fire continue to burn once the cook is done? I always snuff out my Big Green Egg when the cook is over, but it has to be deprived of O2 from both ends.

I wonder about the old established central Texas barbecue joints and what they make of Aaron Franklin? My dad always said you had to be either German, Bohemian or African American (maybe not his exact wording) to make great barbecue. Whatever he said, it was meant as a compliment to the people behind the old traditions of great Texas Barbecue.

[mention]worth1[/mention] did you ever eat at Lewis Barbecue in Freeport? I remember as a kid going there off Gulf Blvd. Maybe it was still there when you were in our area.

[mention]karstopography[/mention]
I think I ate at Lewis can't remember because I ate at so many places down there.

I was raised running a wood stove and furnace all my growing up years.
I know how to keep a fire going and even have heat after hours of cooking.
Took a nap the last time and woke up several hours later.
The thing was still cooking away without me fooling with it.

Okay what gives.
These guys are in Lockhart Texas right south of Austin.
Anybody that has even considered Texas BBQ knows about Lockhart Texas.
These offset smokers are an almost exact copy of the Franklin offset smoker.
Not saying one or the other but they are really close in detail.
https://millscale.co/products/94-gallon

Here's the man himself talking about copycat builders.
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/show ... p?t=291279

Rajun Gardener wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:14 am Here's the man himself talking about copycat builders.
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/show ... p?t=291279

I read the whole thing a couple of times.
Spot on when it comes to employee turnover..
You have to have something that can practically cook on its own without months of training.
I've had some really bad BBQ brisket here as tough as a boot and higher than a cat's back.
Aaron in my opinion made a lot of these people step up their game.
My small homemade cooker I can cook killer brisket on.
Nobody else can.