FEC-100 vs. Backwoods Competitor

Welcome to the CS forum Grux.

I use an FEC100 at my restaurant and while we're not a BBQ joint, I've smoked butts, shoulders, ribs, chickens, briskets, you name it. The simplicity of use is mind boggling simple...load the meat, set time & temp and hit the ON pad.

What you won't get with your Backwoods is a probe/hold feature. I can walk away from butts and/or briskets overnight and return the next morning to perfectly smoked meat resting at 140.

I don't know where you heard about lack of smoke ring...not true. It isn't as pronounced as a stick burner but it's there. Two stage smoking will further increase it. The Cookshack ELECTRIC smokers will not produce a SR.

My advice, pull the trigger. You'll love the FEC.

quote:

Originally posted by MaxQue:
...I don't know where you heard about lack of smoke ring...not true. It isn't as pronounced as a stick burner but it's there.

...The Cookshack ELECTRIC smokers will not produce a SR.

Not to split hairs Max, but you certainly can get a SR with the electric line you just need to burn some charcoal to get the nitrates (but I'll save that for another thread)

Grux,

Yup, it's a common question. #1 issue is which brand of pellets. I teach classes locally and all the time I'm getting comments about "wow, what a SR".

The KEY question is smoke flavor. The #1 thing I hear about is how much or how little or how whatever regarding the smoke. Will it be the same? Don't know. My ideas of Smoke Flavor and yours will be different.

The FE burns cleaner/more efficient so you're always cooking with pretty clear smoke. Almost impossible to get an oversmoked/creosote taste (I don't remember ever hearing that it DOES oversmoke).

Other than that, there are a lot of good qualities and it's a butt cooking machine. KEY is to make sure it's level and the grease drains off.

Thanks for the feedback guys. The more I read on these the more I am liking it. I always make a mess with all the charcoal/wood chunk ash.

How much ash would a load of pork butts produce? And on that same note, how much pellets would it take to do a load of pork butts?

Bear with me... I'm learning as I go.

There may be a Backwoods Competitor for sale rather soon

The FEC100 consumes about 12 oz of pellets per hr at 250 so figure 9-10 lbs for a load of butts.
Using CS/FastEddy pellets, the spent ash from a 12 hr smoke will fit in the palm of your hand

Grux

I live about 15 miles from the factory of Backwoods. Good smoker but can't compare to cookshack!

Around here Backwoods is not the big brand!!

How's this? FEC 100 with Cookshack Hickory pellets

NaughtyNurse:

Now that us really great looking, what time is is dinner! Making me hungry

Great lookin box NN. Did you get a call?

How much would you think it cost in pellets to do a load of pork butts?

Because the FE is so effecient (800 degree insulation) once it comes up to temp and you leave the door closed, it can be very little.

If you buy a 20 lb bag for $15 or less, then you'll talking less than an $1 per hour. Really comes down to how much you pay for pellets.

I don't do the math, maybe someone else has tracked the costs closer.

Cookshack specs state .75 lb/ hr @ 250 o

quote:

Originally posted by MaxQue:
Great lookin box NN. Did you get a call?

Not with that one Dang judges....

Grux: using Cookshacks pellets I figure about $7 to do a load.

I know that we use half to three fifths of a 20# bag of FE 100% hickory pellets at each comp. The smoker is on at 10 and shuts down around 1 - 2pm.

Here's a couple of con's about the FEC. First, it has moving parts and moving parts can and do fail. I haven't had an issue in the 8 months that I have owned mine. Another issue is power. Have a back up plan.

The Backwoods are nice smokers and they don't have the issues mentioned above but they also have their own disadvantages. Sleep, charcoal, etc. I have several "team friends" that use backwoods and while they really like them they eye my FEC100.

Grux,

While I'm not familair with the Backwoods, I can tell you that the FEC100 makes AWESOME pulled pork. The butts are the best and very moist.

quote:

Originally posted by AZScott:
Here's a couple of con's about the FEC. First, it has moving parts and moving parts can and do fail. I haven't had an issue in the 8 months that I have owned mine. Another issue is power. Have a back up plan.

The Backwoods are nice smokers and they don't have the issues mentioned above but they also have their own disadvantages. Sleep, charcoal, etc. I have several "team friends" that use backwoods and while they really like them they eye my FEC100.

If parts are on hand, would it be a quick fix?

Yes, I've been into mine and It's very easy to change controller boards, augers, fans, sheer pins. I would not think any of those would take longer than 20 minutes with simple tools, especially if you were trying to hurry at a comp. The cover is also incredible. Just put it on and zip it up and keep smoking come rain, snow, sleet or whatever. Perfect!

The power is simple. At a contest run a battery/inverter set up. We've got a couple of great threads about that.

The parts:

Most likely to break would be the ignitor. It's sitting in a pot of hot pellets and sometimes they just go. Easy enough to ignite a fire without one with some starter jell or a handheld blow torch. Once the fire is lit, it doesn't use the ignitor.

Next in line: the fuse or the auger pin. The pin will break if pellets get stuck and it sheers on purpose so as not to kill the auger motor. I've never had either one happen.

Controller board? I haven't heard of on going bad. I've heard them go wacky, but a power on/off usually solves them.

What else had gone wrong. Oh yeah, fires. Fires happen because grease fills up, spills over and gets to the fire. Keep it clean and level and you won't have a problem.

Russ