FEC100 vs Amerique

I've owned a number of CS smokers over the years, including both that you've mentioned. My 1st FEC100 was purchased for my restaurant and not long ago I sold my AQ so as to buy an FEC100 for the house. Having the ability to augment capacity at the restaurant was a major factor.

The Amerique is a top notch smoker for the backyard BBQ enthusiast. It provides a bit more smoke flavor vs the FEC and is very economical to operate. OTOH the FEC is competition legal and has a higher heat range, if needed.

If I had to choose one over the other, it would be a difficult decision...wish I had both but in the long run I'd take the FEC over the AQ.

I agree with Max wholeheartedly! I have both smokers. I purchased my AQ first and loved it, then I had the opportunity to buy an FEC. Well long story, short since I got the FEC I have only used the AQ a few times. Both are great and you would love either one, like Max I prefer the FEC. Both have advantages and different smoke profiles. Like you said, the AQ will smoke at a lower temp while the FEC is hard to keep at temp below 180*. The FEC will go to 425* and the AQ only goes to 300*.

I am in the process of picking a smoker. I have pretty much narrowed my selection to the Amerique or the FEC 100. I plan on using the smoker for home use and am interested in making smoked sausage on occasion.

So...i have heard that smoking sausage links is best done at a temp around 160 to 170 degrees. Does this mean that I should lean towards the Amerique if I want to occasionally smoke sausage?
Or...is the FEC100 versatile enough to handle smoked sausage?

(btw...this is a great forum!!)

STxBBQMAN,
The Amerique will do just about anything you want it to do, including easy cold smoking with the baffel(although Mr T has shown that a FEC100 can cold smoke). If the cost difference is not the issue, a question you need to ask yourself is how much you will be smoking at one time. An Amerique has plenty of capacity for you and your neighbors. A FEC100 is a nice smoker, it is much bigger and I've found for me it seems to works best with larger loads rather than smaller loads. It will maintain a 160-170 degree temp after its initial warm-up period where the temp will get higher due to its differing start-up process, but excess heat can be dumped by a few open door swings. Also think about where you will be storing the smoker as there are big difference in sizes between the two. The Amerique will allow you to control amount of smoke flavor easier by how much wood you put in it. With a FEC100, you get what the pellets produce. If you buy an Amerique, consider purchasing Cookshacks storage cart for under it to get it up off the ground more - easier clean-up the higher up it is. Whichever you choose, both will produce great food. Cookshack produces geeat smokers!!! Good luck.

Thanks for the info.

I kept reading about the various Cookshack products and decided that my heart lies with the grill and smoking meat would be a sideline. I ended up ordering a FEPG 1000 so that I can get the best of both worlds. I may not be able to smoke much sausage on the FE 1000 but I will get 99% of my cooking done on this grill.

Thanks again for your input.