Review - Dusty Moose 47cm Charcoal Smoker - A smoker made for Australians

[Sarcastic_Smoker]

Hey. So happy this post of my got some more replies. Glad to see others have tried out the Moose.

I've done like.... 15+ smokes with mine now. It's still holding up! I've smoked turkey, chicken, bacon (Turned out more like ham haha) brisket, even a beef top roast cut.

Will be firing it up again this weekend for some more chicken and maybe even a lamb!

Anyone know how to edit a Post. I labelled this smoker as 43cm. It's 47!

All fixed up.

Thank you!

[peersy]

This is an excellent review. Thank you, just made my decision between a WSM and Dusty Moose!

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

[Beefcurtains]

So is the dusty moose better in any way than the Weber Smokey mountain?? I’m trying to understand why the Weber is almost 3 x more expensive?

[Lovey]

So is the dusty moose better in any way than the Weber Smokey mountain?? I’m trying to understand why the Weber is almost 3 x more expensive?

Do you mean 'is the Weber Smokey Mountain any better than the Dusty Moose?'

Weber has been around for ages, they designed the product which has since been widely copied. They use top notch materials to make a high quality product. If you get the chance to touch and feel a Weber product, then do the same with a 'copy' version, you'll see that there's a vast difference in the quality and feel. The lower the price of the copy, the bigger that difference will be.
Weber Australia also has one of the most outstanding customer service reputations that I've ever heard of. A search of this, or any other Aus BBQ forum, will show a lot of glowing reviews of their after sales service. That level of services is not cheap to maintain though.
At the end of the day, they will both do the same job and turn out great food in the right hands. The difference in price would certainly get you a lot of accessories and ingredients for a great BBQ experience.
Good luck with your decision and welcome aboard.
Steve

[Kevwing]

So i've used the dusty for a few times now.

I started using lump charcoal and it is really hard to control..
It starts giving off white smoke if i close the damper vent at the bottom at 50% and then when i give it plenty of air it gives me blue smoke but the temperature isn't rising for some reason..
Only way to maintain is to keep feeding coal into it. my guess is, you can't put as much charcoal in it vs briquettes.

Anyone else had any luck with Heatbeads Lump Charcoal for smoking on the Dusty?

Might go back to Briquettes where it was more consistent

Unsure but how do people find the smoker after 8 hours?
I'm thinking about putting a butterfly vent at the bottom, sealing lid, door and adding gaskets to the Dusty moose.
I think it is quite sturdy and strong overall
However,i need to add coal around 6 hours and sometimes i feel like maybe it isn't getting enough air or needs more control.

Won't lie, but haven't had many good outcomes from the Dusty but mostly because of user error.

[Davo]

Kevwing, it takes some time to learn to use any smoker and what will work for a WSM will more than likely work for your Dusty.

I've never seen your BBQ in the flesh so it's hard to tell on what it's like inside, all smokers leak at some point, you could add some gaskets around it but smoke will force it's way out somewhere, only need the tiniest of gaps, even Weber Kettles leak smoke and their lids seem to seal quite well...so I wouldn't be too concerned. I take it that the Dusty is a water smoker?
The idea is that the water helps with temp control as well as mixing with the smoke to penetrate into the meat to keep the surface of the meat dampened and that aids penetration and helps to create that lovely smoke ring too.

Do you know how to use the minion method with using fuel for your smoker,,you place some wood chunks on the bottom laid around evenly in a pattern, you pour unlit coals in and around all those wood chunks until covered, you light up a chimney 3/4 ful of hot coals and pour over the unlit, you then place the water bowl where it's supposed to go and fill it with warm to hot water from tap....needs to be filled right up the top but make sure no water goes onto the coals....then complete the set up of your smoker including lid and wait for temp to ride towards 220F or around 110C, close all vents 100% until temp stops rising and begins to decline a little then open top vent fully and bottom vents about 30%, chuck 2 more smoking wood chunks ontop of hot coals...you only need a small wisp of blue smoke coming out...you are then ready to place your food on the grate.

Small fluctuations of temp rises are ok even up to 270F so don't be alarmed, if you see it going too high, close bottom vent to 10% open, if you see it going down, open bottom vent up more.

It can take up to an hour to set up your smoker for a session before it's stabilised enough for cooking...

Anyway try that...this is the method I used for WSM, hope it works for the dusty.

Cheers

Davo

[Kevwing]

Thanks Davo

Yeah i've been testing back and forth for a while now. Probably on to my 5th brisket.

I always use the minion method

I found using Heatbeads Hardwood is hard with this smoker it burns so hot and quickly but comes out with a cleaner fire found it quite hard to control.
Also found that temperature control was much harder than charcoal beads. I could probably keep it consistent for 4-5 hours max before i had air circulation issues( design of the smoker), 6-7 hours max with charcoal beads.
I found that the build up of all that charcoal ash stops a lot of air circulation and it just loses heat. Then i have to babysit it for a long time.
I bought a 6-7kg brisket the other day and spent 12 hours managing it.. the point came out spot on but the flat was a dud.

I used the oven the other day to test it but sadly, i used a new brand of charcoal beads i had lying around and it tasted a bit chemically.

Unfortunately, haven't made a perfect brisket yet.

Still waiting for a good deal on a WSM also