Need Help on Pitmaker

[tahoewrbs]

I am looking at the Pitmaker Vault and and the Pitmaker Safe. I am looking to do competitions as well as personal smoking. If anyone can give me some advise if it is worth paying the extra 650 for the vault. Thats the difference if I was to get safe on cart. Thanks in advance for your help!

[BluDawg]

Two ways to look at this.
How much room do you need for your largest cook, and will the larger pit pay for it's self over time in selling product?

When in doubt always go bigger; Better to have it and NOT need it, than to NEED it and not have it!

[Hookin' Bull]

When in doubt always go bigger; Better to have it and NOT need it, than to NEED it and not have it!

Ditto. I am happy with my Safe but only cook for friends and family.

[3 star redneck]

Neither one I would go with the R&O Fatgirl....the price of the Safe but the size of the Vault......I an hook you up...and better quality

[Boots]

+1 on bigger is better. You can always cook less but you can't cooker more.

[Tuck]

Neither one I would go with the R&O Fatgirl....the price of the Safe but the size of the Vault......I an hook you up...and better quality

1+

[jumbo]

Safe allegedly has more even temps. I loved mine (on wheels) but hauling it to comps was a pain in the arse. My .02

[Texas BBQ Syndicate]

I chose the safe because, I knew I was also getting the long Sniper for volume. If you are going to trailer mount then get the Vault, but if its going to stay in the backyard, you have to think of the logistics of doing comps. Vaults are very heavy.

[Texas BBQ Syndicate]

Neither one I would go with the R&O Fatgirl....the price of the Safe but the size of the Vault......I an hook you up...and better quality

Justify better quality?

[Wreckless]

I am an offset fan, thought i would disclaim that first. If i were to go vertical, Pitmaker all the way currently, the larger of the two. George and Victor personally showed off there wares at a comp recently. I was more than impressed. These guys know there stuff and their cooker was impressive. I believe Jose from Pits by JJ is is dabbling in this as well and I like Jose personally soo.. Guess I would stop and chat with him as well. I prefer honest businessman with love of the craft and Jose is that. just my $.02 worth

[CrazyD]

I went with the Safe cause I mainly cook for family and friends and if i dabble with comps it'll be more then enough room to cook what i need to compete.

I went with pitmaker mainly cause they had exactly what I was looking for, at a price I was looking to spend, and their customer service was OUTSTANDING!

[RWBTEX]

If I recall I think the safe wont quite hold the trays you buy at Sams but I may be mistaken, maybe it was the small Backwoods I'm thinking about. The safe is more than plenty of pit for comps too. I am an offset fan too but its really hard to argue with the ease of cooking on those Pitmakers, so little fuel and effort and they still put out championship contest winning bbq. I will be building a clone or just buying one real soon.

[*SL*Celaya]

Like the others have said, you have to look at how much you want to cook. The Vault can cook a lot of food with ease. But if your not looking at doing big cooks on it, go with the safe. Like some one said earlier, the vault is freaking heavy. So you might want to think of how you plan on using it, at comps, it is a pain in the rear to load and unload. The thing weighs 925 lbs. I have talked to a guy who uses a vault and uses a winch to help them get it up on a trailer. If you are even thinking of mounting it on a trailer, I would go ahead and do it. Get them to mount it. I own one and love mine. Im still having to get used to the vertical style and using the water pan and what not, its a lot different from a offset smoker like I started on. Overall love the quality, and love the customer service at Pitmaker. I looked hard for a while, and it was a tough choice between the R&O fat girl and the Pitmaker Vault. To me the quality was in the vault. Nothing against R&O, because their offset smokers look and from what Ive heard cook awwesome too!! Hope this helps!!

[doctordun@yahoo.com]

Just placed an order for the Safe/Grill-Meister Combo.
My old smoker/grill is on it's last legs.

Can't hardly wait. Should last me for the rest of my life.

[firecracker]

I too am looking to possibly purchase a Pitmaker Vault. Since there are several of you who have them, how much lump does the firebox take, what kind of cook times are you getting (I have a BGE and have cooked 18 hrs. w/10# of lump w/ using it all) and how many pork butts can you get in the Vault? I usually cook the butts for 15 hrs on the egg and can cook 4 at a time.

This will determine what I get as I will need to cook for appx 300 in October.

Thanks for your feed back.