SMOKERGEAR
Low and slow, done right — smokers, thermometers, and the gear behind great barbecue.
From planning cook times and internal temperatures to estimating wood and fuel, dialling in a brine, and scaling a rub, SmokerGear pairs free hands-on calculators with clear, gear-focused guides. Know your equipment, hit your temps, and cook with confidence.
BBQ & Smoker Gear Calculators
Free tools for smoking day — smoking time & temperature, meat doneness temperatures, charcoal & pellet burn-time, smoking-wood amount, brine ratio, and a dry-rub scaler.
Smoking Time & Temperature Calculator
Estimate cook time and rest for brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, chicken, and more from the cut, weight, and smoker temperature — plus the internal temp to pull it.
Meat Doneness Temperature Guide
The target internal temperature for every level of doneness — steaks, BBQ brisket and pulled pork, poultry, pork, ground meat, and fish — in °F and °C.
Charcoal & Pellet Burn-Time Estimator
How long a load of lump, briquettes, or pellets lasts at your pit temperature — or how much to load for a target cook, with a reserve.
Smoking Wood Amount Calculator
How many hardwood chunks or handfuls of chips to have ready, based on your smoker type, cook length, and how heavy you want the smoke.
Brine Ratio Calculator
A wet brine from your water volume and target salt strength — salt by weight and by the spoon, optional sugar, and a suggested soak time.
Dry Rub Ratio Scaler
Scale a balanced all-purpose BBQ rub up or down with the ratios locked — by batch or by the weight of meat you're seasoning.
Museum of Barbecue & Fire
Wander an immersive, richly illustrated collection — the history of barbecue around the world, the craft of smoking and curing meat, the grills and smokers that cook it, and the fire, wood, and charcoal at the heart of it all, each in its own gallery. Every entry, image, and fact is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
Tour the museum →From the Journal
Gear-focused guides on choosing a smoker, the best wood for each meat, why a good thermometer matters, seasoning and maintaining your pit, managing temperature, and the tools worth owning.
How to Choose a Smoker Type
A practical guide to picking the right smoker for your fuel preference, budget, and how hands-on you want to be, from stick burners to set-and-forget pellet rigs — plus what it actually costs to run one.
The Best Wood for Each Type of Meat
Which smoking woods pair with beef, pork, poultry, and fish, why intensity matters more than trendiness, how to avoid the acrid flavors that come from the wrong choices, and how much wood a given cook actually needs.
Why a Good Meat Thermometer Matters
Cooking by time and touch is guesswork; cooking by internal temperature is barbecue. Here is why the right thermometer is the highest-value tool in your kit, and the food-safety facts a thermometer is the only reliable way to confirm.
Offset vs Pellet vs Kamado: Which Smoker Is Right for You?
A head-to-head look at the three most popular smoker styles, comparing flavor, convenience, fuel cost, and versatility so you can match the machine to how you actually cook — with real burn-rate and wood-use numbers.
How to Season and Maintain a Smoker
How to burn in a brand-new smoker properly and keep it running clean for years, from the first oil coat through ash management, gasket care, cross-contamination habits, and off-season storage.
How to Manage Smoker Temperature
Master the airflow, fuel, and thermometer fundamentals that hold a smoker steady at 225 to 275 degrees, learn techniques like the Minion method and reading thin blue smoke, and understand the safety reasons behind the numbers.
Keep Learning
Plain-language reference on the gear and craft behind great barbecue — smokers and grills, thermometers and tools, wood, charcoal and smoke, and the cuts and methods that tie it all together — everything you need to go deeper with confidence.
Visit the Learn hub →