What kind of smoker is this?

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:08 am

Adding this forum is rather timely. I have been wanting to get in to BBQ but frankly don’t know much other than one of your main jobs is to maintain temperature. Cammy brought this smoker home that use to be her grandpa’s. Figure I would clean it up and see if it can get me started in this world of BBQ. First thing I noticed is no thermometer. What is a good way to monitor temperature? Can I add a thermometer. I do have a remote controlled digital meat thermometer that I use in my mashtun sometimes. I think it will be helpful to tell me when I am done, but as I understand it I need to monitor the temperature of the smoker. Thoughts, advice?

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:39 am

What does it say on the side? This looks like an old school smoker/grill. I expect it has a charcoal pan and water pan inside correct? If it's there's only a charcoal pan I'd say its just a charcoal grill.

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:55 am

The way that lid fits is very similar to a brinkman style. But that is awful short for a smoker. Your meat is going to be pretty close to the coals. I'd have to see the inside, to get a better feel for it.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:07 am

I need to take a closer look but I think there is a charcoal pan right under the water pan you can kind of see in this crappy picture. It is a very old smoker. May just need to go buy something but if this one would work, I would clean it up and use it. At least it gets me started.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:08 am

I couldn't decipher what it said on the side. It was too worn.

Post by **JimPotts** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:18 am

I had one that looked like that, but the charcoal pan sat underneath (between the legs).

In any case, it appears to be a "bullet" smoker.

-Jim

Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:12 pm

I see. Yes, the water pan is going to sit on tabs or something inside. Then your charcoal pan will sit between the legs, and the water pan will provide the "indirect" portion of your "indirect heat". It is gonna be a bitch to maintain temps, as the bottom is wide open. I had a similar smoker a long time ago. Mine had two racks. The concept is the same though. That is definitely a brinkman.

tony b · Post by **tony b** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:02 pm

Redi-chek makes a dual remote temperature gauge - one for the grill, one for the meat. I have one. They are fairly cheap ($50-60). The single gauge ones (meat only) can be had at Bed, Bath & Beyond, but I don't recall ever seeing the dual unit ones there, but you could check. Otherwise look on-line. They also go by the name "Maverick."

Steven P · Post by **Steven P** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:07 pm

http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-ET-7-Rem ... 336&sr=8-3

$37 free shipping

tony b · Post by **tony b** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:17 pm

That one is dual MEAT probes, this is the one with one grill temp and one meat temp -

http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Industri ... pd_sbs_k_2

This is the one that I have.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:40 am

I may have to get one of those thermometers. I use a single probe that is just like those to keep an eye on my mash while I am tending to family duties. I will clean this old smoker up and give it a try sometime. I anticipate I will get a better smoker in the near future. If anything, it will be a decent portable grill. I think it may be big enough for a baconator.

hoboscratch · Post by **hoboscratch** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:03 am

I started out with a Brinkmann and with some easy mods got it to be a pretty solid little machine. 3 important things I did to it (you pretty much have to do all 3 or none):

1) address the single vent hole in the bottom. To regulate your temps you need to be able to adjust the flow of air. I took an old pickle jar lid and bolted it to the bottom, so I could slide it over the hole to limit airflow. Generally once I had it dialed in, I really didn't have to mess with it much. If I recall, it was about 2/3-3/4 of the way covered.

2) Install a grill vent in the lid. I found an old grill with a vent in the top, took the slider piece off of it and cut holes in my lid. Then installed the slider to the lid and now I had temp control at the top and the bottom. Last part though, because the lids on these don't fit snugly...

3) whenever I used the smoker, I would take heavy duty foil and line the top edge of the drum so when I put the lid down, it would be as close to sealed as possible. That made sure that my newly installed vent at the top was actually doing the work.

Once I did those 3 things, that Brinkmann made as good of BBQ as I was able to do on my Weber Smokey Mountain. The nice thing about the WSM though, is all of that is built in at the factory, its heavier duty, and larger. I ended up buying a Tel-Tru bbq thermometer that would screw in almost perfectly into one of the vent holes of the WSM. If you got a Weber grill vent to install to the lid of this one, you could probably achieve the same without having to drill another hole for a probe thermometer.

Matt F · Post by **Matt F** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:09 am

Cool. Thanks for all the advice. Pretty sure I have a vent from an old grill laying around somewhere. I am going to try to fix this one up since it is in my garage and will let you know when it is ready for use.

tony b · Post by **tony b** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:40 am

Definitely want to check it out once you've got it up and going.