BBQ Smokers

[rpm]

Originally posted by Toad
It's not just welding up a couple of boxes with various holes in them.

I agree. A good fabricator can make anything you want. Most commercial smokers are just built too flimsy for my money. You can shoot mine with a .357 and not make a dent.

[Curval]

Originally posted by Toad
Booked a ticket? Nah, don't need to. They throw me in the bag bin if there's room.

Well based on our tourist figures there is lots of room.

Get your butt down here.  You too Rude.

[Creamo]

Won't touch that one Curv...

Only thing I can think of is to get a smoker to ADD to your gas grill for outdoor eats, and for Raub, Toads reccomendation I'm guessing can't be beat.  Smokers just don't replace a good ol' gas grill for normal grilling which you pry will do 95% of the time, but you pry knew that. I didn't.  After spending tons on charcoal and cleaning it for normal cooking on a smoker like Lizking has, I realised you really need both.

[Lizking]

The NB smoker is also a grill.  You can use the firebox if grilling a little, or build fires in the smoke chamber for a big area, plus the plate on top of the firebox is a hot plate for beans.  That said, I had a gas grill for years, and I did use it more often, just because it was easy.

[Creamo]

Of course. I was just trying to use it as a daily grill, which it really isn't. You can't start enough coals to cook for 2 to make it economical, or practical. Damn good smoker though, for not alot of cash. And when you just have to have charcoal taste for burgers, it does double duty, so in that aspect it's great. You just need a gas grill as well, bottom line.

[Lizking]

I always took my gas grill to the NASCAR race at TMS, since it was easy.  In 1999, it was cold at night, so we used the gas grill to huddle around and keep warm(we were also keeping snacks cooking).  We all passed out around 2:00 AM, and when I woke up in the morning (about 7:00AM), the grill was still going.  The cast iron lid was glowing red hot, and the sausages that had been in the grill were small cinders.  There was a 1/2" of ice on the bottle, which was just about empty.  Needless to say, the iron was cyrsalized, and broke that same day.  I left the grill at the track.

[Gunslinger]

I allready have a gas grill so every day grilling wont be a problem.  

I was eyeballin a charbroil "american gormet" or something like that at wall-mart for only $79.99 (exactly in my price range)  any how this one looked like a scalled down version of the 55 gallone drumb w/ a smoke stack, fire box, temp guages, and  wooden tables for prep room.  

anyhow I have the brinkman upright now and its ok its just sooo hard to cook w/ sometimes.

[Lizking]

That's it, Gunslinger.  Char-Broil bought NB smoker so they could use that design.  The difference is only in the thickness of the metal, mine is 1/4 welded plate and that one is pob 18 gauge sheet.  That is a good price for, too.

[Pollock]

Simply the best I have seen and tasted the results i think they are expensive though

http://www.biggreenegg.com/

[Toad]

Originally posted by GtoRA2
Toad
 In the pics above, what is the diference between the green brinkman and the el cheapo?

Here's what I did to my ECB:

Modification 1 - Improve accessibility to the firepan.

Modification 2 - Improve firepan airflow

Modification 2a: - Improve fireplan airflow even more (charcoal rails).
 
Modification 2b - Add vent covers

Modification 3 - Improve accessibility to the water pan
 
Modification 4 - Improve temperature indication

Modification 5 - Improve cooker airflow (top vent & foil).

The New Gourmet Brinkmann has Mod 1; the middle section and up lifts off the base.

It also has Mod 2 and 2A pretty much covered. You can get Brinkmann charcoal rails at Ace Hardware here. I'm not sure if the Gourmet has those but that's Mod 2b and it's only a few $, not work.

Mod 3 is just using a garden water sprinkler to fill the pan through the door. $2 at Wal-Mart.

Mod 4, well Brinkmann put in a better temp gauge, but that isn't saying much considering what they used at first. I spent @ $15 for a good gauge but I wish I had known about the Polder for $30. I would have gone straight to that.

Mod 5 they didn't do, AFAIK. I don't think the Gourmet has a top vent feature. I haven't really noticed that mine helps control the heat all that much but it does help some. I used my ECB for years in "stock" configuration and had great results. So, I'd try the Gourmet without the holes for a while and see. You can drill anytime.  

[GtoRA2]

on my brother in laws we dids mods one through 3 and it seemed to work real well, I could reproduce those mods on my own in about 20 minutes hehe.

Thanks Toad!

[ygsmilo]

The right tools make the job easy:

Smoker:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tour.html

Gas Grill:

http://www.beefeaterbbq.com/


Charcoal grill:

http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/charcoal/

My Weber Bullet is 7 years old, the Weber Kettle is at least 10 years old.  Rude turned me on to the Beefeater 2 years ago.

[Sixpence]

Ok, where do you get a "how to" for the mods on these smokers?