Brinkmann Smoker Modifications

Being the cheapskate that I am I was largely disappointed in my searches for a smoker. Decent smokers like the Weber Smokey Mountain run over $200. And a good offset smoker can cost upwards of $1000. Little out of my price range... In talking to folks that smoke quite a bit I learned that Brinkmann makes a very inexpensive entry level smoker, the Smoke & Grill. I found mine at Walmart for $28. Now we're talking. However in reading and talking to others it seems that this model has changed over the years and is not a good as it once was and needed a few modifications to work as well as it's more expensive peers.

What it lacks out of the box:

1) A decent temperature gauge. The one it comes with just has three readings: warm, ideal and hot. Not sure what you're supposed to do with that.

2) An easy way to add fuel. The access door in the side give you a minimal view of the fire pan and you have an almost zero chance of adding charcoal anywhere except right by the door.

3) Vents for the charcoal pan. This is big because you have no way to regulate heat and the lit charcoal is largely starved for oxygen the entire cook and can produce some smoldering and unpleasant smoke. Not good flavor.

Modification to solve the above:

1) Installed a Grill Master temperature gauge with 10 degree increments from 50 - 500. Drilled a 3/4 inch hole on the side just below where the top grate fits to give an accurate reading of my smoke temperature. Works extremely well.



2) Installed the legs on the outside of the grill instead of the inside like it's designed for. This allowed me to put legs on the charcoal pan and makes for easy access as now I can just lift the whole unit off the free standing pan to check on the fire. For the legs of the fire pan I used 1/4 inch threaded rod cut to 9 1/2 inch pieces. It's fashioned on the pan with nuts on top and bottom of the rim. It's a little flimsy but holds nicely.



3) For airflow and control I drilled 1/2 inch holes (6 of them) in the bottom of the fire pan to allow air to get into the fire and ashes to get out. To facilitate this I also bought a 10 1/2 inch grill that fits inside and rests 1 inch from the bottom. To control airflow as well as temperature I cut 2 strips of aluminum approx 1 inch wide and 9 inches in length and then attached them with a single bolt/screw. This allows me to open and close them during the cooking process to bolster or choke the fire as needed.



Lastly, although not a modification to the smoker but an essential tool is a meat thermometer with remote probe. Stick the probe in the meat and you can monitor the process from 3 feet away and know when it's done. As things never cook the same duration every time it's essential to knowing when to take the meat off.

First Smoke

After weeks of reading and finally buying and modifying my new smoker (more on this later), I've finally smoked my first meat! The easy to smoke and not screw up whole chicken. Two actually.

Process:

1) 10pm the night before I brined the chicken in a Coleman cooler. Ingredients:

1 gal water
3/4 cup table salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup soy sauce

Above mostly stolen from here.

Then I added a bag full of ice and just laid the whole bag on top and let it sit overnight (10 hours)

2) 8am, pulled chicken out of cooler and let sit on counter to come up to temperature

3) 830am, started a chimney full of Kingsford charcoal

4) 9am, added a chimney (approx) of unlit charcoal to charcoal pan of smoker as well as a couple chunks of cherry wood (not soaked). Dumped lit charcoal from chimney on top. Foiled the bottom of the water pan and filled with plain water. And finally, put chicken on the top rack of the smoker.

Temperature 250 - 290

5) 10am, brushed Italian dressing on outside of chicken to keep skin moist

6) 1030am added 6-8 new charcoal chunks and a fresh piece of cherry to fire and shook pan to clear ashes

7) 12pm (3 hours in) internal temperature on one bird was 180 and 172 on the other. We're done.



Lessons learned on first cook:

1) Don't try to adjust too many things at once, wild swings in temperature result from too much fiddling. Adjust one thing at a time and wait 15 minutes.

2) Don't throw a new wood chunk directly on the side where the thermometer is. The resulting flame skews the reading and makes for a panicked BBQer when the thermometer reads 400.

3) Brining is key, makes for a great tasting finished product and allows you to screw it up slightly and not notice.