bar-b-chef offset smoker

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jmedic25

Meat Mopper
Original poster
OTBS Member
Aug 25, 2006
242
10
North Georgia
Hey all new to the fourm and the smoking thing. I just bought a bar-b-chef offset smoker. I cant find any info about it. What yall think about it if it's a POS or not. I thought it was nicer than the Char broil or the Brinkman offsets. Bigger firebox and heavier gague. Just wanted some opinions. I will happily write a review and post some pics if somone has'nt already

Thanks
Justin
 
Ok since no one replied than I guess not many people have this thing well here It is and I'll write a review when I get a chance to cook a few things.
 
Looks like a well designed rig! Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m sure that will be more than sufficent for all your needs in the world of smoking. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not familiar with this model but I have read itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s well thought out with minimum alterations necessary. Enjoy, Throw some meat on that thing! And let us know how she does! With some pictures and your tale of smokery!
 
I'd like to see one of them in person. I have to say that I sure wish my Brinkman had the warming shelf on the top of the firebox like that. How does the size of the cooking chamber compare to the Brinkman? I know firsthand you just can't get enough goodies in a Brinkman offset. At least not the Pitmaster Deluxe like I have. That was the number 2 reason I ordered a GOSM.

What did the Bar-B-Chef cost? I will be looking forward to a review of your smoker.

I really would have liked to stuck with charcoal/wood offset but can't justify cutting loose of the $750 to $1000 it would take to make a worthwhile upgrade over what I have at the moment.
 
I have an offset smoker .. it's a char-broil .. Works well and I've had no problems with it so far .. I think I paid under 150.00 for it. The only problem I have is that I don't have alot of room because I have to use the smoker on my small porch where I also have a weber grill. so the space is limited for me and the neighbors are close seeing how I live in the city and when I fire up the smoker I usually get company <the neighbors> asking me what am I cooking and gee that smells good. I have offered my services to smoke some meat for them if they were interested, but no takers as of yet.. I'd like to hear what you have to say about that smoker at some point I will upgrade. I do like the looks of the box looking smokers the ones that look like a safe.. Like the one Monty has .. there is one other problem I have with this type of smoker .. not enough room to do a large smoke. depending on the cost I could make my own out of 1/4" steel but I'd never be able to move the sucker. I've rambled enough ... a guy has to have a dream ya know . lol

Joe
 
This smoker cost's 200$ + tax. The place to get it is BBQ galore. Wait until they have a sale. The cooking area is 767 sq inches. there is two levels you can cook on. I have seen it on amazon but with shipping it would be like 350$ There is a bbq galore 20 miles from my house. It is made out of all 12g steel this sucker is very heavy.

My review chapter 1. This rig comes packaged in two cardboard boxes one containes the firebox. The other the smoker body, wheels, legs, tray ect.. I was able to assemble in about two hours nothing fancy. By the way this is my second smoker i've got a brinkman vertical water smoker. The things I dont like so far. No grease drain. The firebox lid handle gets fairly hot during use. charcoal grates sit too low they need to be raised or fire will choke out on long burns from ash. Shorter burns would be fine.
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You guys let me know what else you want to see. What do ya'll think Ive only cooked leg quarters on it so far and they turned out good. Slightly over cooked but I'm learning.
 
I just noticed we have another user Medic, who just posted in the welcome forum about his wedding gift, which is the same smoker as yours.

So it looks like shortly you two will be our resident experts on the bar-b-chef!!
 
Yep, I've got the same one. And I agree about the low firebox grate. I smoked a turkey for about 9 hrs and the charcoal was already choking itself out on ash. Then again, it was a bargain store-brand charcoal. I'm going to use name brand and see if it burns cleaner. Otherwise, I may try bricks or tiles to raise the grill. Otherwise, I was very happy with the BBchef. It serves this rookie well!
 
Yeah....Ditch the El Cheapo charcoal... Use some lump it is hotter and cleaner. Bricks.. Good Idea! :) Hey BBQ blues I think were the only two in the U.S that have this rig... Congrats on getting hitched.. I just had my 4 year anniversary.
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I'm putting 4 chickens to brine early Saturday AM. Gonna have em for dinner... Im following the recipe on SM.COM so I'll let ya'll know how they do. Wish me luck
Justin
 
Congratulations guys .. Ive been married to my wife for a whole 3 years now.. The kids are all in thier 20's and moved out..



Joe
 
Looks like overall it is a little better set up than the lower end Brinkmann offsets. They also need to raise the fire grate or have an ash removal tray of some kind. Most features you showed are a better idea than the Brinkmann in my opinion. The grease hole (or lack of) would be easy to remedy. It is just a hole with a damper vent basically in the lowend jobs, so you guys could drill a hole and cure that pretty easy.

Does that firebox load through a door in the top and or a door on the side?
 
Ultramag... Yes there is a firebox door on the side. Also there is a lid that opens the top of the firebox. They say that you can grill on the firebox upper grate that i dont even use.
 
When you raise your grate, forget the bricks, they work but also take up too much space where ash could fall away from the fire. Here is a super easy fix that I saw somewhere and it works like a charm. Go to Home Depot, buy (4) 1/2" stainless steel carriage bolts about 3 inches long, (8) stainless washers to fit the carriage bolts and (8) stainless nuts. Put one nut and one washer on each carriage bolt, spin the nut on about 1 inch, slip the bolt through your fire grate near the corner, slip on other washer and nut and tighten. Repeat this for all four corners and your grate shoult be off the bottom of the firebox without having bricks under it.

BTW, this is not my idea, I saw it somewhere else and just copied it on my BBChef
 
I thought that I was typing out my direction so well. I can't ever figure out what someone is talking about without a picture either. OK, here they are, and before anyone gives me a hard time - yes I used galvanized bolts, however I burned all of the zinc off of them before using them. I used a mapp gas blow torch.

From above
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Looking at the cooking grate on end
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Hope this helps if you are still confused let me know and I will take better pics. It is raining outside right now so I was in a hurry.

Jamie
 
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