challenges with Brinkmann Square vertical smoker

[timleo]

@timelo 

what's the purpose of the labyrinth?  What are some of the other mods you made?  I've got the grill wok,  I'm going to set out after my morning round of golf to find a new thermostat and meat thermometer.

instead of lighting all of the charcoal at once, I light the charcoal at one end of the labyrinth and let the fire work it's way to the other end.  Only a few coals are lit at a time and the temperature runs quite a bit cooler.  Also, the coals last longer.  It can hold temp at 250 to 275 for three to four hours with out messing with the fire.

Another mod I made is to add 1/2 inch of concrete board to the outside of the box that acts as insulation...it holds the heat in for a long time.

 

[nightwatch]

Im new here, my Wife just found one of these in a garage sale and bought it for me. Is there a way to fit a Turkey or two Beer Can Chickens in these? This smoker seems a bit small, I may be wrong though. Do I have to have a charcoal pan or can I put them right on the bottom of the smoker?

 

[rustywedges]

Night Watch - I wouldnt put the coals directly on the bottom of the smoker.  I would think that you would eventually start to inhibit air flow to the coals. 

the smoker is on the small side but you should be able to adjust the height of the shelves to give you enough clearence.

Timelo - I'm going to have to work on the labyrinth and add the concrete board.  I'm having trouble getting the temps up.  Im averaging around 210-215.  I dont think its necessarily a bad think but I was hoping to keep it around 235.

This pic was taken about 10 minutes after I let the coals.  I was amazed at the difference in temps.

 

[flash]

 Filled the water pan with beer

Sacrilege, Sacrilege. 

Your suppose to drink the beer and put water in the pan.

 Just how much charcoal did you use? Maybe you can cut back some.
 

 

[flash]

Night Watch - I wouldnt put the coals directly on the bottom of the smoker.  I would think that you would eventually start to inhibit air flow to the coals. 

the smoker is on the small side but you should be able to adjust the height of the shelves to give you enough clearence.

Timelo - I'm going to have to work on the labyrinth and add the concrete board.  I'm having trouble getting the temps up.  Im averaging around 210-215.  I dont think its necessarily a bad think but I was hoping to keep it around 235.

This pic was taken about 10 minutes after I let the coals.  I was amazed at the difference in temps.

If you guys are just lighting all the coals at once, there is your problem. Read up on the minion method and do that. If you still end up running too hot, reduce the amount of coals, but only do that after adjuster you air flow.

 

[rustywedges]

I'm definitely going to have to read up on different methods of lighting the coals and whatnot.  I had a helluva time keeping the smoker in the 225 -250 range, and I went through way more charcoal then I thought I'd have too.  QView coming real soon.

 

[nightwatch]

Well I cranked her up for her maiden dry run to see what she could do. No water in the pan. I do have a charcoal pan (unmodified). I used a full chimney and to cut corners I just started a couple of briquets with my gas torch. It took about 45 min to get hot and the temp gauge showed just shy of about 300 deg(290-295). It lasted about 45 min before it started to go down. I think if I was doing an actual smoke I should be able to keep the temp the same by adding a piece of coal here and there. I think if I was to do poultry the Lump coal should give me some hotter temps. I will have to investigate the minion method. All I can say Im pumped do do my first smoke, and Im pretty happy with this for only being out 10 bucks lol. Im at work and I still smell smoke.

 

[jrod]

I think I will be trying the Minion Method for my next go. Will update when I can. ;)

 

[smoke_chef]

I have this smoker and love it. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's to small. I started out having some of the same problems above and made my own charcoal basket. You can read about here:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/64025/new-no-weld-charcoal-pan-for-my-ecb

It works great!! I've used it for at least 20 smokes. Some very long butt smokes. Some high temp poultry smokes. The metal hasn't even started to look like it's breaking down. It's holding up like a dream. I haven't made any other mods and I hold temps just fine.  

Hope this helps someone.

 

[flash]

Well I cranked her up for her maiden dry run to see what she could do. No water in the pan. I do have a charcoal pan (unmodified). I used a full chimney and to cut corners I just started a couple of briquets with my gas torch. It took about 45 min to get hot and the temp gauge showed just shy of about 300 deg(290-295).

Remember that the water in the pan does help regulate temps. I forgot to put water in the pan one time and came out to 325º on my smoker. Once the water was added, it dropped back to 260º. Sometimes when it is really cold out, I use playbox sand instead of water. When using charcoal it will allow for higher and more constent temps.

 

[billy48]

just purchased one myself and found i could only get temp up to 185-200 .also used quite a bit of charcoal. i used water in the pan i feel i'm doing this the wrong way . do you keep the vents open or closed to build temp and do you keep adding lit charcoal or unlit any help would be great . made a rack of bb and they came out pretty good but took longer than expected .

 

[smoke_chef]

Hi Billy,

   I had issues at first with this smoker too. The charcoal pan just wasn't working for me. I first tried drilling holes for better air. Still didn't help. Then I made a brand new one from scratch. It was a super easy build and has made all the difference in the world! Now I love my smoker. It's just to small. I posted a thread to the mods I made above. Give it a try and you won't disappointed. Now, I light a chimney of charcoal. Stabilize at 225. (with the water pan full) Add my meat. Usually that drops the temps to 200 or so. No problem. I add maybe 3 small chunks and a small wood block for smoke. At this point, all four vents are about half open. The temp climbs back to 225 I close the bottom vents to about 80 - 90 percent closed. Then every thirty minutes or so, two or three chunks depending on their size. Then repeat. I have found that after about two hours I need to add more water. Also, I take this time to pull the charcoal basket all the way out and give it a good shake. Now I have a clean basket with lit coals. I keep water right by smoker so it's at outdoor temp to start with. In the winter I keep water on top of the smoker in a pan so it gets heated some. Between opening the big door to do my mopping or spraying what ever meat I'm doing and adding new water, the temp can take a hit. But, not to worry. The coals left in the basket are now burning very efficiently because there are NO ashes in the basket. Plus, I might add 4 or 5 chunks at this point. Another block of smoke wood or two. The temps are back in the right area in no time. As you can see, I tend my fire about every thirty minutes or so. Some may see this as "to much work". I see it as the reason I bought a charcoal burning smoker in the first place. If I wanted to set it and forget it would have got a propane smoker. The above method gives me consistent temps, TBS, and an awesome product pretty much every time. Like I said, I love my smoker. I just wish it were bigger. Btw, I pretty much stick with the 2-2-1 for BB's.

Hope some of this helps.

Smoke_Chef

 

[billy48]

Thanks for your helpful tips .going out today to look for a new tray. when you talk about chunks are you using charcoal briquets or lump . thanks again .

 

[buffalobob52]

I also have the Brinkmann vertical charcoal smoker.  I posted on the pork forum on my first smoke of ribs.  I did the pan mods and had quite a problem maintaining temp.  After awhile the coals would smother in the ash and I was constantly emptying the pan and putting in fresh coals.  So I had a gilling basket for my grill, about 13" sq. and 4" deep.  Similar to the baskets described in the posts before this.  I used Kingsford competition briquettes and I had the same prob. of way to much heat.  To much coal and airflow. Both bottom vents closed and both top vents open along with the door.  Temps would spike up to 290. I was doing a brisket this time, 6#'s.  If I got the temp down in a range Iliked, 220 or so, and put on a soaked hickory chunk, as soon as the hickory caught fire the temp went way up.  Anyway I ended up constantly fiddling with the thing every 20 minutes or so.  I took the brisket out after 5 hrs and finished it in the oven.  It came out very good and I will post some pics on the beef forum later in the week.

I think what is needed is a basket for the coal that hold about the same amount of coal as the original pan but the coals need to sit on a grate to allow the ash to drop away.  The grilling basket holds way to much coal and is so big that if you spred out the coal you lose heat o fast.  I have a portable grll cvalled a pyromid.  Not made anymore but is designed to hold oly 9 briquettes and will grill for about an hour.  I am going to try it in the smoker next week, load it up with about 15 briquettes and se what happens.  Will post results and pics next week.

 

[smoke_chef]

Hi Billy... I always use lump. I have found that it works way better for me. Good luck looking for a new tray. Keep us posted on what you find.

 

[buffalobob52]

Sorry, no pics yet.  I have not got that part figured out yet.  I did 2 test runs using my pyromid grill to hold the charcoal briquettes instead of the standard pan.  The coals sit on a grill and let the ash fall away. You can do a web search for pyromid and see what I am using. I just use the 2 pyramid shaped sections.  Today I started with 24 briquettes.  Both intake vents closed and exhaust vents open.  After about 10 min. I opened 1 intake 1/2 way.  The short of it is that I was adding 10 coals every 1/2 hour or less and adjusting the one intake vent once or twice in that 1/2 hour to maintain a temp of 220' + or - 15'. The second intake remained closed for the entire test.  For the last time I added fuel I used 15 briquettes and was able to maintain the temp range almost an hour.  I only ran the test for 3 hours.  It is 3:00pm now, I started the test at 11:30am and added the last 15 coals at 1:15.  At 2:20 the temp was at 204' and dropping.  It is at 157' now. I was able to reduce the extreme spikes in temps but short of reducing the fuel amounts and adding fuel more often I do not think you can get much better fuel control.  I was using Kingsford competition briquettes.  I am going to try the grilling basket again using the above quantities to see what difference there may be.

Hopefully pics are coming.

 

[billy48]

Bob- what do mean by adding fuel. I found a new tray in Lowes. IT's the same tray i seen on this post. only 4.99 . cant wait for the weekend to use all these helpful hints' going to keep it simple and try some bb's.

 

[sandtazam]

I have the same meter. Its done some strange things like reading different temps from the one in the smoker to the recieving one. It's kind of a PITA but all in all a good unit. I especially like the dual zone feature.

 

[buffalobob52]

By adding fuel I mean I have to add additional charcoal briquettes about every 1/2 hr.  I found that if you add to many coals you just get high teperatures and then you spend all your time opening vents n doors to get the unit cooled down.  I am going to try something tomorrow.  I picked up some expanded metal screen/grate material from Home Depot.  A 12" x 24" pc. was $10.00.  I cut a 9 1/2" diameter circle section and put in into the original coal pan. Keep in mind that I drilled air holes in the bottom of the pan already, I am going to drill several more in the sides below the screen.  This will give me about a 1 1/2" space below the screen for ash to collect. I do not think it will improve over what I just posted but if it works it is a simple way for anyone to duplicate the results.

 

[billy48]

cant wait for tommorrow will be doing some bb's . I hope all the tips and tricks  i've learned here help . i'll keep you posted.   may need some advice as i go along.