Hello all from Mississippi! I've had a single door Brinkmann vertical water smoker for several years but never could figure out to keep it from ashing out. Fast forward a couple years and I found this website, bought a grill wok, and now am smoking again. I cooked two Boston Butts yesterday and they turned out awesome, the wife and in-laws loved it!
I did have some problems with the smoker. When I first started yesterday, I tried the minion method only to realize that there isn't enough air control with this smoker to have a long, slow burn time. Within a couple minutes of dumping 20 or so briquettes on top of a fully loaded wok, the smoker was at 350 and rising even with the bottom vents completely closed. I eventually had to dump that load of charcoal and start over with only a handful of lit coals and several unlit. I left the bottom vents closed for the entire 7.5 hour smoke and the fire was always around 250.
I've purchased a big green gasket kit and hope to install before the next smoke and was also thinking about trying some high heat silicone in the inside corners to help seal even more. Sorry for thee long first post, I look forward to learning and sharing with everyone here!
JP
I did have some problems with the smoker. When I first started yesterday, I tried the minion method only to realize that there isn't enough air control with this smoker to have a long, slow burn time. Within a couple minutes of dumping 20 or so briquettes on top of a fully loaded wok, the smoker was at 350 and rising even with the bottom vents completely closed. I eventually had to dump that load of charcoal and start over with only a handful of lit coals and several unlit. I left the bottom vents closed for the entire 7.5 hour smoke and the fire was always around 250.
I've purchased a big green gasket kit and hope to install before the next smoke and was also thinking about trying some high heat silicone in the inside corners to help seal even more. Sorry for thee long first post, I look forward to learning and sharing with everyone here!
JP