# REVIEW: Just purchased the Old Country Smokehouse....I love this smoker.



## Diehardmason (Apr 6, 2018)

I don’t see many reviews of the smoker I just purchased so I’ll give one in hopes it may help others. 

This Smokehouse is actually a great smoker build. The indirect heat from th bottom based firebox is a neat design. Almost no chance for char/burn from imcorrect placement of tuning plates used in offsets. 
The water pan on this thing is huge. It holds 3-4 gallons of water and helps with the heat/smoke flow to the outer edges of cooking chamber.  It gets to a rolling boil above 225 and does a great job of regulating temp.  Did a brisket and didn’t have to fill it but once. 
The cooking racks are large and the anti tip tabs are great. I think i can fit 12-18 pork roasts if i needed to. I know i can do 12 decent sized Boston butts after putting this brisket on. 
The smoking chamber has a good seal. I did see some leakage along the bottom of the door, but, nothing significant. And it was only during low heat heavy smoke applications. Otherwise the only smoke was out of stacks. 
The fire box is large and holds a ton of ash. I’ll clean the ash out over the weekend but it shouldn’t be difficult. The actual heat tray is just as large as the cooking greats with 5 rows of 3 slits cut in it. I didn’t have any problem producing heat but would’ve preferred a heavier expanded metal grate. It would be impossible to run charcoal on a long smoke. Too much area in that box. I used one split every 45 minutes or so at lower temps <190. For temps >190 more than one split will be required. It eats up wood but is easy regulate temp with dampener. 
The two stacks are huge. I left both of them fully open the entire time. Not sure how effective they are when closed. 
When heat gets cranked up the firebox door can be difficult to turn the lock due to metal shrinkage due to high heat but a quarter turn is just as good as a full turn.
The casters are nice but full sized wheels with casters would have been better to move around yards to get to backyard for most people. They do work well though. 

The Smokehouse has a small foot print but is 6’ tall and ways around 400 lbs. Getting it transported and in place took a little effort but it wasn’t too bad.


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## Gwanger (Apr 6, 2018)

Diehardmason said:


> I don’t see many reviews of the smoker I just purchased so I’ll give one in hopes it may help others.
> 
> This Smokehouse is actually a great smoker build. The indirect heat from th bottom based firebox is a neat design. Almost no chance for char/burn from imcorrect placement of tuning plates used in offsets.
> The water pan on this thing is huge. It holds 3-4 gallons of water and helps with the heat/smoke flow to the outer edges of cooking chamber.  It gets to a rolling boil above 225 and does a great job of regulating temp.  Did a brisket and didn’t have to fill it but once.
> ...


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## Gwanger (Apr 6, 2018)

Nice smoker and nice smoked meat,nice bark, looks outstanding,If i can ask, who sells those smokers,I really like it. the water pan right above fire box would realy help with temp control, I also like the three  thermometers one at every food level,Have you had to calibrate those thermometers yet.Are you able to hold 225*-250*.I like the small footprint but the weight of that smoker would make it hold temps better.


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## Diehardmason (Apr 6, 2018)

Gwanger said:


> Nice smoker and nice smoked meat, looks outstanding,If i can ask, who sells those smokers,I really like it.



I purchased mine at academy sports.  They make a line for Academy and make a line for general public directly from them. http://bbquepits.com/


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## Gwanger (Apr 6, 2018)

Diehardmason said:


> I purchased mine at academy sports.  They make a line for Academy and make a line for general public directly from them. http://bbquepits.com/


If the smoker is as heavy as they say,1/4in. steel I would have to sell wife to cover shipping costs,I did not see your model on ad. I like yours,I don't need trailer mounted,but nice to dream big.


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## SmokinAl (Apr 6, 2018)

That is a great looking smoker!
Al


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## Smokehouse Smoker (Jun 4, 2018)

I've had mine for since Nov 2017, totally love it and it holds a lot of meat, if needed. I usually use water every time and nothing has ever been dry. One tip, make sure the water pan in centered. I cooked about 40 wings a few weeks ago, didn't realize the water pan was pulled all the way towards the door, creating a cool spot in front and extra hot across the back side, burnt most the wings towards the rear. Used a Smoke thermometer and of course stuck it in a wing in the front. Other than that, its been working like a champ.


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## mike243 (Jun 10, 2018)

Looks like it works very well,Did you cut your brisket with the grain instead of against ? wondered if it made it less tender when eating without getting the meat to the mushy point


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## Diehardmason (Jun 13, 2018)

mike243 said:


> Looks like it works very well,Did you cut your brisket with the grain instead of against ? wondered if it made it less tender when eating without getting the meat to the mushy point



With the grain. There was no noticinle difference to me.


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## KrisUpInSmoke (Jun 13, 2018)

I really like the style of that smoker. 
Also, where is it made? I tried looking it up, but can't nail down an answer.


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## Diehardmason (Jun 13, 2018)

KrisUpInSmoke said:


> I really like the style of that smoker.
> Also, where is it made? I tried looking it up, but can't nail down an answer.



It’s made somewhere in south Texas. There is another post on here so,where that gives all of the info. I’ll try to find it for you.


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## KrisUpInSmoke (Jun 13, 2018)

Diehardmason said:


> It’s made somewhere in south Texas. There is another post on here so,where that gives all of the info. I’ll try to find it for you.


I can look here, thanks. I had looked online, Google search. I figured since you had the product, it would be printed on there somewhere. I read a couple months ago of one company that moved manufacturing overseas and I can't remember which, name sounded familiar, so...Texas?...I like it!


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## Smokehouse Smoker (Jul 10, 2018)

KrisUpInSmoke said:


> I really like the style of that smoker.
> Also, where is it made? I tried looking it up, but can't nail down an answer.


Academy Sports, Dallas it's called a Smokehouse by Old Country


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## Smokehouse Smoker (Jul 10, 2018)

Smoked 5 turkeys, largest 23lbs, tasted a whole lot better than being smoked on my old Brinkman Smoke-N-King, used mainly hickory on this smoke.[/ATTACH]


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## Griz0146 (Aug 28, 2018)

KrisUpInSmoke said:


> I really like the style of that smoker.
> Also, where is it made? I tried looking it up, but can't nail down an answer.


They are made in Mexico but owned by a company in south Texas


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## petehalsted (Aug 29, 2018)

Looks like a heck of a smoker, and you seem to be putting it to good use. I agree seems the heat tray should be expanded metal, you get a lot of ash trap with just the slits but I guess if your burning splits and adding every hour, you can knock shake it a bit and get ash to fall and of course you have less ash to deal with with splits anyway.

If you really want to try with charcoal, Google 20/20 basket. It will show you how to use a piece of expanded metal from lowes/hd to build a charcoal basket. You would fill it up and use the minion method, but I think you would need to remove that heat tray and have legs elevating the basket, or replace the tray with an expanded metal one to have the right airflow and ash dropping with charcoal. that 3 gallons of water would also take quite a bit of charcoal to get up to temp I am guessing. If you are happy adding splits every hour definitely keep doing it that way, many will tell you you get the best Q, but you had mentioned charcoal, so just give you some thoughts if you want to sometimes fill it up and let it run several hours on its own.


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## jervid (Sep 5, 2018)

so i've been following this thread ...and went to Academy Sports website had the smoker late last week ..was sold out online by Saturday and now it's totally off their site...i'm totally bummed ...


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## gmc2003 (Sep 5, 2018)

Looks like a nice smoker and sounds like it does a great job. I'm sure your write up will help someone out whose looking for a vertical smoker. Nice Job.

Chris


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## RiversideSm0ker (Sep 5, 2018)

That is an impressive smoker. Congrats to you.

George


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## AmazonDon703 (Feb 1, 2019)

How's the smoker treating you?  I'm probably going to pick one up at my local academy in a couple weeks.  Looking forward to it.


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