# Barrel House Cooker



## mrmerck (Aug 11, 2019)

This post is for anyone thinking of getting into smoking with charcoal and might be looking for an affordable option. A friend spotted this drum smoker in the local Walmart on clearance and purchased one. He later visited another location and found one for me.

For those who have not heard of Barrel House, it is very similar to the Pit Barrel Cooker.Basically we are talking a man made UDS ( Ugly drum smoker) that allows you to smoke meats by either hanging or setting the meat on a fixed rack. 

I digging around I learned that Barrel House and Pit Barrel were involved in a lawsuit involving patents over the design of the 2 cookers.

I have model 18C... I use Kingsford charcoal but I`m sure lump would work just fine. The unit comes with a charcoal and I use my Weber charcoal starter when I fire up the unit. You control the draft with a metal pull tab at the bottom of the unit. The tab has holes in it and the instructions tell you to pull it out until the holes match the elevation to where you live. My experience is that I tend to tinker with the pull tab during the smoke to raise or lower the temperature to my preference. I can get about 8 hours of smoking out of a full basket of Kingsford. 

The unit comes with a thermometer that is mounted on the lid of the unit.

As mentioned, you have the option of hanging meats with stainless hooks that come with the unit or there is a fixed rack that sits within the heater. I cook a lot of ribs and prefer hanging. My unit is tall enough that I can hang a full rack vertically. It comes with like 8 hooks so you can probably cook like 4 racks of ribs at once. Obviously the more ribs you cook the longer the cook time.

Cooking time... The draft tab controls temps but the unit is versatile enough to smoke anywhere from 225 to close to 400. One thing I really like is that I can smoke ribs between 275 and 300 degrees. Depending upon the size of the ribs , they are usually done in around 3 hours of cooking time. Use your meat thermometer or preferred method to determine when your meat is done.

Conclusion... I feel like this smoker is great for anyone looking to use charcoal from beginner to more experienced. It`s a great alternative to the Pit Barrel Smoker or the Weber Smokey Mountain. You van go online to the company website for all types of accessories from covers to drumstick racks, etc.


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## drunkenmeatfist (Aug 11, 2019)

mrmerck said:


> I digging around I learned that Barrel House and Pit Barrel were involved in a lawsuit involving patents over the design of the 2 cookers.


From what I have read the BHC makers basically stole the design from Pit Barrel Cooker. BHC lost the suit and now have to pay royalties to PBC. The PBC is veteran owned and has a strong following. I believe some people would avoid the BHC if they knew the backstory.

With that being said, I did not know the backstory and I picked up a BHC on clearance for $45. I really liked drum style cooking and after a few months I upgraded to a Hunsaker drum. I think the BHC is a good little cooker and would be great for people just starting out. The Walmarts in my area did not carry the BHC this year. Instead they have the OKJ Bronco drum. They started out at $300, but are already marked down to $184. 

I would definitely say that $184 for the OKJ or $300 for the PBC would be money well spent. OKJ apparently just came out with a 55 gallon version that sells for $700. At that price I would say to just go with a Gateway or a Hunsaker.


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## JWFokker (Aug 14, 2019)

OKJ is likely made in Mexico or China, and build quality is worse than the previously mentioned competition. But it is cheaper.


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