# New to smoking - Brinkmann Electric Smoker



## coreyc (Apr 3, 2012)

I have wanted to get into smoking for a while and a Brinkmann 810-7080-4 Gourmet Electric Smoker and Grill Red came up on my local classifieds for $30, I couldn't pass it up. I know it is not the favorite smoker of people on this forum, but it is what I have for right now. 

So now I am headed down the path to get my smoke on. What I am looking for are some tips, tricks, advice etc to get started. I am planing on smoking a butt soon. 

I read that the Brinkmann can run hot so I purchased a controller to allow me to turn down the heat. 

What else do I need? What should I do next?

Thanks

Corey


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## deltadude (Apr 3, 2012)

I know a couple of people that have had ok success with that brinkman, given it's limited capabilities and capacity.  This electric forum has some mods for the brinkman you will have to go back 2 or 3 years to find them.  Most the general concepts regarding smoking meat apply, so just find something you like and learn, you could take the SMF e-smoking coarse.  A valuable resource are state BBQ associations, several are loaded with how tos lots of recipes and techniques.

gl..


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## peebee (Apr 4, 2012)

Coreyc said:


> I have wanted to get into smoking for a while and a Brinkmann 810-7080-4 Gourmet Electric Smoker and Grill Red came up on my local classifieds for $30, I couldn't pass it up. I know it is not the favorite smoker of people on this forum, but it is what I have for right now.
> 
> So now I am headed down the path to get my smoke on. What I am looking for are some tips, tricks, advice etc to get started. I am planing on smoking a butt soon.
> 
> ...


What kind of controller are you using to turn down the heat?  If it's a PID, then you're golden (and then some...that'd be a pretty great little smoker with a PID controller on it, but...at 1.5x the cost of the smoker itself?), but if you're using something else, please make sure it's designed to handle the wattage.

Overall, it'll be a solid smoker for you.  It'll take quite a while to come up to temp when you have a lot of cold meat in there, but all said and done, it'll get there, eventually, and churn out quality meat.  You'll have to babysit the chip pan, or find a way to use something like the AMNPS, but I'm sure it'll do well by you.

Best of luck with your new smoker!


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