# Brinkmann Smoke N' Pit - freebie



## squished (Apr 10, 2012)

Hi all, newbie here, both to the forum and to smoking.  I fish (maybe too much) and therefore wanted a way to smoke some of my catch (bluefin tuna, bluefish, mackerel, etc.) as well as various meets.  A friend of my uncle was going to throw out this Brinkmann Smoke N' Pit.  It was well used but I was confident I could resurrect it.  I took it home and did some various mods to it based on the DIY stuff I found on this forum and others.  I don't have access to a sheet metal bender or fancy tools, so I did it with what I had on the work bench and what was available at Home Depot or the local auto parts store.

Installed 24" 3/8 threaded rods to raise the cooking grate.  The overhang in the front will double as my shelf support.







Extended the chimney with a 3" x 12" exhaust tailpipe extension.  Cut to fit with a sawzall, set with a sheet metal screw.






Built a baffle with two pieces of precut Home Depot sheet metal, 12"x18" and 6"x18"






View from the offset box.  Replaced all the hardware too as it was rotted.






Built an expanded metal grate for my lava rock.  More 24" threaded rods.






Propane kit installed.  Bayou Classic 0-10 PSI Adjustable (From Amazon)







Bayou Classic BG10 Burner (From Amazon)






Close up of where the hose meets the burner.  Note the two additional 1/4" holes for air vents






Sealed all gaps with DAP high heat mortar including offset box, baffle, and exhaust.






Lava rock poured in with cast iron skillet for wood chips






That's it for now.  I'll get the dual thermometers installed today.  Not pictured is an oven broiler plate that i converted into my tuning plate past the baffle.  On my test run with fire, it worked great.  Temperatures hit 300 degrees when I wanted them to so I'm confident I can get this thing at a steady temp for extended periods of time, especially with the propane.


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## bamafan (Apr 10, 2012)

Welcome to the forum. Lot of helpful folks on here and great ideas recipes to try.Nice looking rebuild. Used one of those brinkmans for a lotta years myself. Nice repairs/mods to put it back in service. Now some pictures of it going with some meat!


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## squished (Apr 10, 2012)

BAMAFAN said:


> Welcome to the forum. Lot of helpful folks on here and great ideas recipes to try.Nice looking rebuild. Used one of those brinkmans for a lotta years myself. Nice repairs/mods to put it back in service. Now some pictures of it going with some meat!




That will come this weekend!


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## tyotrain (Apr 10, 2012)

Welcome to SMF its nice to have ya.. There is lots to learn  and great people to learn from.. Have fun and Happy smoking..


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## squished (Apr 10, 2012)

Man Law Glow in the Dark thermometer







2 installed on each side of the lid







Installed 8 firebricks, 6 to the right, 2 to the left







Finished product







Did a quick test run tonight.  With the firebricks, it takes quite a bit of time to heat it up to 200+ degrees, but once it's there it holds steady.  My assumption is because it takes the bricks a while to heat up.  The most interesting thing was that even after I shut off the propane, the pit held and amazing amount of heat for 30+ minutes, again probably due to the brick.

More pics this weekend when the meat hits it.


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## squished (Apr 13, 2012)

Two ~4.5lb pieces of pork(bone in) now marinating ready to hit the smoker tomorrow morning.  It will be my first time smoking, so hopefully they turn out decent enough to eat. I trimmed a bit of the fat but left the cap in tact.  Face down, cap up at 225 degrees for 5.5-6 hours or until 195 in the middle.  That's my plan (at least from what I read).  I'm using a 50/50 blend of Hickory and Apple for the wood.


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## squished (Apr 14, 2012)

First smoke went OK....definitely need to seal the lid better, I was losing too much heat through the cracks.  The propane burner worked out awesome.  The pulled pork was delicious, but definitely room for improvement on the rubs.  The kielbasa was amazing.  The venison was out of this world.  Here's some pics of the pork:


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## squished (Apr 8, 2013)

Time to revive this.  I'm looking for some help on converting this over from propane to natural gas.  Here's my plan:

1.  Remove the BG10 burner and regulator

2.  Replace BG10 with Low pressure cast iron burner from Agri Supply (http://www.agrisupply.com/low-pressure-burner-cast-iron-70000-btus/p/40282/&sid=&eid=/)

3.  Use Hurricane Natural Gas conversion valve (http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HURRICANE-NATURAL-GAS-CONVERSION-VALVE-P2214.aspx)

4.  Connect Natural Gas and use!

Anyone see any issues with this?


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## smokenado (Sep 25, 2013)

Hey I'm doing the same conversion just wondering looks like you got a lot of galvanized steel in there if so that would worry me. I may be wrong but don't want you to get sick.


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