# bar-b-chef offset smoker



## jmedic25

Hey all new to the fourm and the smoking thing.  I just bought a bar-b-chef offset smoker.  I cant find any info about it.  What yall think about it if it's a POS or not.  I thought it was nicer than the Char broil or the Brinkman offsets.  Bigger firebox and heavier gague.  Just wanted some opinions.  I will happily write a review and post some pics if somone has'nt already

Thanks
Justin


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## jmedic25

Ok since no one replied than I guess not many people have this thing well here It is and I'll write a review when I get a chance to cook a few things.


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## up in smoke

Looks like a well designed rig! Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m sure that will be more than sufficent for all your needs in the world of smoking. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not familiar with this model but I have read itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s well thought out with minimum alterations necessary. Enjoy, Throw some meat on that thing! And let us know how she does! With some pictures and your tale of smokery!


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## ultramag

I'd like to see one of them in person. I have to say that I sure wish my Brinkman had the warming shelf on the top of the firebox like that. How does the size of the cooking chamber compare to the Brinkman? I know firsthand you just can't get enough goodies in a Brinkman offset. At least not the Pitmaster Deluxe like I have. That was the number 2 reason I ordered a GOSM. 

What did the Bar-B-Chef cost? I will be looking forward to a review of your smoker. 

I really would have liked to stuck with charcoal/wood offset but can't justify cutting loose of the $750 to $1000 it would take to make a worthwhile upgrade over what I have at the moment.


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## joed617

I have an offset smoker .. it's a char-broil .. Works well and I've had no problems with it so far .. I think I paid under 150.00 for it.  The only problem I have is that I don't have alot of room because I have to use the smoker on my small porch where I also have a weber grill. so the space is limited for me and the neighbors are close seeing how I live in the city and when I fire up the smoker I usually get company <the neighbors> asking me what am I cooking and gee that smells good. I have offered my services to smoke some meat for them if they were interested, but no takers as of yet.. I'd like to hear what you have to say about that smoker at some point I will upgrade. I do like the looks of the box looking smokers the ones that look like a safe.. Like the one Monty has .. there is one other problem I have with this type of smoker .. not enough room to do a large smoke. depending on the cost I could make my own out of 1/4" steel but I'd never be able to move the sucker. I've rambled enough ... a guy has to have a dream ya know . lol 

Joe


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## jmedic25

This smoker cost's 200$ + tax. The place to get it is BBQ galore.  Wait until they have a sale.  The cooking area is 767 sq inches.  there is two levels you can cook on.  I have seen it on amazon but with shipping it would be like 350$  There is a bbq galore 20 miles from my house.  It is made out of all 12g steel this sucker is very heavy.  

My review chapter 1.   This rig comes packaged in two cardboard boxes one containes the firebox.  The other the smoker body, wheels, legs, tray ect..  I was able to assemble in about two hours nothing fancy.  By the way this is my second smoker i've got a brinkman vertical water smoker.  The things I dont like so far.  No grease drain.  The firebox lid handle gets fairly hot during use.  charcoal grates sit too low they need to be raised or fire will choke out on long burns from ash.  Shorter burns would be fine.


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## jmedic25

Heres some more pic's


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## jmedic25

You guys let me know what else you want to see.  What do ya'll think  Ive only cooked leg quarters on it so far and they turned out good.  Slightly over cooked but I'm learning.


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## willkat98

I just noticed we have another user Medic, who just posted in the welcome forum about his wedding gift, which is the same smoker as yours.

So it looks like shortly you two will be our resident experts on the bar-b-chef!!


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## bbqblues

Yep, I've got the same one. And I agree about the low firebox grate. I smoked a turkey for about 9 hrs and the charcoal was already choking itself out on ash. Then again, it was a bargain store-brand charcoal. I'm going to use name brand and see if it burns cleaner. Otherwise, I may try bricks or tiles to raise the grill. Otherwise, I was very happy with the BBchef. It serves this rookie well!


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## joed617

I raised my grate with bricks and it works much better .. 



Joe


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## jmedic25

Yeah....Ditch the El Cheapo charcoal...  Use some lump it is hotter and cleaner.  Bricks.. Good Idea! :)  Hey BBQ blues I think were the only two in the U.S that have this rig... Congrats on getting hitched..  I just had my 4 year anniversary.   
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  I'm putting 4 chickens to brine early Saturday AM.   Gonna have em for dinner... Im following the recipe on SM.COM so I'll let ya'll know how they do. Wish me luck
Justin


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## joed617

Congratulations guys .. Ive been married to my wife for a whole 3 years now.. The kids are all in thier 20's and moved out.. 



Joe


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## ultramag

Looks like overall it is a little better set up than the lower end Brinkmann offsets. They also need to raise the fire grate or have an ash removal tray of some kind. Most features you showed are a better idea than the Brinkmann in my opinion. The grease hole (or lack of) would be easy to remedy. It is just a hole with a damper vent basically in the lowend jobs, so you guys could drill a hole and cure that pretty easy.

Does that firebox load through a door in the top and or a door on the side?


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## jmedic25

Ultramag... Yes there is a firebox door on the side. Also there is a lid that opens the top of the firebox.  They say that you can grill on the firebox upper grate that i dont even use.


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## cajunsmoker

:D LOL...


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## imhungry

I too have this smoker. Thanks for the suggestion of raising the grate.


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## jabo

When you raise your grate, forget the bricks, they work but also take up too much space where ash could fall away from the fire.  Here is a super easy fix that I saw somewhere and it works like a charm.  Go to Home Depot, buy (4) 1/2" stainless steel carriage bolts about 3 inches long, (8) stainless washers to fit the carriage bolts and (8) stainless nuts.  Put one nut and one washer on each carriage bolt, spin the nut on about 1 inch, slip the bolt through  your fire grate near the corner, slip on other washer and nut and tighten.  Repeat this for all four corners and your grate shoult be off the bottom of the firebox without having bricks under it.  

BTW, this is not my idea, I saw it somewhere else and just copied it on my BBChef


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## jmedic25

Jab-
Did you drill holes in all of the corners? Can you take a pic?
Justin


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## jabo

I thought that I was typing out my direction so well.  I can't ever figure out what someone is talking about without a picture either.  OK, here they are, and before anyone gives me a hard time - yes I used galvanized bolts, however I burned all of the zinc off of them before using them.  I used a mapp gas blow torch.

From above






Looking at the cooking grate on end






Hope this helps if you are still confused let me know and I will take better pics.  It is raining outside right now so I was in a hurry.

Jamie


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## jabo

BTW, the smiley faces in the post above are supposed to be the number 8, apparently the board doesn't like this number with parenthesis around it.


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## mrgrumpy

If you use parenthesis with the number 8, it will give you smileys.....

Bill


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## jmedic25

Jabo I was serious when I asked about the temp. variance in the bbchef.  When you get some time speak a bit.  If you please... :)


Thanks for the how to on the bolt's looks good...


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## pomel

Hey guys,

I know this is an old post but I just bought a used Bar-B-Chef Offset Smoker and I love it!  I belive the upper smoke box rack that you don't use is where you are supposed to put the wood/coals.  I don't think they make em like this any more; certainly not for 200 bucks!


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## chefrob

not sure what you mean.........

 


Pomel said:


> *  I belive the upper smoke box rack that you don't use is where you are supposed to put the wood/coals. *


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## chefrob

btw- here is a thread on my restore of a bar-b-chef........

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/86049/bar-b-chef-restore


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## pomel

I see the method you used with the bolts to lift the bottom smoke box grate off the floor of the smoke box.  I am going to do that today after work.  I was thinking they must want you to use the top smoke box rack for the coals because the bottom grate is sitting on the floor.  Raising the bottom rack with bolts is clearly the answer.  Nice job on the restore, that looks great!


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## chefrob

> I was thinking they must want you to use the top smoke box rack for the coals because the bottom grate is sitting on the floor


are you talking abot the "fire box" or the smoke chamber? if you are talking about the fire box the top grate is for grilling. as for the charcoal grate i ended up making a basket that works alot better and holds more lump/wood.


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## elgancho

Bump of an old thread...

where can i get the metal grate material like the pictures above used to make the basket?  does it have to be a certain metal?


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## dewetha

it's "expanded metal" and usually you can get some at places like home depot


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## chefrob

yup, i got mine at HD but any hardware store should have some.


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## ro31369

I picked one up just outside of Baltimore City from a cool guy for $30. This guy was as excited about me having it as I was about getting it. It's in perfect shape. He tried to impart years worth of technique in about 45 minutes. So, basically, I'm figuring it out as I go. 

Haven't made any mods yet, but I like the idea of raising the smoke chamber grill a little. It's good to have an apple tree too. 

Cornish Game Hens, soaked for a few days in my hot sauce (or any hot sauce) are wonderful. Fresh head on shrimp were even better. My attempts at smoking hot peppers haven't gone so well yet, except to stuff them with feta cheese.


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## ro31369

Today I'm doing another Cornish Hen, lamb chops, chicken breasts, Italian sausage from Trinacria, a kosher dog (just to see what happens), an acorn squash stuffed with jelly bbq, halved cherry tomatos, cheddar stuffed fairy peppers, okra in olive oil, and squash seeds. I'll let ya know how it goes.


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## cliffcarter

ro31369 said:


> Today I'm doing another Cornish Hen, lamb chops, chicken breasts, Italian sausage from Trinacria, a kosher dog (just to see what happens), an acorn squash stuffed with jelly bbq, halved cherry tomatos, cheddar stuffed fairy peppers, okra in olive oil, and squash seeds. I'll let ya know how it goes.


Start a new thread for it, will ya.


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## ro31369

Everything came out very well, except the okra. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great.


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## triplejsmokegod

This is the a great smoker. I have had mine since about 2002. Easy to use and temp control is easy and can be maintained at a constant 225 degrees. Perfect for baby back ribs [email protected] 225, 2 Briskets @ 225 deg for 11 hrs. Tri tips 3 hrs for just a couple, more meat = more time. I use lump coals, NOT kingsford charcoal. Lump coals burn hotter and is better for temp control. Hickory wood chips or chunks are my favorite by far and I have tried them all. Some tips, line the smoke box with heavy duty foil. Also mix different types of canned beans into pan on bottom shelf and smoke meat on top, the drippings and the smoke will flavor the beans and this is a base for the best Chili beans youve ever had. After several years the smoker becomes well seasoned, and on a hot summer day you can wal by the smoker and it smells like smoked ribs. Man I am getting hungry thinking about it.


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## grouchman

chefrob said:


> are you talking abot the "fire box" or the smoke chamber? if you are talking about the fire box the top grate is for grilling. as for the charcoal grate i ended up making a basket that works alot better and holds more lump/wood.


What size is the charcoal basket? 

I just pick up the smoker last week and wanting to do some mods


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## remmy700p

Here's how I did the same thing on my Brinkmann TMLE:













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__ remmy700p
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__ remmy700p
__ Jul 2, 2013


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## grouchman

Good job on the riser .... I feel the basket will work better on my Bar-b-chef


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## chefrob

14''x12.5''x3.5''..............i would not go any bigger than this since i have to angle it in to get it inside. BTW it has been over 2 yrs and i just got a small hole in it (the basket) from the fire......i have gotten tons of use from it.....good luck and post up yer pics!


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## grouchman

Chefrob,

thanks for the response, I made my basket yesterday.... Might have to build another, mine came out 12x12x6

Here is the grill I pick up on Friday.... the guy had it for 3 years and never used it 

I will not let this happen in this house 













grill 1.JPG



__ grouchman
__ Jul 11, 2013


















grill 3.JPG



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grill 4.JPG



__ grouchman
__ Jul 11, 2013


















grill 2.JPG



__ grouchman
__ Jul 11, 2013


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## chefrob

congrats.......nice lookin rig!


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## lust450

I just bought this rig yesterday , looking to do all these mods. Thanks for posting pics!!


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## chefrob

post up pics as you go along.................


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## ro31369

Still haven't made any modifications yet, but I might take a shot at making one of those elevated racks this weekend, with my (new to me) huge vice.

I find that with little or no effort on my part, my BBChef will hover very nicely between 205 and 220 F. I guess it's just how I build my fire. I only use charcoal to get it started, then it's all chucks and twigs of fruit wood... apple, cherry and pear, mostly, mixed 50/50 with oak chunks. Be judicious with chestnut, it packs a punch in smoke flavor.

Does anyone have any knowledge of smoking with Carolina Allspice? We all know that it's not really Allspice, or Pimento. It's known that it's berries are mildly toxic No one has said "For god's sake, NO!", or any king of negative response for that matter, but all the "Yeses" I get seem somewhat vague.


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## vstephens01

Hey there. I see this is an old post, but I just got this same grill, and I want to make the basket referenced.  Is this the right type that I would use to make it?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bo...Expanded-Sheet-45840/202183529#specifications

Also, would I be able to bend this into shape without a vice?


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## beef4me

Hey vstephens01 yes that's the stuff. I used it to make a basket for my smoker last week. Watch this youtube video, that's how I did it



Good luck n good smokin'


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## bauchjw

I know this is an old thread, but I made the smoke box mods to my BBQ Chef I've used for eight years and can't believe how much they help. My pit s pretty beat up and it has never performed better. Thank you all for your input!


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