# Brinkmann Square Vetical Smoker



## monty (Aug 25, 2005)

:?:    Anybody ever have any experience with the Brinkmann square vertical smoker? There seems to be several different models and Wally World carries one for about sixty bucks. Includes thermometer as well as a lot of regulating vents and so on. Any advice appreciated. Still on the edge, buy or build. Have a free older fridge for the asking. Thanks, Monty


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## Dutch (Aug 27, 2005)

I've not seen anything like that at any of the Wally World's in my area, Monty.  It looks like I have to replace my ECB as it seems to have wandered off yesterday while I was at work. :evil:  I now have my GOSM and my Camp Chef two burner stove CHAINED to the back porch and my 40 lb & 20 lb. propane bottles are locked in the garage.


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## monty (Aug 27, 2005)

Hey, Earle, that would tick me off royally. Sorry to hear you have that kind of problem in your neighborhood. As for the square vertial smoker log on to WalMArt.com and hit the seasrch box with "smoker" and it will pop that puppy up. Looks good with a thermometer and full length door for easy access. Sets up a bit on four legs. Rated it for 50lbs of meat. I think it is an internet thiing only. Nearest WalMart does not stock it either. Unit is just under sixty bucks and approx shipping is about fifteen.  Hope your daughter has a wonderful wedding! My daughter married a young man that every father would want his daughter to marry. Could not have lucked out better. Been  six years and they are going stronger than ever! My best to your daughter!
Monty


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## Dutch (Aug 28, 2005)

Monty-My daughter's guy is into restoring old cars and trucks and his daily mode of trasportation is a restored '67 Ford Mustang.  I offered to swap him my daughter for his car and he countered with the offer to let me RIDE in it anytime I want. So basically he STILL has his car AND my daughter but he did offer to help me find an old '56 Chevy P/U  :D


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## monty (Aug 28, 2005)

Looks like you have gained a son! Best of all to you and your expanding family. Now, if your new son should happen to run across a '69 Cuda Formula S lemme know! Did you ever get to check out the Wally World site for the Brinkmann Square Vertical? I am really leaning towards it and I have not seen or heard any other mention of it anywhere.


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## Dutch (Sep 5, 2005)

Well my ECB has been recovered intact thanks in part to a friend of mine on the local police department.  He was patroling in the area when he spotted two kids (8 & 9 yrs old) pulling my ECB down the street in a wagon (also stolen from someone's yard). The kids had no idea what they had and said that they were going give it to their dad so he could sell it for scrap metal  :shock:  So I'm going to smoke a pork shoulder for him as my way of saying thanks!!


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## monty (Sep 6, 2005)

Happy to hear of the return of your ECB! Good idea to reward your friend. I am sure he will appreciate your effort in return for his effort. Now, for the two little miscreants...their father should be spanked!  Monty


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## backyardchef (Sep 6, 2005)

srm. I just saw the smoker your talking about for 60 bucks at my Wally World yesterday. It's not a bad unit for under 60, a little flimsy on the metal and the door does not catch as easy . Another thing on the door if you give it a little jolt it has a tendecy to pop open on you. On the other hand, it has four shelves, two on top to put your meats , the 3 rd on the bottom  is your water pan and the last shelf is your coal section.  Once again if your on a budget for something cheap , it will get the job done. I'm thinking about getting it for my first smoker.


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## monty (Sep 6, 2005)

Thanks, BYC. As I have said in previous posts I am no stranger to many styles of cooking but totally in the dark about smoking. In this neck of the woods (literally) there is very little smoke cooking. You say that the unit appears to be a bit flimsy. Perhaps I should just take up on a friend's offer of an old fridge and convert that. The unit will definitely have to stay outside in the Vermont winter. Your take on this? Thanks! Monty.


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## Dutch (Sep 6, 2005)

I don't like flimsy! Camp Chef has come out with their version of a cabinet style smoker called the "Smoke Vault". The door is so flimsy that the guy that was putting one together for a display model actually bent the door. I think that I'll stick to my GOSM and ECB until I can get me an offset smoker!!  I wonder if there is a way to add an offset box to my GOSM!!??!!


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## monty (Sep 6, 2005)

Well, I guess you gets what you pays for! Think I will put the whole project on hold till spring. Earle, you sort of gave me a bit of an inspiration. I am playing with the idea of putting together a smoker and Dutch oven type of set up that will be complementary to each other. Open fire pit for Dutch oven and other cooking as well as for supplying coals for the smoker. Would not be hard to do here given that open cook fires are ok and that I have ten very private acres upon which I like to entertain. Also have a great supply of sheared granite for a base. (New England's most prolific ground crop...Rock!)  Think I will go with the fridge conversion. Seems to me it would be a lot better for my needs. Any more thoughts? BTW have been doing some small scale smoking in my propane grill!


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## backyardchef (Sep 6, 2005)

SRM. Your Welcome on the input about the Wally smoker. BTW I'm a first time smoker myself and trying to learn on this site everything I can to get started. My take about the fridge , it's definitely thicker then the Wally version and if you can put it together cheaply . Then I say why not... I'm all for inexpensive especially if it's my first time. Also I seen some at Home depot with a side box and a big grill area, it's the round barrel type and I think it goes for $160 and some change. It's not a bad unit and definitely heaveier duty... Have you seen it yourself.


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## monty (Sep 6, 2005)

BYC, please bear in mind that a trip to Home Depot is more like a pilgrimage for me. Nearest one is almost sixty miles away! Same goes for Wally World. Nearest Sears is thirty miles and the local hardware stores are at least twenty miles distant. Nearest gas station is about twelve miles and I drive a 4X4 that gets about 14 MPG. Most of my shopping is on the net. (Dial up and SLOW!) Not too much window shopping these days! Cheap and effective is the name of the game here! Thanks for your input and I am now convinced that I will convert an old fridge and do it in the style of BDV!
Monty


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## Dutch (Sep 7, 2005)

Monty-If I remember right, I think BigDaddyViking67 has a Smoker that he made from an old refrigerator. I think he also posted a link to the pictures. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s certainly doable if you have everything on hand.

Ok, I found it Monty!!! Look under the PORK forum heading then scroll down to "1st smoke in old fridge". bigdaddyviking shows his smoker with ribs in action.


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## monty (Sep 7, 2005)

Yup, Earle, I think that's the ticket. Got a free fridge and the other stuff is either cheap or free.  The pics that BDV posted are super!. I remember seeing plans somewhere that show an old fridge being used as both a hot and cold smoker. For cold smoking a remote firebox is piped into the bottom of the fridge. For hot smoking the coals are in the fridge and the low pipe is part of the draft system. When cold smoking the firebox also served as a Dutch oven heat source. Both can be in use for either smoke together. Will have to wait, though. Still laid up on a work related injury. When I am back on my feet, literally, I have six cords of firewood to process and all the other "get ready for snow" stuff that needs doing. Then it will be plow, plow, plow all winter. Monty


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## Dutch (Sep 7, 2005)

Sorry to hear that you're laid up Monty, hope it's nothing too serious and that you get back on your feet soon.

Back when the family business was running we had a smokehouse that was gas fired and the smoke was produced with an offset smoke generator (basically a hot plate with a blower).  We had a customer that had a Dairy Farm and made his own cheese.  He wanted us to cold smoke some cheese for him but we never connected. Either he had cheese that he wanted us to smoke and both smokehouses were always going 24/7 or he didn't have any cheese and we would be in a slow season and both smokers sat idle 3 days out of 7.


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## monty (Sep 7, 2005)

My initial interest in smoking meat was for cold smoking. I raise a couple of pigs every year and have a bunch of laying hens. Next year I plan on getting back into raising turkeys as well. Right now I pay to have my meat smoked by the butcher I employ every year. Helluva service. THey pick up the live animals and call you in a day or two to pick up your packaged, labeled, weighed frozen pork. They get a fancy price for smoking and so I just started looking into the whole thing. A dual use smoker like I have in mind would be ideal.  It will also fit well with my penchant for entertaining! As for the injury, tendons and ligaments right ankle as well as the calf muscle.  Trying to be twenty again. Have been on my butt since July and will hopefully be released to work by the first week of October. Going nuts would be putting it lightly! Monty


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## nyc q (Sep 13, 2005)

I to am the not so proud owner of the latest ECB Brinkmann vertical smoker from Walmart.  So far I have only modded it by drilling a hole in the top and dropping a thermometer that actually works.  I have also swapped out the water pan for a foil wrapped pizza stone with limited success. 

I want to mod the charcoal pan but would appreciate some guidance.  The other thing I intend to try is sand in the water pan, but first I need to get a shovel or two full of clean sand.

So ECB owners please help me get my temps up.


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## soflaquer (Sep 13, 2005)

Guys, first of all they call it a "Water" pan for a reason.  I've read all the forums on all the sites about utilizing SAND in the pan.  Sure it acts as a thermal sink, but it was engineered that way for a reason, otherwise they would have called it a SAND PAN.

Some Mods are very usefull, but IMHO I would stick with placing boiling water in the "Water" pan.

Jeff


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## Dutch (Sep 14, 2005)

NYC Q, First off, Welcome to the best Q forum in the world.

As far as mods to the fire pan I drilled some 3/4 ins. holes in the bottom of my fire pan (the side of my pan as vents in it not too conductive for drawing an upward draft especially when using the Minion method for starting your briquettes.) Make a charcoal rack to hold the briquettes off the bottom of the pan. This will increase your air circulation and it will also provide a space for the ash to fall with out smothering your bottom briquettes.  Always put boiling hot water in the water pan. This way the heat can be used for heating up the food item right away without having to heat up the water first.


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## nyc q (Sep 14, 2005)

Well I still think I want to try sand out.  I want to smoke pork butts and brisket and the fat does not melt as much with steam.  I seem to have the very common problem of my smoker temps dropping below 200 after the first hour and my meats not being able to cross 160.   I have a brisket I am going to smoke this weekend and I will let everyone know how it works out with my newest  changes.

I figure I will drill some 5/8 holes (my biggest metal bit) and get some wire lathe for a charcoal rack.  

Earl thanks for the welcome.  What do you use as an ash pan?  I tried my local dollar store for aluminum pans but no luck finding the proper size.


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## soflaquer (Sep 14, 2005)

NYC,

My bad..............Welcome to the Forum!  I am trying to get with Jeff (Tuscon) and set up an intro thread.  We need to hear from ALL of you and get an idea of your backgrounds and experience. 

Other than that, when your done with the Sand Box, come back and let's talk Barbeque!  There is a plethora of Mods to do to an ECB that will help immensely, but I've yet to see a Competitor with a bag of sand next to their Pit.  Think about it.

Everyone here is a Brother and all questions and inquiries are taken seriously.  If you think Sand will help..........give it a shot!

If their anything we can assist you with, just ask!

Jeff


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## Dutch (Sep 14, 2005)

NYC, my fire pan sits inside of a base pan. The other mod that I made was to add a "shaker handle" that allows me to shake my ashes down into the base pan (the handle needs to be replaced as the handle was broken off when some kids stole my ECB)


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## soflaquer (Sep 14, 2005)

Earl,

If you research the threads, there are plenty of Mods that can help NYC.

Jeff


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## bob-bqn (Sep 14, 2005)

NYC the reason you temperature drops after the first hour is, as the charcoal burns ash forms. This ash needs to drop away so oxygen can get to the charcoal so it can continue to burn. Because your charcoal is sitting in the bottom of the fire pan, ash is building up around the charcoal and choking it. What I would recommend is drilling the holes in the fire pan to allow air to the fire and getting a small round grate that will fit in the pan an inch or two above the bottom. This will allow the ash to fall through the grate and away from the coals. You will also need something to catch the hot embers that fall through the holes you drilled. They make grill mats to protect decks, or you can get a huge metal automotive tray and set under the smoker. I picked up a couple of these drip pans from Pep Boys for about $10 each. They also catch fat drippings if your smoker leaks.


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## Dutch (Sep 14, 2005)

NYC, follow SoFlaQuer and read the threads. Alot of the mods I made to my ECB I made before joining this forum. BUt I would deffenatly get a rack to place in your fire pan for the charcoal and wood chunks.


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## soflaquer (Sep 14, 2005)

Good advise Bob and Earl!  I know we had a member not too long ago that we had assisted with ECB Mods.  If NYC will go through some of the earlier threads, I know there was a huge amount of info myself and others covered on this subject.

Jeff


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## willowcreekjim (Oct 15, 2005)

hi guys, i have one, i have more problems with temp. regulation than any thing, my local wally world had it, MT, and also.......hi and thanks for this cool site.  sorry i havent been arround much but my busy times are hard to avoid.  i enjoy the newsletter and am going to try the turkey.  i am a chef in montana. i own a charcole smoker. we use alder a lot. i also like apple and cherry.  and have also played with chip blends, and have hickory smoked salt.  if you havent smoked salt yet give it a try, pour some kosher in cheese-cloth,and hang from a rack.again i would like to thank everyone, and will try to be around more often.               willowcreekjim, wccs. wally world had it, MT, and also.......


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## Dutch (Oct 16, 2005)

Hi, willowcreekjim and welcome to the greatest forum in the would.
What kind of smoker do you have? If we had an idea, we would know what kind of modifications you would need to make.

I think it's awesome that you have experimented with mixing different types of woods for your smoking.  Let us know what you have tried and what the hits and misses were. I know a lot of use would be interested in what you have done.


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## monty (Oct 16, 2005)

Dutch, I think Willowcreekjim has the smoker I originally started this topic string inquiring about. If I remember correctly there is a post indicating that the unit was flimsy and that the door did not seal properly. In all other aspects, aside from its square cabinet shape and full length door it is basically an ECB.
    Willowcreekjim, in more recent model smokers there is a tendency to "err on the side of safety". In other words the government and the insurance companies are dictating the style and design of the things we buy, smokers notwithstanding!
     I am sure that someone has come up with some temp mods, it is just a mater of finding them. If I see something I will holler but as far as I can see there is little known about that particular model.
Monty


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## bob-bqn (Oct 17, 2005)

Welcome aboard willowcreekjim.


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## Dutch (Oct 17, 2005)

Remember that Camp Chef "Smoke Vault" that we talked about earlier? Well I saw another one at our NEW Cabella's Store and after poking and proding and doing everyting but taking it apart I've decided that it's as sturdy as my GOSM. I talked to a friend of mine that sells Camp Chef items and he stated that the unit I saw was the proto type for the production models. He said that they were aware of the flimsy door and that it needed to be beefed up. So if anyone is looking for a square vertical smoker I'd go with the "Smoke Vault".


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## sgt. pepper (Feb 2, 2008)

Hello all, I'm sure this topic has come up before.  I have the La Bandera Smoker from New Braunfels.  I was hoping there is a clever way to convert it to a propane smoker so that I have a fuel option when doing brisket, pork butt or other cuts that take a long time.  Pictures would be awesome if anyone has them.
Thanks
SP


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