Brinkman upright water smoker
Thursday April 22, 2004
jake42 (jake4211) Writes:
"I have a Brinkman, vertical water smoker with the full size door (like a refridgerator) as opposed to a dome lid. I am curious as to how to maintain a temperature of 200-225 degrees. It does not seem to maintain those temperatures too well.
I like the big door design but I wonder if the four large vent holes at the bottom of the unit may have something to do with it."
Comments
I’ve found the same thing…doesn’t want tp stay hot enough, 200-250F. I’ve only tried twice, though.
Ideal smoking temperatures are usually below 195 degrees. Most people that use charcoal smokers only maintain temperatures of 165-190 degrees.
Even with a full charcoal bowl, as hot as I could get it going, mine rarely exceeds 200 degrees. Smoking pork chops, or country ribs, is risky business. I am thinking about insulating the two sides.
For maintaining water smoker temp., you may have to find a large verticle box, (applies to verticle smoker, with water pan), and put it over the smoker, esspecially on a windy day, to maintain temp. I have done this many times, with great success! Cut a little door in the box, so you can access the firebox door, to check the coals, and one to see the temp guage. (I’m assuming that it is the charcoal smoker that’s having temp issues). You can adjust the top box flaps to let out access heat to maintain your temp in the ideal range. Ultimately, its best to use the smoker on a 85 degree plus day, with little or no wind, then you may not need the box. Also, use lump charcoal,(not bricketts, as lump charcoal burns much hotter,and longer. I hope this helps. Douglas Brown (seasoned meat smoker)!
I had same issue. Solved by modifying the carcoal pan by cuttin 6-8 inch diameter hole in bottom, fit with thick wire mesh or grate over the hole to hold carcoal. This will allow the ashes to fall and improve air flow thru the coals thus allowing them to burn hotter – control heat by adjusting the upper and lower vents. Avoid the temptation to open door too often.
I don’t use the water bowl. All my meat goes into cheap, disposable aluminum pans with plenty of liquid.
The temp. can get up to over 300 degrees and the only thing that I have to worry about it keeping enough liquid in the pans.
Don’t have to clean racks, use less lump charcoal/wood, less smoking time.
Yes, I know I’m not following conventional smoking (indirect heat). But it tastes the same with less effort.
I too have drilled holes in the charcoal pan and now maintain a solid 200 degree temperature easily. I smoke all meats at this temp to great success. Though I think I’m going to try and add a grate to let ash fall thorough and see how that changes the temperature. I really like the temp. stability of this model versus an old offset smoker that the temp fluctuated wildly due to poor air sealing.
Same problem — sent an e-mail to Brinkman and rcvd the very curt reply, “You may try adding a grate in the charcoal pan to help circulation under the coals. If you are not satisfied with the grill return it to the store you purchased it from.” Somehow that was NOT what I had expected from a customer service standpoint. I’m a lifelong Weber user who tried his first / and likely the last Brinkman.
I will try the mods noted below as they seem to make the most amount of sense.
The only “up side” to all of this is that it’s a little bit of a consolation that others are having the same problem — thought I was completely loosing it!!!
tks
Rick
Me too. I thought I was crazy, but I’m going to drill a few holes in the pan to try to increase the air circulation. Its a really a design flaw.
I bought a Stainless Steel Strainer at Lowes added 1.5″ bolts for feet to the strainer. Drilled some side holes in the Charcoal Pan. Placed the Strainer in the Charcoal Pan. I now add the Charcoal to the Strainer. The Fire lasts 4 times as long as before. The ashes drop from the strainer and is caught by the pan…leaving room for air to flow around the charcoal.
I used mine the first time today and couldn’t get it over 150 degrees for anything! I had six 8″ – 10″ racks of ribs and hopefully they are not ruined. Tomorrow I’m off to Lowe’s to get a strainer and bolts and will turn my charcoal bowl into swiss cheese! I will also use lump coal instead of Kingsford brickettes.
I have just started to use my smoke king deluxe today.I found everyones comments usefull today and am using charcoal and oak logs and still I cannot get the temperature above 160 degrees, even with max air running through it. Either way I will keep trying different things till I tune it in properly, Aloha
i have 2 pans , and one is bigger then the other which on is the water pan?
i have the upright smoker with the firebox on the side used for direct grilling. when indirect grilling i found the low temperatures also. i placed a thermometer in the chimney outlet and found it to be 175 degrees hotter than the one in the door. try it
I puchased my Brinkman upright smoker a month ago and also had problems with keeping the temp higher than 165 degrees. After reading some of the posts here, I decided to change my charcoal pan. I found this grilling basket at Target which fits perfectly and even slides right in on the tracks. This basket has holes so that it allows air to flow through. The temp now goes up to 300 degrees and I’m using less charcoal. I can now decrease the temp down between 200-225 degrees by changing the air vents and the amount of charcoal to use.
I just use a chimney starter full of charcoal and open all the vents all the way, I can get up to 275-290. They key is lots of charcoal, next time I am getting an offset smoker.
I insulated mine, and used it for a season, and finally gave up and scrapped it in favor of an offset smoker that does a much better job no matter what I am doing, smoking, cooking, barbecuing, baking, and it does it with a lot less hassle and much less charcoal.
I will not have another Brinkmann.
What did you insulate it with?
I have had one of these smokers now for 3 years and love it. After purchase, I drilled 3 holes in charcol pan for air circulation and always use larger charcol, or Red Oak brand charcol, really filling up the pan. I also leave the vent hole open in the top rear of chamber as well as piling the charcoal up in center of pan, burns slower and hotter
Regarding the vertical smoker and thermometer in the door problem: I never could get my Brinkman Smoke King (with a water pan) up to temperature until I stuck a thermometer into the outlet stack and discovered outlet air temperature was a perfect 220 to 270 degrees. Disregard the door thermometer. It’s useless.
Something else to try: check water pan level every few hours and add water to about halfway. Too high and temperature is yoo low, too low and it gets too hot. I added a piece of aluminum (folded three or four times to beef it up) to direct the smoke & gas from the firebox around the water pan, rather than letting it just go straight up. …seems to stabilize temperature (although note the level remark above).
had a heck of a time keeping the temp above 165. Drilling holes in charcoal pan is a necessity. Seems like the water pan is too close to the charcoal pan as well. In any event i smoked baby backs for 7 hours and then grilled for 20 minutes, they turned out great!
Airflow is defintely the problem. I’ve never owned a smoker before and have struggled trying to get this one to stay above 150 degrees. I took some wire mesh and cut it to slide along the guides that the charcoal pan normal would go on and just set the charcoal pan below the mesh to catch the ash. It works great now!