Brinkmann SnP - Mods

[herkysprings]

OK so here it is! My new SnP. At this point I am just waiting on the Afterburner. The guy forgot to ask if I had a NEW SnP, which he apparently has a slightly different model afterburner for. Should arrive this week.

MODS:

1) Convert to propane
2) Extend exhaust to grate level
3) Oven gaskets to seal door leaks
4) New thermometers
5) Heat baffle
6) Tuning plates

Stock photos:



Opened:




Exhaust extension:



Some oven gaskets to seal rotissery holes, and silicone to plug some smaller holes up:



New thermometers. I tested accuracy in boiling water



Heat baffle and rails for tuning plates:



Tuning plates:



Using existing charcoal racks and some bricks to make a "Second level" just incase I need them:



Waiting for the Afterburner, will post pics once that is installed. iPhone still takes crappy pics!

 

[herkysprings]

Reserved for Afterburner pics and Final throughts from first test run.

 

[rivet]

Looks like you put a lot of work and money into that, congratulations- I'm sure you are proud.

I'm confused though; you converted an offset charcoal/wood burner into propane and put in the burner racks along the smoking chamber floor (I'm guesssing that is what all that is) then had built baffles to go on top of that to block the direct heat (which you spent time and money on to modify TO).

Looks to me that you have now ended up with is an oven, not a barbecue grill nor a smoker.

No offense intended at all, I'm just not sure what the idea was here. Maybe you posted the details and thoughts in another thread I might have missed?

 

[herkysprings]

We'll the charcoal pan is not inverted. I tried to wedge it down there to make cleanup easier. It only is about 1/2" higher than the bottom of the grill area.

If it affects my smoke / BBQ I'll remove it, or maybe bend it a bit to get it down there better. I just wanted to see if I could use it, like I said, to assist in cleaning.

I'm not going to use this for grilling, just smoking.

 

[rivet]

Well, that's my question. How are you going to smoke if you converted a charcoal/woodburner to using propane, without then going to wood-chip packets?

Haven't you gone full circle into doing something (burning wood) that you originally intended to not do by converting to propane, which is burning wood?

 

[herkysprings]

By using this:

http://gassmoker.com/h-burner.htm

a tin can and some wood!

:D This is the missing piece I am waiting for.

 

[ddave]

If you have trouble keeping the Afterburner lit (and I am predicting that from what I see that you will) take that charcoal pan and one or more of your tuning plates out. The afterburner needs good airflow through the firebox AND cook chamber to feed oxygen to the propane burner.

When I first converted mine, I was using 4 tuning plates and had trouble with the burner going out even when it was running fairly high.



I took one of the plates out and have since run it for 18 hours (on a brisket) without a single flame out.



Now it runs great.

Dave

 

[rivet]

Hey, thanks for the link to the website for your mod. Got a chance to read it and look it over.

Still looks like you took a woodburner, turned it into propane, so you could then burn wood.

Don't understand all that, but if you like it, rock on!

 

[ddave]

You don't burn wood with the afterburner, you just use the propane flame for heat and to make the wood smolder -- just like any other propane smoker.



And they work very well that way.





Dave

 

[rivet]

My point exactly.

Thanks for underscoring it, Dave!

 

[herkysprings]

Yeah I wanted to convert to propane to:

A) Try something different
B) Get a quicker smoker going for ribs / chicken so I could shave setup time.
C) Have something to use that does not require much tending too
D) Learn the ins and outs of an offset so one day when I build one I'll know what to look for. When I do that I may set it up as charcoal / wood.

I love my WSM and using charcoal, but I wanted to see what this would be like. I'm not extremely tied to the charcoal flavour either, and I'd never tried wood. I could always do that once I've tuned this smoker later on.

Thanks for the tip Dave! I'm thinking I'll probably bend the pan so it rests right on the bottom, and I'll try removing a panel too.

 

[herkysprings]

Oh also its a choice on fuel. Back in Canada where I am from, charcoal is around, but not as easy to find, and twice the price as it is here (Oregon). There are also not as many choices in brands / lump charcoal.

Wood is also mainly pine etc, as far as I know, so to get a good supply of Oak would be harder locate.

Propane is avaliable easily as is natural gas, hence one of my main reasons to try the conversion.

 

[ddave]

No shame in using propane.

Lots of propane smoker users here at SMF. Some even use (GASP) electric.

Nice thing about the Afterburner is you can lift it out in just a few seconds if you want to do a charcoal smoke so you have lots of options.

Dave

 

[csmith2884]

I agree with ddave 100%. I can switch from charcoal to propane by just lifting the smoker from one base to the other. But I find myself using the propane more and more. I get quality smoke flavor of just the wood I smoke in the can easy adjustment of how much smoke (adjusting the distance from the flame) and top on my list has to be holding the temp right where I want it no ups and downs have really helped me with times and consistency of food.

Next for me will be a larger homemade propane only unit I think, want more room for sausage and full racks of ribs.

 

[billbo]

Nice conversion! We need some Qview to convince some as you see lol. I am sure it will be great!