I had my first smoke with my new Char-Griller Smokin' Pro yesterday. I did a lot of research before deciding on the Char-Griller. I knew when I bought it that I would need to make some mods. When I assembled the unit Friday, I went ahead and did the smoke stack extension and turned over the charcoal grate in the main body. I fired her up Friday night to season the grill. I watched the grill level temps during the seasoning and was happy with the results. After the seasoning was complete, I prepped a brisket by trimming and covering the brisket in mustard and a dry rub. I also put a chicken in brine for the wife.
I was up very early Saturday to fire up the smoker. I used Kingsford Charcoal and a mix of hickory and mesquite chunks for smoke. Once everything was going and stable, I put the brisket on the smoker. Here is shot of the smoke as the temp was coming back up after adding the meat.
After the Brisket had been on for 6 hours, I added chicken to the mix.
I wrapped the brisket in foil after it reached 165 degrees. The chicken was pulled of at 180 degrees. After resting a a bit, the wife had her dinner consisting of chicken, baked beans, and potato salad and headed to work. The chicken took about 5 hours.
The brisket went 12 hours and was pulled at 180 degrees. I let the brisket rest for an hour in foil before slicing. It was very tender. I had a hard time slicing because it wanted to fall apart. It also seemed to have a nice smoke ring.
I learned a few lessons and still have a few mods to do. I am used to smoking on a Brinkmann charcoal smoker and Kingsford worked fine on it. Not so with the Char-Griller. I was able to maintain temp just fine for the first 3-4 hours. After that, I started having problems and ended up using a lot of charcoal. I think this was due to all the ash and the fire having a hard time breathing. At one point, I started digging around in the SFB and discovered a lot of unburned coals. They had partially burned and become buried in ash. I think moving to lump charcoal and a basket will resolve this issue.
I also need to finish sealing up all the extra holes. I will stop and get some bolts for this before I smoke again. I'm not sure I like the exhaust extension I performed. It drops down in the middle of the far left grate. I may try the aluminum flex pipe I've seen in several post.
Like I said, the food was great and the smoke did it's job. I think with a few changes, it will do it with a lot less work on my part. Although, tending the fire and monitoring everything is half the fun!
I was up very early Saturday to fire up the smoker. I used Kingsford Charcoal and a mix of hickory and mesquite chunks for smoke. Once everything was going and stable, I put the brisket on the smoker. Here is shot of the smoke as the temp was coming back up after adding the meat.
After the Brisket had been on for 6 hours, I added chicken to the mix.
I wrapped the brisket in foil after it reached 165 degrees. The chicken was pulled of at 180 degrees. After resting a a bit, the wife had her dinner consisting of chicken, baked beans, and potato salad and headed to work. The chicken took about 5 hours.
The brisket went 12 hours and was pulled at 180 degrees. I let the brisket rest for an hour in foil before slicing. It was very tender. I had a hard time slicing because it wanted to fall apart. It also seemed to have a nice smoke ring.
I learned a few lessons and still have a few mods to do. I am used to smoking on a Brinkmann charcoal smoker and Kingsford worked fine on it. Not so with the Char-Griller. I was able to maintain temp just fine for the first 3-4 hours. After that, I started having problems and ended up using a lot of charcoal. I think this was due to all the ash and the fire having a hard time breathing. At one point, I started digging around in the SFB and discovered a lot of unburned coals. They had partially burned and become buried in ash. I think moving to lump charcoal and a basket will resolve this issue.
I also need to finish sealing up all the extra holes. I will stop and get some bolts for this before I smoke again. I'm not sure I like the exhaust extension I performed. It drops down in the middle of the far left grate. I may try the aluminum flex pipe I've seen in several post.
Like I said, the food was great and the smoke did it's job. I think with a few changes, it will do it with a lot less work on my part. Although, tending the fire and monitoring everything is half the fun!
