My birthday earlier this week was my girlfriends excuse to buy a grill for the house we've lived in together since last fall. I've been the 'grill master' in the house using a cast iron grill on the stove top for awhile. In my previous life (married, divorced) I used a propane monster grill frequently in the warmer months. My girlfriend is a trained chef, so I decided it would be fun to do more advanced outdoor cooking, so I suggested a smoker or combination smoker/grill would be good. After some stocking issues at the local Wally world with the Brinkmann Smoke'n Grill, I did some research and decided the Master Forge vertical charcoal from Lowes would be a good starter. My girlfriend beat me to the store today and picked up the smoker and all of the accessories, lump charcoal, and a chicken stand. The bullet is in the yard seasoning now and my girlfriend already has a couple of whole chickens in the fridge I can experiment on this weekend. From what I can see on the cheap temp gauge and the smoke pouring out of every crack I need to do some work to make it easier to set and forget for lower and longer smoking. I'll probably add a damper to the bottom air intake and seal up all of the gaps around the door and lid and in between the body cylinders.
