New to smoking, having temp problems.

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

griffin117

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 11, 2013
3
10
New Jersey
Greetings. I recently discovered that my parents owned a Brinkmann smoke n grill, and had not been using it. I'd been wanting to start smoking BBQ for myself for awhile now, but didn't have the money for a smoker. The unit is a few years old, but in all honesty, it's in great shape as it was kept tucked away from the elements. After curing the smoker as the owner's manual suggested, I tried my hand at a small brisket, which I wasn't too happy with by the end. I'm having problems with keeping the temp in the ideal range on the unit's thermometer.

After doing a search on the unit, it came to my attention that many people modded this smoker to fix the problems, but most of them have not put on a guide to mod the unit. what are the basic tips on modding the smoker?
 
Hi Griffin,

First of all I want to welcome you to the best BBQ site on the web!  Anything you need to know about BBQ you can learn right here, from recipes to technical advice the SMF is second to none.

I will tell you that everyone that owns your style of smoker has to make significant modifications to the unit to make it work well.  You can find these mods by using our handy dandy search bar at the top but I'm going to do this for you right now and give you some threads to consider.

Take a look at this link, you should find some helpful material there...http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/newsearch/?search=brinkmann+mods&type=all

Do us a favor and stop by our Roll Call forum and formally introduce yourself so we can give you a proper SMF welcome!

Good luck,

Bill
 
An ECB is what I started on. Ive put out a lot of food on mine. You can put out good food with or without the mods. Granted it is much easier with the mods to control temp.

That's pretty brave to start with a brisket on your first try. I'd start with something easier like a small pork butt or some chicken. Overall an ECB is going to do whatever it wants because you can't control the air flow & it's not sealed. Also the factory temp gauge is useless.
 
An ECB is what I started on. Ive put out a lot of food on mine. You can put out good food with or without the mods. Granted it is much easier with the mods to control temp.

That's pretty brave to start with a brisket on your first try. I'd start with something easier like a small pork butt or some chicken. Overall an ECB is going to do whatever it wants because you can't control the air flow & it's not sealed. Also the factory temp gauge is useless.
I actually smoked some chicken yesterday, and was really happy with it. I'm actually planning on doing some more chicken today, but instead of wood chips, I'm going to go and get some wood chunks to use with the charcoal. I've read some posts saying that the chunks are able to help get the temperature up
 
the best investment you can make with this smoker is the Maverick remote thermometer!  I only made a few small mods to mine inlcuding swapping the leg direction and adding a few holes to the firebowl and it's pretty much dialed in at 235!
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky