Greetings from the Chicago Area

Chuck,
Welcome, from southern Ohio, to the best forum on the internet if you are looking to learn how to BBQ/smoke/brine/cure/inject. Well you get the picture if you can do it to something you put on a plate to eat then someone here has probably done it then smoked it.

Use the search bar at the top of the page and you will be led to the answer to most every question you can think of. If you don't find the answer there then just post it and someone will chime in with their opinion on the subject.

Here is a link I think will help you with your new smoker mods:http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/75110/horizonal-offset-smoker-mods

Always remember the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask!!
Keep Smokin!!!
Wolf

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a beautiful sunny day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David

RevChuck said:

 
HI!  My name is Chuck and I live in Elgin, IL, which is about 35 miles northwest of Chicago on I-90.  I've always had fun grilling, but am a new comer to smoking meats.  It's been something I've wanted to get into, but just recently pulled the trigger and bought a Brinkmann 28" barrel smoker.  I know, I know...but the price at The Home Depot was so low, that my wallet could not say "no."  So here I am with this Brinkmann smoker, a few cookbooks, and a bunch of ideas in my head.  I know the Brinkmann stuff is El Cheapo (both in price and construction), but I'm wondering where I might find some ideas on modifying this guy for better smoker performance?   Ultimately, I want to smoke all kinds of things, especially ribs, brisket, and fish.  Alrighty!  I'm gonna spend some time perusing this sight and getting ideas.  Thanks!

Click to expand...

Here is what I did to mine

Covered original hole and drilled 3 new holes to control air flow with a damper


You can see the bolt heads for the new legs


Damper adjustment  (so I can see)


Bottom view  Damper and new legs






You can the the bolts sticking out in the charcoal pan These are for the grate to get

the charcoal up off the bottom and have some airflow underneath



I found this grate at Lowe's    Academy has a good selection too



Added a better temp gauge




Drilled holes and added damper on top.  Also added rope seal to the lid


All these thing make a huge difference, a lot easier to control temps

A cheap smoker and about another $50.00 + -  of stuff  

I have an RF I smoke on all the time but get out the old ECB every once in a while.

You can smoke just as good a stuff on this as you can a $10,000.00 smoker