Hello all....need some advice. I was looking at a couple of smokers, but my wonderful wife purchased me a Brinkmann Heavy Guage Vertical Smoker. I have read all the mods that are necessary as far as getting a gasket seal around the door, chimney stack etc. I will be assembling it this weekend with the mods and would like to know a couple of things, so please enlighten me.
1. I have read that in order to season it, i need to get it up to a temp of at least 250 degrees for a few hours then bring it way up to temp to at least 400 degrees or close to it. My question is, would using a lot of charcoal and/or wood (or combination) burning help me to get that temp that high? Damper fully open? Closed? 50/50?
2. With this smoker, the charcoal container is at the bottom. I wont be able to get a charcoal basket for a bit as i have to either find one that is round or build one with expanded metal. I was thinking of finding a good quality, not galvenized, round deep fryer basket as my charcoal basket. Would i need to use wood chunks or wood chips with this smoker?
If anyone has one of these or has experience with one of these, let me know your experiences and how you seasoned and cured it. Also what you use for a charcoal basket if you use a different one other than the one that came with it. Thermometer suggestions also welcome.
Thank you for all the help.
Nelson
1. I have read that in order to season it, i need to get it up to a temp of at least 250 degrees for a few hours then bring it way up to temp to at least 400 degrees or close to it. My question is, would using a lot of charcoal and/or wood (or combination) burning help me to get that temp that high? Damper fully open? Closed? 50/50?
2. With this smoker, the charcoal container is at the bottom. I wont be able to get a charcoal basket for a bit as i have to either find one that is round or build one with expanded metal. I was thinking of finding a good quality, not galvenized, round deep fryer basket as my charcoal basket. Would i need to use wood chunks or wood chips with this smoker?
If anyone has one of these or has experience with one of these, let me know your experiences and how you seasoned and cured it. Also what you use for a charcoal basket if you use a different one other than the one that came with it. Thermometer suggestions also welcome.
Thank you for all the help.
Nelson
