I've owned my CharBroil-era NBBD since I bought it new in the spring of 2003. I know there isn't much love for the CharBroil ones, with their thinner metal, but it's still an American-made offset (CharBroil was still building them in Georgia in 2002/2003) that has served me well. And, I can actually lift it in and out of my shed without giving myself a hernia. Among other cooks, I throw a big BBQ each August, and this offset fires up on Friday morning and essentially cooks for 14+ hours, cools off a bit, then starts again Saturday morning for another six or seven hours. For 18 years it's never failed and by 2019 I had it pretty well-tuned. Using a PID and fan helped a lot.
This year I realized it was tired. The cheap, thin tubing that passed for a cart was loose, it had been painted and re-painted and needed it again, and the airflow mods I made just weren't as good as I thought they could be. Here it is after the big cook in 2019. It was already running a big lowered exhaust stack and a baffle plate.
This year, it was time for a complete overhaul. A new cart, completely revised airflow (with a new collector and stack), paint, folding shelf - the works. And a whole new mount for my firebox fan.I must have at least 150 hours into the whole project, but the main mods were ready in time for this August's cook, and it worked better than ever. Here it is warming up on Friday morning:
The cart is thin-wall 1.25" mild steel. A solid 5/8" axle runs through hardened drill-guide bushings, and has pneumatic tires. The front shelf folds on stainless brackets (still needed to be painted). The main smoker body is painted Ford Engine Red because I just wanted something different than every other black smoker (Dupli-Color engine paint). The firebox is black extreme heat silicone/ceramic enamel (Zynolite 1200°). I built a whole new collector and 2.5" chimney from 12 gauge steel and fit it at grate height.
I added a couple of Tel-True thermometers to the lid, added gasket around the door, sealed most of the leaks I could find. With the small Fireboard Drive Fan, it had no problem holding a nominal 250° F for the full 14-hour brisket cook with just a coal bed and small hardwood splits every hour or so. The fan did work quite a bit though and I needed to keep the firebox vent open about 1/2 way for the fire to burn cleanly and for the fan to keep up.
The final part of the build had to wait until after the bog cook, but I upgraded my fan to a 30 cfm hi-temp industrial fan, and built an entire stainless housing and mount in the firebox door to hold it. I've tested it and know that the Fireboard 2 Drive can control this beast, now I have to see how it cooks.
I even managed to keep the nameplate readable all these years!
Hopefully, this inspires someone to give the lightweight offsets some love too.
This year I realized it was tired. The cheap, thin tubing that passed for a cart was loose, it had been painted and re-painted and needed it again, and the airflow mods I made just weren't as good as I thought they could be. Here it is after the big cook in 2019. It was already running a big lowered exhaust stack and a baffle plate.
This year, it was time for a complete overhaul. A new cart, completely revised airflow (with a new collector and stack), paint, folding shelf - the works. And a whole new mount for my firebox fan.I must have at least 150 hours into the whole project, but the main mods were ready in time for this August's cook, and it worked better than ever. Here it is warming up on Friday morning:
The cart is thin-wall 1.25" mild steel. A solid 5/8" axle runs through hardened drill-guide bushings, and has pneumatic tires. The front shelf folds on stainless brackets (still needed to be painted). The main smoker body is painted Ford Engine Red because I just wanted something different than every other black smoker (Dupli-Color engine paint). The firebox is black extreme heat silicone/ceramic enamel (Zynolite 1200°). I built a whole new collector and 2.5" chimney from 12 gauge steel and fit it at grate height.
I added a couple of Tel-True thermometers to the lid, added gasket around the door, sealed most of the leaks I could find. With the small Fireboard Drive Fan, it had no problem holding a nominal 250° F for the full 14-hour brisket cook with just a coal bed and small hardwood splits every hour or so. The fan did work quite a bit though and I needed to keep the firebox vent open about 1/2 way for the fire to burn cleanly and for the fan to keep up.
The final part of the build had to wait until after the bog cook, but I upgraded my fan to a 30 cfm hi-temp industrial fan, and built an entire stainless housing and mount in the firebox door to hold it. I've tested it and know that the Fireboard 2 Drive can control this beast, now I have to see how it cooks.
I even managed to keep the nameplate readable all these years!
Hopefully, this inspires someone to give the lightweight offsets some love too.
