Help, please!

[bstnceltsfan]

Hi All,

My name is Alan and I live in New England.  I recently bought a Brinkmann Offset smoker and have NO idea what to do next.  I read the post of seasoning, but I'm not sure where to go from here.  I'd love to try and use it tomorrow.  Is there a step by step link on how to use a smoker properly with charcoal and wood chips?  Sorry for the basic question.  Thank you all so much!

Alan

 

[boykjo]

Hi Allen and welcome to SMF.... With such short time before you fire the smoker up for the first time it will be a learning curve. Load the offset with lit red hot charcoals from a chimney. Open the dampers fully open and watch where the temp goes 225 to 275 is a good range. More than likely your therm is off on the smoker so dont go buy ot until you confirm it with another remote therm. Add  pieces of wood chunks one or 2 at a time and continue smoking. Add hot charcoal as temps start to fall below 220 to recover

Hope this helps

Joe

 

[millerbuilds]

Congrats on your purchase. 

To season your smoker I recommend the following.

1 - Wipe down your smoke chamber with Grapeseed oil

2 - Fire up your smoker with lump charcoal and and a few splits of your favorite wood (I use oak for seasoning)

2.5 - Let your smoker run for a few hours and then let the fire die out.

3 - Once the smoker is cooled down to the touch, wipe down the smoke chamber with oil again. 

You are ready for your first smoke!

You may notice smoke leaks, note where they are, then order some smoker gasket material and some Food Service RTV (amazon) and seal it up to get your smoker to preform better.

Couple of things:

- Start with forgiving foods (pork shoulder, ribs, chicken, etc...)  I highly recommend not starting with Brisket

- Move your food around in the smoke chamber as it will most likely have some hot spots (you can fix this in the future with tuning plates)

- Use lump charcoal as your heat source, add wood splits for smoke

- Keep your stack open and try to control your heat via your inlet on the fire box

- Spend some time reading on here, you will learn a lot

- Trial and error.... you will make some great things and you will make some not so great things, NEVER GIVE UP!

Good Luck and Get your Smoke on!

 

[gary s]

  Good evening and welcome to the forum, from an  overcast and hot  day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything. 

Gary

 

[bstnceltsfan]

Thank you all for the great help and advice.  I'll season it this am and see how it goes.  Happy Father's Day to all.

Alan.

 

[boykjo]

A spray can of pam does a great job for seasoning a smoker too.....................

 

[bstnceltsfan]

Do I put the oil all around the smoker, even where the charcoal is going to be? Thanks!

 

[millerbuilds]

Do I put the oil all around the smoker, even where the charcoal is going to be? Thanks!

No, just in the smoking chamber.  You will want to coat the inside and all of the racks.  Some people do coat the fire box after each use to keep it from rusting, but it will burn off the minute to start your next fire.  

 

[joe black]

Welcome from SC, Alan. I would just ditto what everyone has already said. Get some accurate therms and replace the factory ones. River Country is a good therm, good price and much more accurate than the original. Check them out in boiling water. As you are seasoning your smoker, it's a good time to check the CC for hot spots, leaks, etc. and practice good heat control. Good luck, Joe

 

[motownphill]

Hi, please make sure you let that first fire really cook for awhile when your seasoning that particular grill. I assemble those at work and they are really coated in some heavy oil do to rust issues with that unit. Also since the metal is thin and its not insulated your best bet would be a remote temp gauge. I think they cost between 20 and 30 dollars and are a real life saver for temp control. I have a vertical non insulated smoker and i use a oven temp gauge and a remote stat to monitor and that works great for staying on point. Other then that fire up that bad boy and let the good times and food roll.