New or Old design ECB?

[mparry]

I recentlly got a Char-Broil water smoker as a gift. I read a ton on here about modifying and was looking forward to it. However, I happened to run across the ECB in another store. To be exact it is the Brinkman Gourmet. After some inspection I noticed that some of the modifications have been incorporated into some new design...or so it seems.

The bottom pan has a small hole in the bottom. The charcoal pan is slotted and also has several holes in it for ventilation. The charcoal pan fits inside the bottom pan which sits on the ground. The rest of the smoker with the water pan, door, and grill grates all lifts off of the bottom pans for super easy access to the fire. Makes it nice to give the pan a shake to get rid of excess ash. Also looks like they moved the temp gauge down a bit.

Anyway, thought I see if anyone has seen this model and knows if it's old/new or whatever.

 

[cajunsmoker]

It's been around for a long time. 15 years at least. It is a step up from the ECB. It is a lot easier to use as you can lift the barrell off the charcoal pan and add more coals or wood chunks without losing heat. A few years ago they added the door to the front so you could add water without opening the top. At about the same time they moved the crappy warm/ideal/hot thermometer from a handle on the top to the side of the top closer to the grates.

 

[mparry]

That's great! I went ahead and exchanged the Char-Brool for it. They were the same price.

I used it over the weekend with great success. My first chicken took a while due to my learning curve of the fire. The next day I tried 2 racks of ribs. 4 hours at 200*...perfect. Well, I am sure I have some room to go here before they are perfect, but I am off to a successful start thanks to the info in these forums.

I may try jerky this weekend. I ahve a top round in the freezer for that exact reason...