Nostalgia - my 2 oldest Brinkmann smokers

[philpom]

My name is Mark and I have a smoker addiction....

We traveled up to the other place this past week to take care of the yard, have some r&r and get some chores done. It's the home that gets all of the 2nd hand goods. I buy a new lawn tractor, it stays in Texas and the old one gets a new mountain home, a new blender, grill, shovel... same story. This is mostly for 2 reasons, 1. Noone is there most of the time. 2. I like the shiny new objects close so I can use them often.

That being said, over the years a few cookers made its way up there. Our first ever smoker and our first ever offset smoker. Both a Brinkmann.

This one was the very first one, over 30 years ago. I remember saving money, pondering if we could afford the expense of this $49 smoker and how exciting it was to cook on it the first time and every time after that. I keep it only because "one" day I'll rehab it and run it again.

This one we purchased around 25 years ago. Similar story, wanted it so bad but the cost at $199 was very hard to swallow. To this day it still cooks at least 2 meals a year. I modified the stack to extend it down to grate level and installed a steel baffle. Unfortunately about 4 years ago a hole rusted through on the fire box. It's life is coming to an end before too long. A pretty good run for $199.

A ton of good memories.... and bad ones associated with these 2 smokers. It's where my smoking journey began!

 

[chopsaw]

Love the old Brinkmann offset . Wish I could find one like that .
Nice story !

 

[DougE]

It still works, but just collects dust in the barn, these days. It was a pretty decent smoker for the price back then, though.

 

[philpom]

Love the old Brinkmann offset . Wish I could find one like that .
Nice story !

I must admit the quality of the material used to build it are high. Almost no exterior rust on the chamber and just some surface rust inside the chamber. The fire box is a slightly different story but still serviceable. The wall between each chamber is getting bad.

 

[philpom]

It still works, but just collects dust in the barn, these days. It was a pretty decent smoker for the price back then, though.

View attachment 719216

I definitely remember those and they offered a charcoal one with the bottom coal pan, I think it was the Cajun smoker. The one I have is an open bottom with 3 legs, the lowest tier model good money could buy.

You should toss something in there for fun!

 

[normanaj]

First smoker was a Smoke N Grill.

 

[912smoker]

It still works, but just collects dust in the barn, these days. It was a pretty decent smoker for the price back then, though.

View attachment 719216

That's also what I started on and turned out some pretty good grub!

Keith

 

[chopsaw]

the quality of the material used to build it are high.

I've been face to face with one . No doubt about the quality .

 

[DougE]

That's also what I started on and turned out some pretty good grub!

Keith

Biggest complaint I had was that the heating element was wide open, or nothing. No easy way to regulate temps. I made some good Q on it in spite of that, though.

 

[bill1]

Biggest complaint I had was that the heating element was wide open, or nothing. No easy way to regulate temps. I made some good Q on it in spite of that, though.

Temp control was all by the vents. With the electric ones, less air meant higher temps. For the charcoal/wood ones, just the opposite.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I bought the Brinkman water smoker in mid 80's. Never figured it out. Its a bad memory today cuz the Weber was making the WSM at that time. If I'd only found the WSM first.

And my FIL had given me a PK grill, early 80's.

Both were stolen off my patio in 1989. I really missed that PK grill, but they did me a favor taking the Brinkman.

 

[DougE]

Temp control was all by the vents. With the electric ones, less air meant higher temps. For the charcoal/wood ones, just the opposite.

There are no top or bottom vents that are adjustable on the old Brinkmann electrics. The lid on top has a gap all the way around to vent it, and that's it.

The water pan kind of keeps temps down in hot weather, to some degree, and filling the pan with sand helps some in cold temps. Other than that, it runs where it wants to.

 

[JLinza]

I got an old brinkman offset, doest get used as much anymore. Nice story

 

[philpom]

There are no top or bottom vents that are adjustable on the old Brinkmann electrics. The lid on top has a gap all the way around to vent it, and that's it.

The water pan kind of keeps temps down in hot weather, to some degree, and filling the pan with sand helps some in cold temps. Other than that, it runs where it wants to.

Same exact situation with the charcoal version. I drilled some holes in the charcoal pan because I had issues sometimes getting to temp and staying there. I guess that was my first smoker mod. lol

 

[DougE]

Same exact situation with the charcoal version. I drilled some holes in the charcoal pan because I had issues sometimes getting to temp and staying there. I guess that was my first smoker mod. lol

Not much of a way to fix the electric version. There is no thermostat on the element. It just runs wide open all the time. Saw where a few put a daisy wheel vent on the lid to let some more heat escape, but running it in summer was manageable, as is, for the most part. I suppose you could rig it with a PID to control the element but really not worth the cost for a smoker this cheap.

Winter was tougher to keep it up to temp, though.

 

[BigW.]

Electric Brinkman was my first smoker 30 yrs ago. Black lab chewed thru the cord. Had to sit it on top of propane camping stove for heat after that. Dogs...