- Jul 18, 2012
- 1
- 10
Hey all, new site user from Napa California here I wanted to say hi.
I have had my Brinkman vertical cabinet smoker for just under a year now. I picked up this smoker for both the look and price of the unit. I liked the duel door access knowing I would be smoking both fish and meat in it. The smoker was on sale at HomeDepot for about 75$, I have the last produced version of this smoker which has vertical bars rather than coil springs for handles.
Before I sparked up the smoked I looked at few sites that all said the same thing. All of the sites sited the coal tray as being guilty of choking coals there in effectually limiting the amount of heat the smoker could put out. So to increase air flow I drilled 20 holes in the charcoal pan using a .5 drill bit.
Jumping right in
My first try at the smoker (after seasoning it) was 9 lb turkey for thanksgiving last year. It was a crummy day and I smoked the bird for 8 hours while fighting temperature spikes and water issues (due to a high temp). I learned a lot about regulating temp’s on my Brinkman that day. At the end of the day I pulled the bird to let it rest in the house around 6pm. Everyone was happy and stuffed while I was worked from all the running around.
Christmas was the 2nd try another 12 lb bird, this bird took 8 hours and saw more temperature spikes than the first try. The cold wind and slight rain did not help the smoker one bit. Again I learned about temperature and charcoal, I used hardwood briquettes because I had seen so many people talk about how great they were and how they burned hotter than others. I was lucky to have two try’s work out with a great tasting bird at the end of the event.
Over the course of these two trys, I vowed to make a few "changes" to the smoker and fuel to make this a more pleasant process. Last week I began to make one of the changes I spoke about. I built an outdoor kitchen using cinderblock’s.
1. I built the brinkman into the counter and added ducting for all of the vents.
2. Lined the bottom of the smoker with half height fire bricks to redirect heat upward towards the meat
3. Removed the legs and handles from the smoker.
Yesterday I smoked two racks of ribs
3. I started 8 bricks of Kingsford charcoal in a chimney, then added them to the pan. I then added 5 more charcoal chunks in the hopes they would catch later in the process.
4. Used 1/4 of a bag of Hickory wood chips that were soaked over night in water. I added Hickory for the first three hours, one handful every hour or when the smoke died off.
The smoker warmed up to 225 on the nose and there it stayed for 2 the next hours. I used the 1.5/1.5/1/1 method for these ribs.
Flipping the rack at 1.5, wrapping them in foil after 3 hours for one hour (cover ribs in brown sugar and add two ladles of drippings from the water pan). Unwrapping after one hour , then returning the racks to the smoker until done.
The ribs turned out amazing. I had some issues with the temp but never more than 30 degrees. I think the bricks / cinder block insulation worked like a charm. I can’t wait to try other meats!!
I have had my Brinkman vertical cabinet smoker for just under a year now. I picked up this smoker for both the look and price of the unit. I liked the duel door access knowing I would be smoking both fish and meat in it. The smoker was on sale at HomeDepot for about 75$, I have the last produced version of this smoker which has vertical bars rather than coil springs for handles.
Before I sparked up the smoked I looked at few sites that all said the same thing. All of the sites sited the coal tray as being guilty of choking coals there in effectually limiting the amount of heat the smoker could put out. So to increase air flow I drilled 20 holes in the charcoal pan using a .5 drill bit.
Jumping right in
My first try at the smoker (after seasoning it) was 9 lb turkey for thanksgiving last year. It was a crummy day and I smoked the bird for 8 hours while fighting temperature spikes and water issues (due to a high temp). I learned a lot about regulating temp’s on my Brinkman that day. At the end of the day I pulled the bird to let it rest in the house around 6pm. Everyone was happy and stuffed while I was worked from all the running around.
Christmas was the 2nd try another 12 lb bird, this bird took 8 hours and saw more temperature spikes than the first try. The cold wind and slight rain did not help the smoker one bit. Again I learned about temperature and charcoal, I used hardwood briquettes because I had seen so many people talk about how great they were and how they burned hotter than others. I was lucky to have two try’s work out with a great tasting bird at the end of the event.
Over the course of these two trys, I vowed to make a few "changes" to the smoker and fuel to make this a more pleasant process. Last week I began to make one of the changes I spoke about. I built an outdoor kitchen using cinderblock’s.
1. I built the brinkman into the counter and added ducting for all of the vents.
2. Lined the bottom of the smoker with half height fire bricks to redirect heat upward towards the meat
3. Removed the legs and handles from the smoker.
Yesterday I smoked two racks of ribs
3. I started 8 bricks of Kingsford charcoal in a chimney, then added them to the pan. I then added 5 more charcoal chunks in the hopes they would catch later in the process.
4. Used 1/4 of a bag of Hickory wood chips that were soaked over night in water. I added Hickory for the first three hours, one handful every hour or when the smoke died off.
The smoker warmed up to 225 on the nose and there it stayed for 2 the next hours. I used the 1.5/1.5/1/1 method for these ribs.
Flipping the rack at 1.5, wrapping them in foil after 3 hours for one hour (cover ribs in brown sugar and add two ladles of drippings from the water pan). Unwrapping after one hour , then returning the racks to the smoker until done.
The ribs turned out amazing. I had some issues with the temp but never more than 30 degrees. I think the bricks / cinder block insulation worked like a charm. I can’t wait to try other meats!!
