Cocktail Confessions

This morning when I first got up I decided I was going to be somewhat proactive today and do some ‘Jayson’ chores about the house.  In addition to do some laundry, watering plants, sweeping the garage, taking the car in for an oil change, I decided I’d take the time to build the free smoker my wife graciously gave me as her 10 year work anniversary present.

Armed with a bloody Mary in one hand, screw driver in the other, and a mix CD of dance trax pumping from my garage stereo, I finally broke out the ‘smoker’ box that has been sitting in my garage for the last few weeks and decided to assemble it.  It turns out that the time we got was in-fact NOT the Brinkmann Gourmet Smoker we thought was listed in the catalog, but the lower-end Brinkmann 810-5301-6 Smoke ‘N Grill charcoal smoker.  It actually retails for about $69 and is made in China, which is quite apparent when you start your initial assembly.  The issue straight out if the box is that you can tell that quality control is a low priority with Brinkmann, or at least this model.  But then again, it was free to us, so it all depends on how much you really want to complain.

Straight out of the box, here are some of the issues I came across:

1. Main kettle drum was slightly damaged on bottom rim.  Not a deal breaker, but a minor dent was disheartening for a brand new grill.
2. Top kettle paint job was badly scuffed.  Yeah, right out of the box there was some major scuff and scratch marks to the black enamel paint job.
3. Weld points on the actual chrome-plated grill surface were loose.  On one of the 2 enclosed grill surfaces, I noticed that a few weld points were in fact not secured properly.
4. Drill holes were off-kilter.  On some, (not all), of the pre drilled holes where the handles are to be attached, the holes were not aligned properly.  After some minor bending of the handles, I was able to secure the handles as instructed, but they should not have been as difficult as they were.
5. Kettle was not perfectly round.  This is an issue if you want the top kettle drum to fit on body correctly.  Since the body was ‘slightly’ oval instead of round, (as it should have been), it took some additional bending and compression my end to get it to the proper shape.
6. Finally, the sheet metal door that allows access to the front of smoker to add additional charcoal was also bent.  Thankfully, it is thin enough where I could bend this back into shape by hand, but overall, very dissapointing construction for an out of the box product. 

All these items could be fixed easily and shouldn’t affect the overall process of grilling and smoking, but that’s not really the point.  Free or not, when I buy a factory sealed product, I expect it to be as close to 100% mint as possible.  In this case, this ‘freebie’ felt as if it were perhaps a clearance item and no wonder it was given away free to my wife.  I’d say it was closer to 75%-80% condition out of box.

Assembly was fairly easy, even with the re-bending of some of the sheet metal I had to do.  The few other issues I noted are as such: A) The legs are a bit short.  I wish they were slightly sturdier and longer.  B) Thermometer is a very cheap model that indicates ‘warm, ideal, hot’ as opposed to actual degrees.  When cooking a brisket, pork, or chicken, you may definitely want to invest in a separate meat thermometer as the included one will be hard for anyone to tell what the actual maintained temperature is.  C) The included charcoal and water basin plates could fit a tad better as well.  They are exactly the same parts used internally, but how they rest on the internal clips is a little shaky.  A handy person with a drill and some engineering or shop experience may want to employ a little additional efforts and modifications to help secure these items prior to use as this may be a recipe for errors down the line.

Speaking of modification, I came across the following website in which this gentleman vastly improves his own Brinkmann smoker.  Using just a few of his ideas may vastly improve your own cooking experience, and over time I think I will introduce his mods on a more accurate thermometer, gasket, and internal grills surface security.  Check it out here.

So my initial score would be a 2.5 on a scale of 5.  Could be much better, could be much worse, so I guess I gave it a half point for being ‘free’ in my case, otherwise the construction seems a bit subpar for a $70 product…and that’s Amazon’s price mind you.  It may actually be more at BBQ shops or other online grill stores, so this is for sure a ‘budget’ item.  There are higher qulaity smokers out there, but of course expect to start shelling out $100+ at that point.

So once completed, according to the instructions, you should initially cure your smoker to help burn off any excess factory paint inside and help resist and prevent future rusting.  I did this by removing the internal charcoal pan and grill grates and spraying the inside with PAM grill spray.  After a liberal coating inside, I began to start a few pounds of regular Kingsford charcoal in a standard chimney starter.  You can find generic versions of these as low as $10 bucks at most hardware stores.  Anything more than $17 maybe a rip off and I don’t think the higher end ones are all that much better than the $10 ones.

Once I had the charcoal started, I let it burn for approx 15-20 minutes within the starter before pouring it directly into the smokers charcoal pan.  Allowing the 15-20 minute burn allows for any fuel on the charcoal to dissipate for an overall cleaner tastes in your food (no gas taste).  Also, it allows for all the charcoal to get started evenly and reach a more consistent temperature.  When the charcoal turns from black to an ash gray, its ready.

Now that the charcoal is in the smoker, go ahead and put the lid on top.  Within 5 – 7 minutes or so, you should see the thermometer reach  the ‘ideal’ reading.  Go ahead and let the smoker cure for a minimum of two hours.  If you note that the dial begins to dip in the first 45 minutes to an hour, go ahead, open the door, and add some more charcoal briquettes.  But after 1.5 hours, no need to add anything else.  Let it burn through as is and make sure it cools q100% before removing spent charcoal.  At this point your initial curing should be complete and your ready to start your real first smoked effort.

During the curing stage, I went to Lowe’s and bought myself a bag of hardwood hickory charcoal.  It’s not that expensive, about $7.50 for a regular size bag.  Just remember that it takes less hardwood charcoal than standard coal briquettes to maintain the same temperature and they also burn longer.  Follow instructions on the bag and you should be able to make it last longer than standard OTC charcoal everyone else uses at their beach BBQ’s.   Not to mention you’re getting these because the idea is that you actually want to ‘smoke’ your meat.  Smoking is all about low temperatures, maintaining that temperature, and long times.  We aren’t grilling hamburgers of chicken breasts here.  No we are smoking for generally 8 or more hours depending on the cut of meat.  A 10 lb brisket will smoke easily for 10-12 hours, so we’re in it for the long haul.