Brinkmann 852-7080-7 Gourmet Charcoal Smoker and Grill, Black Review

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List Price: $99.95
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This is a nice little smoker and great if you want to learn how to do it, or you smoke on the odd weekend here and there. It is inexpensive, and it works. But I have learned a couple of tricks with this one.

1. Get a digital thermometer. I drilled a wee hole in the top for the probe. With a digital thermometer this is a 5 star unit. Without one, do not waste your time.

2. Keep water in the water pan. If it gets low, add additional boiling water. Adding hot water keeps you from losing temperature.

3. Use "real" hardwood charcoal and not briquets. Get a solid bed of coals going well (lots of white ash) before you put your meat on. Hardwood charcoal seems to maintain heat and you do not get spikes or drops in temp as I did with briquets.

4. Recognize this is a small unit and it gains and loses heat fast. I check it every half hour, and add a few lumps of charcoal and a piece of whatever wood I am smoking with. The trick is to make small adjustments frequently, and not do major changes so that it gets too hot or too cool. And you can not maintain heat if it starts raining. The unit loses too much heat.

The first time I smoked, I got great results but had to mess with it constantly. By the third time I had it to the point where I only had to check it about once an hour. This is not a set it and forget it smoker, but it is inexpensive and it works very well if you are willing to attend it. That versus expensive smokers that you also have to attend.

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I purchased the Gourmet Charcoal smoker as the 4th Brinkmann charcoal smoker that I have owned over the last 35 years. The others have been the 'R2D2' standard Brinkmann models. I still have the 2nd one that I ever purchased and it still works. For those of us who have taken the time to learn how to use the smoker as intended, it is simple and produces good smoked meats. I smoke pork ribs, salmon, sausages, chicken breasts, whole catfish (skinned, headed and gutted), and other fish. All turn out well. I use whatever wood I gather from the yard oak (best), maple, fruit wood, and sycamore, to provide smoke. All work I don;t recommend buying special woods for smoking. I also use extra racks from the old smokers to layer meats in the smoker and gain capacity..

This is a much nicer and slightly heavier built model than the last standard model that I purchased 10 years ago. The separate charcoal pan works nicely and seems to provide a more consistent heat. I smoked baby back ribs last night on the grill using 35 yr old Brinkmann rib racks. They were pronounced "the best that I have done" by my wife's retired chef friend.. I would highly recommend this product.

The only downside was that the bottom cylinder part of the smoker was bent and dented on arrival though not enough to be worth the trouble to return the smoker. And not enough to effect the functioning of the smoker. Stiffer packaging for shipping is probably needed.

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I have owned this exact smoker before. When the previous unit rusted through I bought a lesser model from the same company and it does not perform well-charcoal does not burn all the way before it puts itself out. Used the new unit at Thanksgiving and it smoked a 13# bird in 5 hours and still had plenty of heat. It does generate a lot of heat compared to other water smokers but it works very well. It will do 2 4-5 pound chickens in 3-1/2 hours with fabulous results. The only downside is that it can not be left outside or it will rust. The bottom lip on the charcoal pan will collect rain and divert it into the ashes. I would buy this unit again

Honest reviews on Brinkmann 852-7080-7 Gourmet Charcoal Smoker and Grill, Black

Shipped without the wooden handle for the lid. Screw holes do no line up with handle brackets. Called the number provided for "Missing parts"...suggesting they have a dedicated department for dealing with screwing up. I left a message 4 hours ago bc that is the only option you have to speak with someone. NO call back as of yet. After reading more reviews, this sounds par for the course with this company.

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I bought this product to start smoking for the first time so really did not know enough about the smokers to even make an educated decision at the time of my purchase, but turns out I made a great decision. The assembly was easy and quick, you could be smoking your first BBQ 30 minutes after this arrives. The smoker is easy to use and has held up perfectly so far (I bought it about 6 months ago). I didn't get a cover for it but so far it has held up to the elements pretty well. The only problem I saw was that the temperature gauge is very generic,,it gives you a general range of temperatures and works well enough to let you know if you are in the ballpark, I went ahead and ordered another $7 thermometer to put on it to give me more precise temps. This is a great buy--Im not sure what better value a more expensive unit could give you.