I've had this smoker for four years now and am generally happy with it.
Pros: Great success smoking baby-back ribs and pork shoulder (for pulled pork). Fairly easy cleanup (see Tips below) and true Lazy-Q (you don't need to do anything other than remove the food if cooking for just three-four hoiurs)
Cons: As previously noted, it can't maintain a hot temperature in windy/cold conditions. The water pan and electric element below it are hard to access once you start cooking. You basically need to remove the food grills to get to the water pan. This isn't necessary when cooking ribs, but a pork shoulder can take up to eight hours. To get to the electric element to add wood chips is a bit easier; you need to lift the entire assembly (food, water pan, and all) off of the base.
Tips:
Well, not much you can do about cooking in cold weather. I may need to try the 'old towel on the top' tip mentioned by another reviewer.
When preparing to cook, fill the water pan up to near the top so you don't need to add water later. Also place enough wood chips near the electric element so you don't need to add more later. I've never had to add wood chips. Also, preheat the smoker without the food grills on to get the wood chips to start smoking.
Place foil over the bottom pan before adding wood chips. This makes cleanup a lot easier especially if grease drips down and misses the water pan. I usually run the foil up the side of the base (inside) to keep that relatively clean.
Don't open the lid! That will release all the heat and delay cooking.
Overall, I think this is a pretty good smoker. I have had no rusting problems though the inside of it gets really grimy after a few cooking sessions.
Others have noted that the Brinkmann electric as an option. That model has an access door to the water pan, lava rocks (maybe that helps to get the wood chips to smoke?), but the heating element does not have a thermostat.
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I've owned this smoker for 6 years and have had great success turning out turkeys, pulled pork, ribs, etc.
Couple of tips that took me some time to work out.
1) Cover the water pan with some heavy duty foil after filling it. This'll prevent the liquid from boiling away too quickly. You won't have to refill it during the smoking, and it'll prevent the smoker from getting too "wet" inside. When I left it uncovered, I was getting steamed meat, not smoked.
2) Drill a hole in the bottom of the unit, and get a drip pan underneath it. This'll allow any condensation to drip out rather than collecting in the bottom of the smoker and promoting rust.
3) Get some heavy duty foil beneath the heater element. Makes cleanup much easier, and gets the heat reflected up to the food.
Have fun....
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I have had excellent results with this smoker. Yes it's a cheapie, but used correctly you can get great results.
1. Use a short heavy duty power cord.
2. Don't worry about smoke coming out of the top, it's supposed to.
3. Soak your chips for an hour or so, wrap them in heavy foil, puncture the foil and place it between the electric elements.
4. Fill the water pan with very hot water, not cold.
5. Wind and cold air temps are the enemy. I made a blanket out of a foil covered water heater blanket (cut to size) and used foil tape to seal the edges and bungee cords to hold it in place. It works beautifuly. Cost about ten bucks.
6. Forget the thermometer on the lid, it is useless. For the best results and until you become expert you will need two remote thermometers. One to go in the meat you are smoking, the second one to monitor the smoker temperature. To monitor the smoker temp, stick the probe all the way through the narrow end a raw potato and place it on the top rack. You want to be cooking in the 220 to 230 range. Pay careful attention to both temperatures, reduce or increase the heat as necessary.
7. Let the smoker get hot before you place the food in it. And remember to let the food get to almost room temp before you place it in the smoker.
Follow these tips and you will really enjoy the delicious bbq that this little smoker can make. Hope this helps.
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I am not really happy with this smoker so far. I know it is not top of the line, and not rocket science. The outside finish seems very durable, but...the paint is peeling off the inside of the lid and inside of the barrel after the first use. I expect it will begin to rust fairly quickly now. Shame on me for not keeping my receipt. I would take it back and buy a different brand.
Furthermore, I am not crazy about the reflector shield, used on the bottom of the unit. Place the wood chips around the element,on the shield and...some of them smolder, some of them don't.
The last model I owned (I think it was a Weber, for over 10 years) used lava rocks surrounding the electric coil. Then spread the chips around the lava rocks. Seemed to work a lot better.
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I recently purchased this smoker to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving. This is the first time that I have used a smoker and I was very impressed with the flavor of the finished product. Before I smoked the Turkey I decided to research the process and any other info I could find on using this smoker. I initially read the reviews that had been posted here on Amazon and I was very concerned. After reading all the info that I could find about the subject I proceeded with caution. Here are the things that I learned and did to ensure that the Thanksgiving Turkey was not ruined:
1. High quality extension cord -basically your typical orange extension cord that you would use with power tools. Do not use the very thin gauge brown or white cords that might be used for an indoor lamp. Also, you should use as short a cord as possible. Another tip would be to plug the extension cord into a higher amp circuit such as in the garage or kitchen.
2. If you are going to smoke a large item such as a Turkey make sure that you use hardwood (Hickory, Mesquite, etc) chunks and not chips. The chunks are larger than chips, somewhere between golf ball size and softball size.
3. If you can, try to purchase a remote Thermometer. This a meat Thermometer that has a probe that you insert into the thickest part of the meat. The probe has a long heat proof cable that plugs into a transmitter. The transmitter broadcast a signal to the receiver which you can keep near you so that you can monitor the temperature the entire time that you are smoking. The receiver also has an alarm.
By using these tips I was able to smoke a 12.6 lb turkey in about 5.5 hours on a very cold and windy day (30 deg at beginning of smoke going up to mid 40s). I initially used the towel on the top trick but realized early on that the smoker was too hot instead of too cold and I ended up having to remove the towel and turn down the heat. My entire family thought that the Turkey was the best that they ever had.
