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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 34 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
94 of 95 found the following review helpful:
A easy way to smoke food Oct 05, 2006
By Glenn T. Howard Jr.
I have owned this smoker for 5 years now and have a few insights for those looking to purchase this smoker.
I have smoked 7 turkeys, alot of pork, and some beef all with really great results.
I love that its electric. Regulating temp with charcoal smokers can be tedious. You barely have to do anything to it except add water and chips. It will maintain the ideal temperature of 220 degrees fairly well, But there are a few issues with this smoker:
1. Materials and construction- metal is thin and the lid fits loosely. The lid is suppose to fit loosely! There is no vent so it helps with the smoke. But because the metal is thin, on cold and/or windy days, it can be difficult for it to maintain it's temp on long smokes. Often runs 200-210 degrees. This will increase your cooking time! On hot days it will run at 230- 240 degrees. Although I can't reccomend this modification to help with heat loss, I have actually heard of people fitting a electric water heating blanket to the outside of the smoker to help with this.
2. I wish the heating element was adjustable to help regulate the temp.
3. The door is small which makes it hard to add chips or water. Although you can take the unit off its base to add chips, this is akward and a bit dangerous since you may spill the water. It is nice to remove the base to help clean the unit though.
4. I installed an after market temp. gauge in the lid. (A must)
Overall a good entry level smoker that is super easy to use. Got mine at W-mart for $75. Anyhow, it's a great value for under a $100. Now after 5 years, it is about done and I need a new smoker. I will try to upgrade although after looking around at all the electric smokers, I might just buy another one of these. I love the "bullet" design of the vertical smokers.
The stainless steel version of this model looks nice and is obviously made of better material, but the main section is attacted to the base. I do like being able to remove the base. Plus the element is still not adjustable. The only other choice is a stainless steel meco smoker which has a better door design and a adjustable heating element, but is double the price. So I will either get this model again and do some modifications (temp gauge and maybe an adjustable element) or get the meco. Hope this review helps.
25 of 25 found the following review helpful:
Good Entry Level Smoker Dec 27, 2005
By Gr8Stogie
I picked up this smoker at Lowes for a lot less than Amazon. I also bought an inexpensive cover with elastic that works just fine. Overall this is a good smoker. Assembly took a while since the handles didn't match up with the holes on the smoker body and lid so I had to hammer at the handles a bit to get them to fit. Otherwise assembly was easy.
The food thus far has come out great. I have done salmon twice. I was smoking in 30 and 40 degree weather and the fish took the normal 2 hour smoke time. Once it was heated and smoking the temperature stayed between 200-250 degrees. I'm sure it will do turkey breasts and brisket just as well also.
I would recomend this to anyone who wants a fair priced entry level smoker.
13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Simple fire-and-forget smoking Nov 27, 2008
By H. Feldman
"Home Theater Nut"
***Update: I will leave the text below as originally written: so the entire paint on the inside pealed off in one giant sheet during a cold day/smoking session. The replacement seems again to be fine. ***
I've had mine for a year, and love it. It was cheap, easy and gets used all the time. It's pretty foolproof. Didn't have any of the paint problems that someone complained of. The smoker gets certainly hot enough (unsure why folks complain that this is a problem, unless they have a defective unit), as you don't want to cook the meat quickly, or the smoke won't penetrate. For the price definitely get it. Make sure to get the cover if it isn't in the box (some come with some don't) if you live anywhere there is rain, as rain + smoke/ash lead to rapid corrosion. Make sure this thing is WELL vented, as it produces unbelievable amounts of smoke if used correctly. For a big smoke, as someone noted you have to add more wood (depends on the chunk size). They note in the manual that you should not have the chunks touch the heater, so take care in placing the chunks.
PROS:
Lightweight, make sure to get cover for it.
very inexpensive
super simple (put in wet wood, put in liquid, put in meat, plug in, repeat)
produces gobs of smoke (make sure no air intakes for your house are nearby, you only do that once!)
nice big fluid bowl
2 racks, each capable of holding a big turkey (I've done 2x19lbs)
Electric works when it's cold and it doesn't run out in the middle of a big cooking session, unlike propane (pure wood smokers have this advantage if you have a big wood pile)
Easy cleaning
Nice side door for adding the odd chunk of wood
CONS:
Ash builds up quickly on the lava rocks, which after a long while will start to float (I've taken to periodically rinsing the rocks in a colander)
There is no smokestack, so smoke comes out on all sides of the top (just be aware)
This is more a mild hard smoke (moderate heat, mostly smoke), particularly if it's cold out (this can be a plus with fish - it produces awe inspiring smoked salmon)
Times in manual virtually useless (so spend a few bucks a get a remote grilling thermometer, problem solved)
HOW I USE IT:
My local oil/ice company here in Boston sells smoking woods (I get 50lbs bags of hickory and mesquite at home depot and cherry and apple at the ice place, all 4 last one season). Take a few chunks and soak them for an hour or 2 (if you need faster smoking, start with one simply rinsed one which will start smoking in minutes)
Smoked Salmon:
Get big salmon fillets at costco. Rinse the fish to get anything off, and to make spices stick. Look for bones at this point. Pack in Pepper, Dill, Lemon Zest and about 1/4" of kosher salt. Seal it up in the fridge overnight. About 1-2 hours start smoking with either apple or hickory. Rinse the fish REALLY well to get off the salt or it will be WAY to salty. Reapply dill, zest and pepper (there is NO need for salt again - trust me), With a remote thermometer in the thick part of the fish, put a bottle of beer in the liquid bowl, slap it on the top rack with some 1/2 lemons (smoked lemon rocks). Somewhere in the 130 range the fish is done (remember it is salt cured, so it can take a lower temp) but feel free to adjust to taste. Most folks say this beats store bought smoked salmon.
Tequilla-Lime Smoked Chicken Tacos:
Get boneless breasts. Rinse, place in big ziploc with tequila, lime juice, lime wedges, a little salt and pepper, chili pepper overnight in fridge. This is slightly ceviche'd at this point. Don't rinse off chicken. Put wet mesquite chunks in the smoker, add beer to the bowel (a corona or other mexican beer to be authentic) then place chicken on racks (I end up filling up most of both racks). Somewhere between 1-2 hours, check the meat temp (unlike the fish, make it 170+, this is chicken!). Let it rest for a few minutes, then shred to make tacos. It can be easy to over dry the meat, so watch closely. Remember it will be pink on the meat, this is the "smoke line"
18 of 20 found the following review helpful:
 Turkey took too long to smoke Dec 31, 2006
By D. Lee
"smoker rookie"
Can someone else comment on how your turkey turned out? I tried to smoke a turkey but after 9 hours, I gave up and finished the 15lb bird in the oven. The internal temp of the smoker stayed at 200'-230' and yet the bird's temp only reached 150'. Far less than the 180' cooked temperature required.
I also noticed the thing ate wood chips. My bro-inlaw has a weber bullet smoker and only added 1 1/2 cups of soaked chips over an 8 hour period, whereas the Brinkmann smoked up 3 cups of soaked chips in 2 hours. I think it has to do with the design with the smoke escaping at the opening of the loose fitting lid.
I was disappointed because I thought the Brinkmann was a great value for a low maintenance electric smoker. I returned it.
Now looking at the old smokey....
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Great smoker, within its limits Nov 16, 2010
By Mark A. Pearson
I have owned a Brinkmann electric smoker for about 3 years now, and have smoked everything I could think of to smoke on it, with excellent results. I have the following cautions to offer:
1. Be sure to remove the heating element from the smoker after each use and store it separately in a safe place. Be careful not to spill water on the heating element when it is on. I have gone through two elements so far as a result of not following these instructions, both corroded and burned out as a result (it's in the user's manual, which I studiously neglected to read). It's a pain, but it's cheaper than having to replace the element every year.
2. Heed the warnings in the other reviews about how much electricity this thing burns. I was using the outdoor outlet on the patio for a year or so, but eventually had to switch to another outlet because the breaker got too weak, and would pop off every time I used the smoker(not a good thing to happen to the turkey on Thanksgiving Day when all the ladies in the house keep using their hair blow dryers).
3. I have not yet tried this, but putting a cardboard box around it in cold weather would seem to be a great idea. I have smoked several turkeys the last three years in this smoker, works great, but it does take a long time, over 24 hours. The turkey is moist and tender, much better than baking in the oven.
4. I bought rib racks to do smoked pork ribs, and used them several times, but you really don't need them. I just put the ribs on the flat racks now, and that works just as well.
5. Be sure to follow the instructions (recipes on the internet) for smoking fish. Smoked fish without the marinade is like eating shoe leather. Trust me, I know.
6. Throw away the lava rocks that come with the smoker, and buy a bag of real lava rocks from the home center. Believe me, they work much better. Put the heating element on the bottom, and place the lava rocks (carefully) on top of the element, so that the wood does not contact the element. I use fruit tree prunings from our trees, and hickory chunks I got from a friend, works great. The little wood chips you get in the little bags are a waste of time, don't bother.
7. Like the other reviewers say, the thing is supposed to fit loosely, so that the smoke has someplace to go. Don't try to seal it up tight, or it won't work (that, too, is in the manual).
See all 34 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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