Brinkmann Electric Gourmet Smoker

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NJstout

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How is the Brinkmann Electric Gourmet Smoker? Does anyone have one? I'm just looking for a basic smoker to put out on my apartment balcony. Home Depot has this one for only $70

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-G...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

41QCjgRh1wL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
Did you get it? I have one. It was a hand me down. First one, firing it up tomorrow or my first smoke. Pork ribs a Cornish hen some eggs and potatoes.
 
I had one and gave it away..didn't like it. Mine didn't have any temperature control and I didn't like the fact I couldn't get a very good flavor from the smoker. I bought a Weber Smokey Mountain and couldn't be happier with it. If I could do it over again I would have just got the Weber from the get go.
 
I have one and love it. You can't really adjust the temp which is a major negative, but mine seems to stay steady around 230 depending on how cold it is out which is just fine for me when smoking port butts all day.

I love how i don't have to do anything but add wood every now and then.
 
I have had several of them. They are great for smoking and grilling. It's really hard to overcook with this smoker and I never use a thermometer. We use it more for grilling because of the convenience. No flare ups.....my 11 yr old cooks burgers on it sometimes. You can't burn anything!!! Toss some woodchips on the element to add whatever flavor you like. I have a stainless gas grill, a charcoal, and another smoker that never gets used. I just bought another one last week. Put you meat on and forget it, more time to enjoy your brew!!
 
I smoked some ribs and a cornish hen yesterday. worked great had a nice flavor, temp was about 235 all day, which was fine. I threw the ribs on the grill just to get the suce a little crispy too. Worked fine. I plan on upgrading at some point, but for my first smoker, this is perfect.
 
Never owned an electric but used a few. Two major issues I've seen is having to have it out of the weather or only cooking on nice days and most are hard to get anything above 250 unless it is warm weather (these have been lower/mid level units like in op, not top of line stuff)
 
I have this exact smoker, and use it quite a bit. We have been using it for 2 years it so and it has always been fine.

As previously mentioned, temp control is a draw back. I use this to smoke pork butts and homemade sausages 99% of the time so it works well for me. If you foresee yourself getting more seriously into smoking as a hobby, you may want to check out a nicer unit, but for casual use its fine.
 
Hi

I run an electric and they all have the same basic issues. They don't get real hot (not a problem for me, cool and slow = tasty). They are a bit of a panic when it rains (as it did a couple days ago).

Bob
 
My FIL has one. He liked it but noted that there's no tmeperature control. He also blew out the element by tossing the wood directly on it. I'm not sure how long it lasted before that happened. The meat coming off it is tasty but it doesn't get a lot of smoke flavor to it.

My dad has the same smoker but the charcoal version. It produces more smoky food and importantly, you can control the temperatures.

I plan on getting the charcoal version for a couple of reaosns. First, I need to be able to control temperatures to keep it cool (120F-ish) to smoke grains. Second, I like my food more smokey. If I could find a good but reasonably priced electric with temperature control I'd probably get it but everybody seems to say charcoal is the way to go if you need temp control.
 
Hi

You can indeed get electrics with temperature control that works. They are not real cheap. They still struggle to get to 250 or so with a full load of "stuff" in the smoker.

Bob
 
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