Brinkman SNP 2nd Smoke (Better Results)

danwright · Newbie Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Clanton, AL

Hello Everyone! First of all I want to thank each of you that have given suggestions at every point on this forum. I used several different suggestions today and produced better results on my SNP. I want to especially thank Alien for his Brinkman mods post!

On my 2nd smoke with my SNP I made the following changes. In the firebox I raised the grate to 3" using grates from my old smoker (it is all I had). I put a 7" loaf pan filled with sand in the cooking chamber toward the firebox side. I used the supplied charcoal grate in the cooking chamber as a heat diverter and I used aluminum foil to fill the gap between the grate and the side of the cooking chamber where the firebox opening is. I also plugged the two huge holes (approx 1") on each side of the cooking chamber lid with foil. I have yet to figure out why these holes exist and one of them is directly above the firebox opening!! I used: Cowboy lump charcoal about 1 1/2 chimneys of kingsford charcoal, and about 8" long split, seasoned hickory logs . I added a log about every hour, just whenever there was no smoke present.

I smoked three chicken breast and 11 chicken thighs. I did not brine them, just used a rub, and on two of the thighs I used only crushed rosemary.

I maintained a cooking grate temp of 250-275 with a LOT less effort than my first smoke on this cooker. I strongly believe if Alien retrofitted his mods to the other brinkman smoker to this SNP that this would be an excellent smoker. The problem that I don't know how to solve is that on each side of the cooking chamber door there is a 1/2" gap and a good bit of smoke escapes from there so I know a lot of heat is getting out of there too. I need some high temp weather striping type material. Any suggestions for that??

If there are any further suggestions please let me know! Thanks!!

Here are the pics:

Where I coverd the hole in the lid above the firebox

I covered the charcoal grate for ease of cleaning, I am attempting to show where I covered the firebox opening at the grate level.

Markbb · Posted: Jan 07 2007 Post subject: foil

use HD foil on your door open it foil the inside and close it tightly temparory for now but works

Alien BBQ · Posted: Jan 07 2007 Post subject:

Glad things worked out for you!
_________________
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeloberry

Big Tom · Posted: Jan 07 2007 Post subject:

Good job with the improvements and results.

You may try to look for silicone or teflon weatherstrip gasket from an industrial supply house or similar type vendor.
_________________
Big Tom
Pigs-R-Us Cooking Team
Owensboro, KY / Corinth, MS

jvreeland · Posted: Jan 08 2007 Post subject:

Looks good enough to eat!!
_________________
Jeff Vreeland
Alabama GrillBillies Team

jared · Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

I am new to this forum and new to smoking. I have the same type of smoker and I have had the same tempertaure problems with mine. I have only used the smoker twice and the grate in the burning chamber is bent from the temperature of the fire and in my second smoke the fire went out because of the grate. So I went to a welder and he made me a grate from steel. The new grate is the same size, but weighs 8-10lbs. I am hoping this will help in maintaining the fire and temperature. I will to try to cover the holes with foil.

danwright · Newbie Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Clanton, AL

Jared, I have the same problem with my grate bending in the firebox. When I used the other grates to raise the supplied grate those bent. The only quick fix I know of is to just turn them over so they will bend the other way until I can get some heavier guage steel or a charcoal box of some type.

Markbb · Posted: Jan 09 2007 Post subject: Grate bending

If you have room put some brick under your grate, two things happen your grate doesn't bend and better air flow under your fire.

jared · Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

what does the sand in the pan do and what is Cowboy lump charcoal and 1 and 1/2 chimneys of kingsford charcoal? Were can I buy lump charcoal (is lump charcoal the same as charcoal at the store and is chimneys a unit of measure of charcoal)? I AM A ROOKIE.

Jeff T · Posted: Jan 09 2007 Post subject:

The sand in the pan idea is to replace the water in a verticle or bullet smoker like a Weber Smoky Mountain cooker or a Brinkmann Smoke N Grill smoker. The sand will raise the temps a bit and there will be no need to keep adding water.
Lump charcoal is pre-burnt wood basically and ofcourse when we say charcoal we mean like kingsford. Here is what lump looks like....
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag6.htm
scroll down to see it.
Cowboy lump is just a more commonly available brand, there is better.
Look here for other brands and there review. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag
A charcoal chimney is a devise thats used to start the lump or charcoal without the use of lighter fluid(yuck)
Like this..... http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chimney.html
Hope this clears things up a bit for ya. Wink

Don`t know if ya don`t ask. Very Happy

roxy · Posted: Jan 09 2007 Post subject:

Dan:

My team mate has the same cooker and if I may suggest, flip that main chamber charcoal grate over so the curved part is facing up, it acts as a excellent baffle and you ca cover it with foil for easy clean up. A long piece of crumpled foil tucked along the edge of the cooking chamber charcoal grate will cut the hot spot next to the fire box.

You can cook chicken at a higher temp with great results. With some pratice you should be able to get your cooker to 300+ degrees which is perfect form chicken.

Most of Aliens mods to SnP really do not apply to this cooker as it is a different design from the ones Alien tweaked to perfection, it is more like a Chargriller smokin pro than the old SnP. I too wish Alien would buy one of these units and do his Voodoo to it.

His post about this cooker.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5341
_________________
Chargriller Akorn
WSM
LIAR #100
_________________
Do not rely on a rabbits foot for luck, it did not work out too well for the rabbit...

Alien BBQ · Posted: Jan 10 2007 Post subject:

roxy · Posted: Jan 10 2007 Post subject:

Your the one with all the money teaching that BBQ U.. Wink

Sure would be a good thing if you could find some time when you can to work out some mods for that cooker as I am sure there have been a ton of em sold and a lot of folks looking to find a way to make em work better.
_________________
Chargriller Akorn
WSM
LIAR #100
_________________
Do not rely on a rabbits foot for luck, it did not work out too well for the rabbit...

jared · Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 9

If I have an Brinkmann Smoke n Grill smoker that is horizontal can I use a pan full of sand? Also on some of gaps on the smoker I covered them up with tape that is made out of metal. I will see how that works.