Customer Reviews for Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill Charcoal Smoker and Grill

We replaced our old and used grill. This is our favorite smoker and grill and we will most likely never use another brand/kind.

I have had more than one and they cook very well. Thermometers vary from grill to grill so you need a good thermometer to check the food and it needs a fourth leg for stability.

I bought this as a gift for my son in Alabama. He had an old one that was at least 20 years old, sitll working but had no legs. He was SO happy to get a new one. He has been smoking ever since.

the smoker was easy to assemble. I was just really disappointed when we were missing a grill. also, because of the opening on the bottom, it was letting all the smoke and heat out. so it made cooking times even longer. I definitely would out in a little extra money to upgrade to a better smoker.

PARTS: All there surprisingly and better design and quality than I expected. FIT: The lid is not tight and leaves huge gaps but these are needed for airflow anyway to avoid creosote.. SEASONG: Went as planned with no melting of metal LOL. First Smoke: First of all, due to the size of the smoke pan, there is NO way you will ever get a fire to hold temperature low and slow for hours. The man will fill with ashes and smother the fire. I am using half size LOGS. I still had to completely redo the fire after a couple hours by removing the unit, dumping the ashes and refilling with fresh wood and lump charcoal. Then I had to wait a half an hour for everything to turn white and start buring well. Then I replaced the unit. Keeping this low and slow is IMPOSSIBLE. Be prepared for a temperature range over time from 175-350. It's just the SIZE of the unit that causes this problem. It's just too small. SUMMARY. You will need to remake your fire every two hours, even with wood logs or lumps and lump charcoal. You absolutely MUST Use the Mod to install the legs on the OUTSIDE of the unit so you can pick it up off the fire pan (which would be supported on cinder blocks) and easily redo your fire without having to touch your food racks. The fire bowl is supported under the rim by cinder blocks, then the unit sits right down on those same cinder blocks. This is the only way to use this unit. Imagine trying to smoke over a campfire. For 49 bucks, it's well worth it but it takes SKILL and PATIENCE to smoke meat this way. You will have to accept temperatures fluctuating and rebuilding the fire every so often. The secret is to use more fuel than you think it needs so it lasts longer between rebuilds but this will give you higher temps initially. It requires WORK. For a set it and forget it suburbanite, I do not recommend this unit at all. If you want to smoke on a budget, this will work better than kettle grill because it does have more interior space. Just keep the above problems in mind. When this one goes, I will get another one now that I know how to make it work. It's a bit like roughing it on a camping trip, but it accomplishes the task. For a limo that makes things easier, prepare to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars for something that weighs half a ton. No thanks. I'll keep my Brinkmann :))

Have used this product in the past. It's great for smoking at home. Have done 18 lbs Turkeys with great results.

I bought this smoker back in 1986 & still use it. While at The Home Depot the other day I saw this thing on the shelf & almost fell over with excitement. I couldn't believe they still sell these things! Looks identical, nothing has really changed. I'm going back today to get my replacement. As to the old one; It never rusted - even out in the Chicago elements. The hardware still in tact - never replaced pans or grates. The temp gage still works. It did warp a little to where I need a quick pound on the lid to fit it into the base but that's about it. I can't think of many things that have lasted this long for me. I trust that Brinkmann still builds a quality product. I am one happy smoker.

I wanted to like this product. The biggest problem is that it doe not keep temperature. I have to kept adding charcoal. I even drilled a few hole in the bottom thinking that it needed more air... I would not get this mode againl. Definitely spend the extra money to at least get the electric version of this smoker...

Some assembly is required. I recommend (if you have one) use a pop rivet gun with steel rivets to put this together. Second, a friend gave me a great tip. *** Attach the legs on the outside of the smoker (instead of the inside). Purchase a second fire dish (for about $7). This will allow you to add fresh coals without opening the smoker. If you are a beginer, buy this one first. You can always go out agin and spend $500 on another day.

Just added some holes to the charcoal pan and a new temp gauge and viola! Perfect Boston butt

Great grill and smoker, use it around the house for all sorts of things. Everyone wants to know where I got it and how much it cost. Great value for the price as well.

Let's face it, it's a cheap smoker. However, if you are just laerning or if you are on a tigfht budget, it works just fine. It takes more work to keep the temp steady, and it loses some heat. I would recommend looking online for some of the modifications you can make to it. First and foremost, get a GOOD temp gauge. Overall, for the price, It's a good value.

The smoker was easy to assemble and cooked just right....but I would not recommend cooking with the water in the pan.....Thanks

After putting this together I found the top does not fit tightly to the grill. big gap all the way around, in hindsight, it explains why the box looked like it had been opened and resealed. If I had not put it all together I would have returned it. Instead I fixed it myself.

I would be hesitant to recommend this as a smoker to start with because out of the box it can be very frustrating to work with. Getting the temperature up is very difficult, and the thermometer that does not have numbers (warm, ideal, hot) is not very helpful. However, if you are willing to spend twenty or thirty bucks and do some slight adjustments it can be made into a fairly well smoker. I have mixed feelings about this smoker, as it was difficult to use in the beginning, but now works well using the modification I found floating around the internet. My overall last word is that this is a nice weekend project that takes a modest amount of effort to get into good working order. I also, would recommend in lieu of this the Brinkmman Gourmet, as its design is a little bit better to start with.

not user friendly at all, there's no way to control the heat, and the door to add wood is way too small

Came without one handle. Gauge has already fallen out. Need an option that is somewhere between the high end smoker and grill and this one.

You could spend almost twice the money for a similar charcoal- water smoker but it is no better quality. Or you could get an electric smoker which supposedly offers more control and less work. But I have been using a Brinkmann smoker for twenty years. [I just bought this one for my godson.] I have smoked meat, fish, and fowl of all kinds including standing rib roasts, turkeys and pork shoulders. It simply maintains a temp around 225 degrees, keeps the product moist, and yields a tender and tasty result each and every time. Why spend two or three times the money? So you add some charcoal and liquid after 5 or 6 hours. Do you have something better to do? Absolutely no need to spend $80, $150, or $300; you won't get a better end result.

This is my second Brinkmann Smoker, I completely wore the other one out. It is very well built, especially for the price. I looked at some other brands in this same price range and they were flimsy but this one is very sturdy. I have used this smoker probably 5 or 6 times since I have gotten it and I really love it. For $50 you cannot beat it.

We replaced our old Brinkman smoker when the bottom burned out. This model was way different and since there is no bottom on it, it doesn't heat up as well and the hot air escapes through the bottom and causes the charcoal to burn out before the food is cooked. If there was a bottom, it would be perfect since the price is right. We instead went out and bought the Brinkman electric smoker and it worked well.

I USE IT A LOT TO COOK TURKEY BREASTS, AND RIBS.LOVE IT BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO WATCH THE FOOD. I JUST PUT IT ON FOR A SPECIFIED TIME, AND IT TURNS OUT PERFECT.THE PURCHASE AT HOME DEPOT WAS QUICK, AND DELIVERY WAS SUPER FAST.

For the price, a good value. Not fancy, not perfectly constructed, but it works, it fairly easy to use and does the job.

I was looking for a small smoker that I could take camping that was low in cost and this one seemed to fit the bill. I read most of the reviews and the only problems seemed to be getting it hot enough and adding a thermometer so I figured I would try it out. At time of purchase I bought a new thermometer with it and when I got home calibrated it. All it took to install was a drill and a few minutes of time and it was in. The next issue was getting it enough air flow to get hot enough to smoke or grill. I had read the comments about people drilling holes in the top and such to increase air flow and was thinking of making a damper. I made a grate to go over the charcoal bowl to give good airflow around the charcoal hoping to get some extra air flow (ash dropped through grate into the bowl) to see how that would do before actually cutting into the top. I lit it up the first time without any food on it to see what the temp would do and quickly found that too cool would not be a problem, cooling it down on the other hand may be (got up to 500 degrees). After it cooled down I removed the grate and installed a smaller one that sat in the bowl leaving about 1/2" clearance from the bottom and tried it (this time with a whole chicken on the grill). it got pretty hot right out the gate but I was able to get it within about the 250 degree range and slow cooked my chicken for about 3hrs and it was very tasty. I think there's a little bit of tweaking to do but for the money I think it's well worth it. I took it camping and grilled hamburgers, cooked bacon, and slow smoked pork chops (1.5hrs) and ribs (4hrs) all with great success. Everyone raved about how good the food was. I used both charcoal and wood chunks in it. This will definitely be going with me from now on, also would make a great tailgater setup as well

Do yourself a favor and run an internet search for ECB of "El Cheapo Brinkmann." You'll get the mods that people use to successfully convert this into a much better smoker for not a lot of $. For instance, I drilled vent holes in the ash pan and added a charcoal holder to get better heat. I also installed the legs facing out and use bricks to support the fire/ash pan. This means that I can lift off the entire smoker to dump and refill the coals. I also drilled the lid and added an inexpensive thermometer that gives me temp reads instead of the "low, ideal, high" designations on the smoked (which are not calibrated anyway). You can also seal the lid with stove rope and drill and vent the top, but I have not yet gotten there. The food that this makes is amazing, but it is time consuming (as it should be!).

After reading all of the reviews I decided to buy one of these (again, I had one 20 years ago and it worked but was hard to keep the right temp.) I made the normal modifications...drilled holes in the charcoal pan, put the legs on the outside, got a thermometer with numbers, and got chunk charcoal. It was easy to install, thanks to you tube suggestions, and because the directions were simple. So, I seasoned it last night and started smoking today. It's still hard to get to and maintain a steady temp, but chicken pieces came out nice, hot dogs, good, and waiting for the pork steaks and am not waiting for the eggplant that I kindly am smoking for my wife. As cheap...inexpensive...as these are, if after playing around and maybe getting on the good side of the learning curve, a dinner out at a steakhouse will pay for a smoker, and I will be able to do it every weekend.

Great for chicken fish great value for the price..

I bought this smoker to use a few times yet it always works and well. Worth every penny.

Beautifully smoked meat doesn't have to cost you a wing and a leg. The Brinkmann Smoke N' Grill makes it almost a "set it and forget it" job. It'll make your guests think of turkey as a newly invented taste treat. Ribs that fall off the bone and a beef brisket that makes the cowboy in you say "Yee-Haw". Enhance the flavor by adding fruit juice or wine to the porcelain coated water pan and up to 10lbs of charcoal to let the smoker do all the work by itself. That frees you up to do the things you enjoy..... like hammock testing and channel surfing.

We have a very large pit for when we have get togethers or are cooking very large meats but for everyday grilling for the family or just a steak for my husband and myself this smaller pit does a fantastic job. We have had one for years this one was purchased for our daughter and son-in-law who just purchased their first home and they love it as well!!!

great smoker for the price. I used 2" thick lengths of hardwood to backup the charcoal. Super outcome!