The Char-Broil's access door handle is larger and easier to open with cooking gloves on. Since buying this unit I've looked at the Brinkmann, Weber's and others of similar design. The smoker worked wonderful, and exactly as it was design too. Checking and refilling the water pan half way through. Using soaked cherry wood chip to flavor the meat replaced the charcoal completely which allowed me to set it up and let it go for 11 hours. I didn't think I would like the electric aspect, but I'm sold on it now. The air temperature that day was in the low 20's. The size of this units grates can accommodate about a 10# brisket. It fit perfect,and allowed me to slow cook the brisket at about 210 degrees. Low and slow is the smokers way.Ī couple of weeks ago, I ordered an electric element for the cooker from Cabela's website. My first try I was able to make some tasty ribs in 5 hours time. This worked out great, and didn't cause any water to spill onto the fire pan.
To replenish the water, a long funnel from the auto parts store was purchased. Using the wifes hair dryer the coals glowed cherry red and the temps got up in the mid 200's. A buddy is a Black Smith, I remember him using a bellows to stoke his coal fire. I could only get the unit to heat up to 190 degrees, but it stayed steady. I chose to use lump charcoal, and hickory wood. The first time using it, I had the fore sight to read these reviews to see where others had problems. I chose the Char-broil H2O smoker for the price and ease of storage. Rothenberg (Wixom, MI United States)Īfter gaining an appreciation for smoked meats at a local fair, I talked the wife into letting me try it at home, and went looking for a smoker to compliment my gas grill. They should bring back the older fire bowl design, and it will be perfect.īy A. It's one of the few wood or charcoal fire based smokers with a water bowl to regulate temperature and moisture. Without doing something about the fire bowl, it will never burn fuel evenly or completely. I put 3 small rocks in the bottom of the ash bowl and set this "wok" thing on top the wok is about the same size as the ash bowl and "nests" perfectly, the without the rocks the ashes wouldn't fall through the holes.ĭoing it this way, I can load this thing up and maintain the fire (add a few chunks of hickory or mesquite) for 8 hours and cook a feast with no problems (typ: 8 ears corn, 1 6 to 8 lb rib roast, 8 or 12 chicken thighs, etc, all in one 8-hour smoking session).
I ended up getting a "bar-b-q wok" - a perforated plain steel bowl- like a colander with big holes - with handles - and I use this as a fire grate in the fire bowl. Even still, without proper aspiration, this smoker runs too cool on the average. This is a smoker, not a bar-b-que, so it's designed to run cooler and longer than a BBQ. It was otherwise the same as this smoker, and those fire bowls made that smoker better. had a similar version that actually came with nesting fire bowls that allowed plenty of air flow through the fire, and allowed enough ashes to drop out that ash wasn't a problem until about the 6th hour of fire time. I recommend reading Chris Cox's review of this product. "Water Smoker: it's okay, but runs a little cool" īy Mojave Mike (Littlerock, CA United States)