Brinkmann Electric Gourmet Smoker

smokey and the brisket

Is lookin for wood to cook with.
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I have been given one of these as a present and have no experience with electric smokers. Should i keep it or sell it and put the money towards something of my own choosing?
 
Keep it and use it for a while as is as you're not gonna get much money for it anyway.
After you've used it for a while convert it for charcoal use, along with a couple of simple low cost mods. You'll end up with a great little bullet smoker.
 
I agree with Carbon, with proper mods, they turn out great BBQ. Conversion to charcoal is pretty easy, and the results are just as good as a WSM, but with slightly smaller cooking area, as they are only ~15" wide as opposed to 18.5.

Some of the best cooks I've done were out of my Brinkmann Gourmet, the only limit is the cooking space, can't do a whole packer brisket, and most large racks of ribs won't easily fit. 2 butts or chuckies per rack is easy though.
 
Is this your first smoker along with it being Electric? Just wanted to make sure if you had experience with anything else.

If it is your first ever smoker I agree with Carbon in that you should keep it and give it a try. You have to start somewhere and a lot of folks do start with Brinkmann bullets. I started with a Masterbuilt electric and liked it for what it was. Easy to use and put out ok food. Much of the time electrics don't give you the great smoke flavor of charcoal/wood smokers, but they still work good enough to start out on.

Though if I was to make one recommendation if you do want to go ahead and sell it, would be to get a Weber Smokey Mountain. One of the easiest charcoal smokers to learn on.
 
Honestly I would say Sell it or i guess convert it into a charcoal one. I have the electric and controling the temp is a pain in the butt since when you plug it just on. If you want an electric sell it and then get yourself a Masterbuilt 30. you will have a much better experience and you can get those cheap enough.
 
This is not my first smoker, just my first electric. I am saving for a large trailer smoker and am trying not to spend any money on other equipment so free sounded pretty good when my brother gave it to me. I guess i will give it a try and convert it to charcoal in the near future if its troublesome. Thanks to everyone for your input.
 
I've made some pretty good food with that cooker doing the simple mod pictured below.
Add a few chunks of wood too, and you'll have steady temp of 220-240 and the benefit of smoke.
IMHO if you're looking for an all-charcoal cooker for cheap, you'll be much better off with a UDS instead of converting the electric.
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I was given one of those 3 years ago and used it until I built a UDS. I gave it to my daughter so she wouldn't boil her ribs
 
I have an electric smoker, it gets used for jerky only, can make about 3 lbs. at a time.
 
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