Char Broil Offset. . .

That's a great looking smoker, congrats! It's always exciting to get a new smoker. I've never used one of those but I'm sure some other brethren have and will chime in. Get her dirty and post some pr0n of the first cook!

GammaRei said:

Just picked up a Charbroil Offset smoker from Walmart over the weekend. My sons 2nd bday is coming up and everyone wants my bbq. I normally use my Weber kettles, but they take longer and a little more work for the amount of food being prepared.



Got it prepped on Saturday and did a test run yesterday. Pork tenderloin and some Chicken Breasts. . . The main issue was. ..

There are freaking leaks all over the place on this smoker. The firebox had a bit of a gap on it that makes controlling the heat near impossible. Smoke seeps out from all of the wrong places. Im short of getting a welder and sealing the dang thing completely.

Have any of you had to deal with one of these. Or any issues similar to this. Any help would be appreciated. . .

- G

Click to expand...

Search for horizontal smoke mods.. I had similar issues with a Brinkman Professional Smok'n Pit. It leaks, it is almost impossible to maintain a steady and uniform temperature in the smoke chamber.

I actually abandoned the smoker for many years until I found information on the mods. Now it is a good standby smoker when I need the extra room or to keep thins separate at different temperatures. Until you get gasket material to seal the firebox you can use steel speed tape (used on airplanes and race cars) to seal the box for a controlled burn, but look into the heat diffuser mod first to control convectional flow of heat.

Good luck and hope you have a great cook on for the big day.

There are probably 4 or 5 mods you will want to do on that before you like using it. These type of off sets are notorious for being a temperature B**** The thin walled tin used in the construction and the bolt together assembly leave it susceptible to air leaks and temperature drops due to outside forces ie. the weather. One thing you will need to do is get some food grade silicon caulking and caulk anywhere there is a gap, where the fire box attaches to the cooking chamber and the smoke stack attaches. You're also going to want to get some over gasket rope and attach it so it makes a tight seal when you close the lid. Those are the two most important things you should do, there are a couple of others to consider to help it keep even temps, like baffles or tuning plates.

Did this search the other day on the Brethrn "char griller mods" and found a TON of ideas. One of the best mod tutorials came from www.hhsbbq.com/CharGrillerMods.pdf ... The info and pics are great.

Have fun!!

I had a Char-Broil, it was real tight. Looks like they changed the way they make them. It looks like the same design that Brinkman & Char-Griller have. My old one had a food lid that was made like the one on your fire box. It didn't leak at all. The stack was also not part of the lid, I had no compaints about it. I did put a defusser in it to spread the heat evenly and a charcoal basket.

I picked up the same smoker last june. This thing goes through fuel like crazy. I never installed the top rack in the cooker I felt big pieces of meat woudn't fit with it on there. I also added two thermometers on each side of the cooking box. Since I like to burn logs I also raised the firebox grate beacause the ash would build up and choke the fire after about four hours. Saying that I have cooked some damn good grub on that thing.

With a few mods like adding a charcoal basket, heat baffle, extending the smoke stack to grate level and adding a little extra sealing around the edges it should run ok. I had the Brinkman smoke n pit as well and while it does chew through charcoal faster than my other smokers, it still worked well. I had it running in 3-4hr clips with little attention.

I have a 10 yo or older one of these I got second hand and it is a charcoal pig. There's no other way to describe it. Best mod I've done is get a charcoal basket made, it will free up a lot of time and save some $ in coal. I've been working on a baffle and got it wrong twice, choked off too much of the entrance so I'm giving it a third try by cutting the bottom of the baffle off. I have pictures but not handy, will try to post later. Mine leaks like crazy too but I haven't addressed that yet. You can also use crunched up aluminum foil to make a temporary gasket around the door. I've had enormous trouble getting decent temperatures so high temp caulking is my next step. I smoked some fatties last week, outside air temperature was pretty mild, around freezing, but it was raining and windy. Put up a canopy tent to keep the rain off, sheltered the smoker from the wind with some plywood and aimed the firebox downwind and smokerbox upwind. Sounds crazy but it's one of the more successful smokes I've had, way more successful than my summer smokes. I think putting the firebox downwind was an accidental stroke of genius on my part, I think the air that got around the plywood helped push the heat from the firebox to the smokebox. I feel your pain, GammaRei. Thanks to the good brethren here, especially 'O Great Gore', I'm slowly realizing my troubles are not all my own doing, some of them are about that dang smoker. What a relief.