Brinkmann 852-7080-E Charcoal Gourmet Grill and Smoker

I bought this to replace a previous unit that had rusted out after several years of use and being stored outside. These units work very well. I especially like the three part design. It is so much easier to build the fire when the bottom part is open. The only thing that seems not to work well is the temperature gauge. It didn't work well on the old one either. When the smoke dies just down remove the upper part, stir the coals and add more wet wood chips. I use it mostly for salmon. When the smoke is really rolling 45 min to an hour and the salmon is just right. I do turkeys overnight. I get up and rebuild the fire after about 4 hours.

I ordered this as a first time smoker. I liked it was easy to assemble and use. After watching a couple of grilling shows to learn how to spice and smoke meats, I made a rub and smoked a beef brisket. The flavor was spot on and the smoker performed flawlessly.It created great smoke rings in the meat. The only thing is the thermostat does not reflect the actual temperature. It shows a blue section for too cool, the white section with the word "Ideal", and a red section for too hot for smoking. Just keep the temperature in the white section. One area of improvement I think is that I think the door could be just a little larger to enable the user to add wood chips or coal easier. If you try to add wood or charcoal to the fire, it is a little difficult. For this one reason I have to take one star. But overall, I think the smoker is really good for the money.If you are a new smoker, I would recommend this grill.

Great Grill. If there is a issue & you need to call Brinkmann, good luck. That is arguably the worst customer service I have ever experienced. They take your phone number & call you back. It could be hours. Like I have nothing better to do then wait by the phone. Terrible, Terrible customer service. At least they speak English but it ends there.

Junk...junk...junk. no temp control lid falls into the main drum. No seals poor fit ..crap..crap junk!!! I spent $200 for this junk ....go webber or big green egg...how can this thing even be called a smoker.

I've never owned a smoker before but I can tell this one isn't good. It is nearly impossible to keep a consistent temperature. The process of adding more charcoal is difficult and potentially dangerous. It's also mostly useless as a grill. I'm going to use it just to learn more about the process of smoking and then I'm upgrading to something else.

"Anyone can put heat to the meat, but only few know how to BBQ!" Travel Channel Quote.Great Smoker. This baby cooks like a champ!Warm up your charcoal to temp,Add desired flavor of 'soaked' wood chips into the water (if you put them directly on the fire and you live in an apt complex, your neighbors will call the fire dept. because they don't know what good food smells like it and it smokes excessively),Put your seasoned or unseasoned meat, poultry or fish on the top rack,Cover, Watch your timer, and Enjoy the flavor feast!Pros:- Excellent Flavor, Tenderness, Moisture, Appeal, Happiness...- Durability, This smoker can last 10+ years- Additional cooking options.- Bragging rights!Cons:- The time it takes from start to finish. You prep for 30-45 min, cook ribs for 4 hours, spend time waiting for the excess coals to burn out for 1-2 more hours, then break it all down and trash the ashes... This cooking process takes at least half a day to use if not more depending on what and how much you cook.A Personal Preference:- I wish there was another horizontal rack for ribs... When catering, If I have more than 4 people eating, I cant fit enough ribs on for everyone. Good food gets eaten but I can only manage to squeeze a ribcage, or two full racks on at a time. This is very irritating when ribs need to be smoking for 4+ hours and I want to invite more friends over to enjoy it with. The lack of enough cooking space is my dilemma, but for $60-70 I cant expect the cream of the crop but if you get this smoker, you can expect an overall quality cooker!

This thing just about made me broke last summer from hosting BBQs. It takes a little bit of thought as far as getting used to how hot to make it verses how much meat you are cooking. I also bought a digital thermometer to stick into what ever I'm cooking and now I can literally smoke a brisket for like 8 hours and it comes out juicy with a red center. It can even be used for BBQing regular steaks too. I'd say for the money you can't do better.

This is a solid entry level smoker. For the price it does the job. It doesn't give you tons of smoking space, but for your basic rack of ribs (you can get 2, maybe 3 racks in it), brisket, or pork shoulder it works. It can be challenging to control the temperature, but you'll figure it out as you get to know it. I used a separate thermometer that I stick inside with the meat to give a more accurate reading since the outside gauge only measures in relative terms (no actual temps given). I've had it about a year now and it seems to have held up pretty well after a decent amount of use.