Brinkmann 810-5000-0 All-In-One Outdoor Cooker, Black

I just put mine together and it warns that you mustn't keep the gas connected and that each time you reattach the gas you have to do a soap test. I guess I can keep screwing the propane tank on and off, but that's such a pain and the soapy water is messy!

First roast turned out well, but in Winter, California, 60 degree weather it took a little longer than expected (2.5 lbs beef and it was edible/medium 160 degrees internal in about 3.5 hours and two rather large handfuls of apple chips soaked for 24 hrs). The flame blew out three times and scared me because I wasn't watching it the whole time, and when I thought of propane exploding upwards! I didn't think it would go out so easily, so I just ended up feeding it more gas and tried to cut the intensity of the heat using the air intake adjustment.

You have to add more chips to get a lot of smoke flavor so that is easy, but you have to lift the whole body up and off including the water pot and meat, which could get heavy, but at least you can keep the lid on and keep some of the heat in there. A good thing about this design is that if you are doing charcoal, you can replace the charcoal quickly.

Overall, I'm very excited, but I had those couple gripes...no door to access the water pan and no way to access the coals without lifting the whole top off and no easy way to remove the propane for safety. I love the ease of having a gas option as you have to have the patience of a saint to tend to my other charcoal smoker as it didn't have a way to get rid of the ash to keep the temperature even and accessing the coal bowl was really a pain, especially if you wanted to add HOT glowing charcoal.

I'm pleased though! I got this one for my birthday as a gift to myself since I always wanted a gas grill for instant gratification. I do love charcoal briquettes and chunks as well, so I'm pleased I still have that option. Read the owners manual thouroughly before purchasing so that you don't have any surprises. You also need adjustable wrenches or specific sizes (I used two crescent adjustable wrenches) to put it together, but it went together fairly intuitively and quickly.

read about this at www.thebarbecuemaster.com bigals review and recipes work out fine with this smoker

This All-in-One idea is really cool. As a smoker, it's very good. Easy to maintain temperature by adjusting the gas flow and air intake. It's a little dificult to run at low temps (200f) if the weather is warm. If you turn the gas down too low, a slight wind will blow out the burner. We solved the problem by giving it more gas, but starving the intake of air.

As a grill, it's not very good. It works, but not very efficiently. We have to crank the gas up real hot to get the pumice warm enough to sizzle steaks. We found that in charcoal mode, it works best after putting a grill inside, raised slightly above the vented tray bottom with some spacers. Put the charcoal on the raised grill. The extra air under the coals makes for a hotter fire.

Now the great part; fried turkeys. This is no 30,000 BTU camp stove. The burner on this baby really puts the heat on 4 gallons of oil. It's almost scary how powerful the burner is.

One final word; this setup does not come with a propane tank. If you don't have one, count on another $25-30 bucks, and on big projects, make sure it's full. Theres nothing more depressing than getting halfway through a 8 hour turkey smoke and run out of fuel.

I've had one of these smokers for 4 to 5 years. I'd buy another one if my current wears out... well, well worth the price. This cooks the best chicken, turkey, and, above all, salmon that I've ever tasted. Try marinating salmon filets overnight in teriyaki and smoking for 45 to 60 minutes with alder chips for the most moist, flavorful salmon you've ever tasted!