Dyna-Glo DGO1890BDC-D Wide Body Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker and Premium Smoker Cover review and price compare 2025
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you can compare the product price from Costco, wayfair, bestbuy, lowes, target, homedepot, Walmart, ebay, amazon to find the best price for you
Product overview
| Brand | Dyna-Glo |
| Power Source | Charcoal |
| Color | Black |
| Item Weight | 83 Pounds |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 21 x 43.3 x 50.2 inches |
| Fuel Type | Charcoal |
product features
- by entering your model number.
- Six height-adjustable cooking grates accommodate various sizes of food, giving 1890 square inches of total cooking space with 25-pounds capacity per grate.
- Porcelain-enameled steel charcoal chamber is designed to keep briquettes stacked tightly for improved burn efficiency.
- Charcoal and ash management system with charcoal chamber, grate and sliding, removable steel ash pan. Designed to handle large amounts of ash for hours of maintenance-free cooking
- Vertical design lends itself to naturally rising heat, achieving greater efficiency and improved smoke flavor. Offset design keeps direct heat away from the food, allowing for slow cooking.
- Smoke stack features an adjustable flue for additional flavor and temperature control.
- Built-in, stainless steel thermometer. ‘Smoke Zone’ indicates ideal temperature for infusing smoke flavor and an easy-to-read gauge helps you achieve perfectly smoked foods.
- Dimensions: 21 × 43.3 × 50.2 in
This fits your .
From the manufacturer
Barbecue with the best of them
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Get that classic smokehouse flavorCook meats low and slow in the smoker body, from brisket to ribs to anything you can imagine. | Bring the heatThe offset design optimizes indirect heat flow, ideal for slow-cooking and infusing smoke flavor | Expand your culinary horizonsOpen the door to a whole new world of BBQ with this large capacity, multi-functional BBQ machine. |
Find your smoke zone
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Customize your cookingAccommodate different sizes and types of food with the six height-adjustable cooking grates. | Increase burn efficiencyThe charcoal chamber keeps briquettes stacked tightly for increased burn efficiency. | Cook with precisionBoost cooking precision and temperature control by utilizing the steel smoke stack’s adjustable flue. | Get in the ZoneFind the ideal temp for infusing smoke flavor with the stainless steel temperature gauge with "Smoke Zone" indicator. |
| Dyna-Glo DGO1176BDC-D Charcoal Offset Smoker | |||
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| Height | 47.03" | 50.2" | 58.8" |
| Width | 34.52" | 43.3" | 45.5" |
| Depth | 20.2" | 21" | 24.9" |
| Weight (Net) | 57 lbs | 83 lbs | 123.4 lbs |
| Cooking Area (sq. in.) | 1,176 | 1,890 | 1,382 |
| Fuel Type | Charcoal/Wood | Charcoal/Wood | Charcoal/Wood |
| Removable Ash Try | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Removable Grease Cup | ✓ | ✓ | N/A |
| Enameled Charcoal Chamber | ✓ | ✓ | N/A |
| Enameled Water Bowl | N/A | N/A | ✓ |
product description
Size:Wide | Style:Smoker and Cover | Color:Black
The Dyna-Glo Wide Body Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker – DGO1890BDC-D offers quality, performance, and durability. It offers 1,890 square inches of total cooking space. The offset functionality of the smoker keeps direct heat away from food to give an even distribution of heat and smoke. The primary door features a pre-installed seal that retains heat and minimizes heat and smoke loss and provides improved smoke efficiency. The smoker offers cooking versatility with pre-installed sausage hooks and removable chrome-plated rib racks to give you a variety of cooking options. So whether you’re cooking turkey, meat, fish or vegetables, this smoker can handle it all. Take your grilling to the next level with the Dyna-Glo Wide Body Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker – DGO1890BDC-D
product details
important information
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Questions about Dyna-Glo DGO1890BDC-D Wide Body Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker and Premium Smoker Cover
Q:
if i used wood but it runs on charcoal wouldnt the charcoal over power the taste of the wood?
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Answer: I use lump charcoal and then add wood throughout the cook time. I add dry seasoned wood. Then I take my meat out at 160 degrees. Once your meat hits that temp it will not absorb anymore smoke, you are just wasting fuel. I move into my home and use the oven. This typically cooks overnight as my brisket and pork shoulder typically cook for 20 plus hours until done at 202.
Answer: Ok first, never ever soak wood!!!! You don’t get smoke, you get steam. I do this for a living. You can start with charcoal then add wood. Charcoal in a chimney is easy to start and works great to get wood going. The wood will overtake any charcoal taste. I have since started just using wood. Start it with a torch. Meats will generally take smoke flavor for 4-5 hours. Then it’s just the low n slow process to get your meats to where you want them to eat.
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Answer: I use charcoal basically as a starter then control the heat and flame with how much wood I put on top of the charcoal. Pretty soon the coals that you have in the firebox come from the wood and the charcoal has been consumed.
Answer: I start with a base of charcoal, then I soak some chunks of wood in water--and put them on the base of coals. I've had good success that way--and when you put the soaked chunks on, shut down the vents, and the smoke lasts a long time!
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Answer: I always use lump charcoal, which is basically just burnt wood (and is sold pretty much anywhere you can find charcoal, Walmart is the best place to get it). You shouldn't really smoke with charcoal, for the exact reason you mentioned, you should always use lump charcoal or wood. You just put wood chunks on top of the lump charcoal and you have your heat and smoke!
Answer: Surely I'm not the first to tell you that charcoal IS wood. It is just wood that has had the impurities burnt off, then the oxygen is cut off and the resulting charred wood is mixed with a plant-based binder, and pressed into briquettes.
Answer: Charcoal will NEVER overpower the flavor of wood. Charcoal in an offset smoker is simply there to apply heat. All the flavor that comes through an offset smoker is the smoke from the wood. Charcoal does not smoke after the initial burn. It just creates lots of heat. The heat and the smoke from the wood are carried in to the meat chamber. Hence, thanks to our good friend physics, all you are left with is delicious smoke flavored deliciousness.
Q:
What gage is the steel
Answer: Is the steel strong enough for it not to start burning out or Rust
Answer: It's thin maybe 14
Answer: not sure but it is built well,
Q:
need exact dimensions. width - just smoker and wood box - no legs / height of vertical smoker and wood box
Answer: Smoker is 36"X16". Wood box is 14"X12.5". Both are 15" deep. This smoker did an amazing job on a batch of fish I recently did. No lack of smoke from this one.
Q:
can you grill with this smoker
Answer: Although there are some offset smokers that are designed to allow grilling on the offset box directly over the coals, this one is not that way, smoker only.
Answer: You can smoke with this smoker.... Can you grill in a microwave?
Answer: no, this is a pure in-direct heat smoker. That is what the offset means. Fire in one box, meat in the other.
Answer: it's not really meant to be used that way. But I suppose you can put the charcoal tray in the cooking chamber and grill that way? Though I would not
Answer: No, you cannot grill with this smoker. It's set just for smoking.
Answer: No its just for smoking.
Q:
Can I use all wood in this smoker and no charcoal?
Answer: Yes, as long as the wood is 10' or shorter. The firebox is not really that big. I would recommend starting with a chimney full of lit lump charcoal, then adding wood on top.
Answer: I've used all wood before. It just burns faster than adding charcoal under the wood. The charcoal makes the wood burn slowly and smoke longer.
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Answer:
Answer: Sure, I've used all wood, all coal and a mix of both. Just be sure to cut the wood down to size to fit the basket before hand ;)
Q:
where does the water tray go. Below the racks?
Answer: The tray that comes with it is to catch the drippings and fits underneath. We could not fit ours on so we put a pot underneath the smoker to catch the drippings. If you wanted to use water to keep things moist, put a container on a lower rack or on the bottom. My husband smokes items for 1.5-2 hours to ensure max smoke penetration. He wraps the meat in foil and puts it back in to finish cooking without it drying out.
Answer: There is no water tray. Just take a disposable aluminum pan and place it under the racks.
Answer: I put my water tray on the lowest rack just above the fire box. Diffuses the heat and adds the moisture. It boils some out but also catches some of the juice.
Answer: This smoker does not use water. I prefer water so I use the bottom rack position to hold a pan of water. There's a lip on the water pan from my old Brinkmann smoker. It slides perfectly into the place where the grates slide in.
Answer: I use a foil pan on the bottom of the smoke chamber so that I catch the drippings for any gravy. Plus it also keeps the humidity up so things don’t dry out if I get distracted.
Answer: I believe there are slots for it on the bottom of the smoker.
Answer: Goes under the smoker
Q:
What size & type of gasket material is needed to keep heat regulated? Does this have a grater underneath the firebox to remove the ashes?
Answer: I have not had to use any type of gasket to regulate the heat. The unit does a good job of keeping in the heat. I use the damper on the firebox to regulate air intake and subsequent burn temperature and the chimney to regulate the release. The firebox does not have a grate to remove the ashes. the tray the ashes sit on does slide out. I normally (next day) shop vac any other miscellaneous ashes out of the firebox.
Answer: I bought felt gasket for it...on Amazon I think. I haven't put on yet, but it has adhesive and you can cut to fit your needs. The firebox has a removeable pan that hold the coals, it is easily removable to dispose of ashes.
Answer: I bought nomex gasket with an adhesive backing, cut it in half lengthwise and put it around both doors
Answer: to be honest, I would stay clear of this model. The leak's and temperature control are not worth the hassle. I recently sold my for $25 just to get rid of it.
Answer: All smokers have leaks. The only thing that you can do is to spot weld where excessive leaks occur.
Q:
I have never used a smoker before, is this a good starter ?
Answer: It's a great starter, easy to assemble and easy to maintain the temperature. Some smoke does escape between the firebox and smoke box on mine but it's not bad, especially now that I've used it a bunch.
Answer: Very good professional quality product. Smokes 150 lbs of food
Answer: After my experience with it, I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. I had to make a lot of mods just to get it to keep temp. Went through an entire bag of charcoal in 12 hours of smoking a brisket, that's not typical for a smoker. I'd look for one with better construction if I were you.
Answer: It's a great smoker. Easy to use and very good quality
Answer: This is a great starter. Medium duty and takes attention to keep temp consistent. For the price it is a great value.
Answer: Absolutely. Professional durability at a great price
Answer: Yes it is
Q:
would like to buy a smoker, but I do not know witch one. I do not want to buy one that does not perform properly. any suggestions. thanks
Answer: Larry, this was the first smoker I bought. I made a few alterations to help it perform a little better. The offset smoker allows you to refuel without opening up the cooker side. I found that it is a little tricky to maintain an even cooking temp, but once achieved it would hold steady for quite a while. As a first attempt with a smoker it is worth the price.
Answer: I've had several smokers and this one has been one of the best ones I've had and easiest to use. Very easy to set up and very easy to keep at the right temp. The taste after smoking is amazing and you will not be disappointed.
Answer: it does not keep heat high enough in the fire box
Q:
Is the temperature guage accurate?
Answer: It's pretty accurate. What I've noticed when it comes to temperature is the load. The more food you have in there, the long it takes to get up to temperature. If it's a full load of food, it takes too much energy and it really struggles to keep the temperature up. Small loads are great. I'm also taking to roasting the meat at low temperature in the oven for 4 hours and then 2 hours in the smoker.
Answer: Hello,
Answer: Yes it is accurate
Answer: Yes very accurate
Answer: I really can't answer this question. The smoker was a Christmas present and my mom hasn't used it yet. We put it together and covered it up. She probably won't use it until July...sorry
Answer: I had to replace the one that came with the smoker, it was trash just like a lot of the reviews stated. The smoker overall is great and has produced some great meat, just one work of advice and follow instructions about sealing cracks and doors.
Answer: Nope about 30 to 45 off used my maverick
Answer: Yes it is.
Q:
What cover do you recommend for it?
Answer: Hey Travis,
Answer: the cover came from lowes and it was a universal big gas grill cover and it covered the whole grill to the bottom of feet
Answer: Have not found one that fits and looks good.
Answer: I purchased a universal cover from Home Depot and it work and covers the entire unit
Answer: There isn't one. A large tarp.
Answer: Tarp and 2 bungies.
Answer: Garage
Q:
will the rib racks fit with out cutting them in half?
Answer: We cook baby back ribs in it all the time. We don't have to cut them in half. We cook pork but in it and smoke sausage.. this is a great smoker for is size
Answer: They will fit diagonally if too large, but baby backs most often fit just fine. A little trimming will help if too large. I typically do two whole racks per level.
Answer: Depends on how big, I normally don't have to cut them though. Sometimes might have to turn one of the ends up a bit, but I've done tons of ribs and have never cut them in half.
Answer: No, you will have to cut the racks in half.
Answer: The racks are about 12" square, maybe slightly larger
Answer: I did 16 racks in mine and they all turned out great. It's a great smoker
Answer: Yes, take out the trays and hang the ribs from the top tray
Q:
what are the shipping box dimensions? Considering buying it but will need it forwarded overseas so I would like to know the box dimen so i can quote
Answer: Can't remember but should be on the description. It's big and very heavy so I expect it would be pricey to send overseas.
Answer: About 4’6” tall 2’6” wide 18” deep
Q:
how big is the wide dyna glo and how many butts and ribs can u put on a rack
Answer: It's 14" wide with 4 shelves at least 3 butts per shelf and 2 racks of ribs per shelf we love it!
Answer: The wide is 24 not 14
Answer: I fit a 20 lb turkey and whole ham and that fills it up totally. Really good smoker but could be a little bigger.
Q:
I want to install another temperature gauge. Is this metal easy to drill through?
Answer: Yes it's pretty thin sheet metal. I had no problem drilling it.
Answer: Yes it is easy To drill through
Q:
I am interested in this smoker. we do a lot of pork butts, picnics, etc. my question is, how many can be cooked at the same time?
Answer:
Answer:
Answer: I wouldn't recommend more than 2 at a time. The more is in there, the more energy it takes to maintain temperature. An idea would be to start it in the oven for 2hours at 200 degrees, and then transfer to the smoker so the smoker doesn't struggle to get the meat up to temperature.
Answer: You could do several at a time I did two, you could easily do one more. But my issue is the charcoal box. I can't get it hot enough. Either it needs more holes or to be larger. No one else has made this comment, so it may just be me.
Answer: Depends on the size of the butts. You can do it easily here as the shelves are adjustable. But the wide version of this smoker may be a better fit. Look at the different shelves dimensions to see what works best for your needs
Answer: Hello Kendall,
Answer: About 6or8 depends on how you set the grates
Answer: 2 maybe 3 depending on the size of the meat
Q:
What are the rack dimensions and the length and width dimensions of each rack?
Answer: the dimensions on the racks are 13 3/8 inches long by 14 inches wide. I hope this helps. I for one have totally enjoyed this smoker.
Answer: The racks are approx 12 x 12
Answer: 14"x13.
Answer: 14" wide by 13" deep.
Q:
Any tips for seasoning the bbq for the first time? temp? time? thanks!! can't wait to get smoking!!!!!!
Answer:
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Answer: Be sure to season it before use. Rub or spray the inside with canola oil and run a small fire. That will help it be ready when you smoke with it.
Q:
What's with the price hike? I have been saving up to buy this and was going to order it this week but you raised the price by $40.
Answer: Its worth it, we love this smoker !
Q:
Can you use this with a Guru or other automatic temp control unit?
Answer: I do not know to be honest
Q:
I am cooking different meats at once. Which wireless thermometers do you recommend?
Answer: Thermopro
Q:
because it says it is the dgo1890bdc-d model and in the product description it says it has 1.176 inches of cook??
Answer: Hello! Yes, this smoker provides approximately 1,176 square inches of cooking space. It comes with 6 cooking grates (22.25" x 13.46") and one rib rack. Each grate can hold approximately 25lbs. - GHP Group
Q:
How much silicone is needed to seal the wide body version?
Answer: I used 1 tube of Permatex 81878 Ultra Copper I got here also mine unlike my son in laws came with no door seals you might want get that also here on amazon
Answer: I used exactly zero. Factory door seal does just fine. Don't need no Sally Sillypants silicone in a cooking device.
Answer: 1 tube (caulking gun size) - BUT you are wasting your time they are just not built tight. You would need to gasket the doors!
Answer: I'm sure one tube would do it, I never sealed mine it barely leaks, not enough to worry about in my opinion.
Answer: I bought a 10 fl.oz tubed of sealant and still have a 1/3 left over. I put it on liberally too and if you watch the YouTube videos they will assist you on where to apply the sealant. I would recommend buying the black sealant so it will blend in with the color of the grill.
Answer: Gave mine away , hated it sorry
Answer: A 3 oz. tube should be sufficient.
Answer: 1 small tube
Q:
Is it tough to move this thing around the yard? I would like some wheels on it
Answer: Not at all, it's not very heavy (which is also somewhat of a downfall since it doesn't retain heat as much as something with thicker metal). It has two handles though, one on each side, and I can easily lift it and move it anywhere. You could put some wheels on it, might be a bit tricky, but I have no problem lifting it and moving it around (and with two people would be very easy).
Answer: One person can move the smoker with out to much trouble. This unit is not to heavy. The only problem I have had is the seal on the charcoal offset and the paint coming off the charcoal offset. Have used it a lot this summer and like the out come of the smoked fish ,Pork butts, spare ribs and hams . We use a small fan to keep the temps up.
Answer: Wheels on one end would defintely be a nice feature, but no it is not tough to move around as there are sturdy handles on each side. Just don't move it when it's hot!! ;)
Answer: It is fairly easy to lift and move. that is how we do it every time. wheels would definitely make it easier!
Answer: No, I can carry it by myself
Q:
Where can i go to get replacement legs for this smoker?? Mine collapsed!
Answer: Contact the company, Dyna-glo. The manual shows replacement parts.
Q:
Can you smoke freshly butchered bacon in this unit? Has anyone ever done this, also a ham?
Answer: I made a hanging rack. Installed it where the top shelf goes and removed all others. This smoker has lots of room.
Answer: Yes. But you need to cure fresh pork first. Just google it for directions on how to do it properly.
Q:
what are the shipping box dimensions? Considering buying it but will need it forwarded overseas so I would like to know the box dimen so i can quote
Answer: Can't remember but should be on the description. It's big and very heavy so I expect it would be pricey to send overseas.
Answer: About 4’6” tall 2’6” wide 18” deep
Q:
Can you cure meat With this smoker?
Answer: Hi Levi, thank you so much for reaching out with your question. The DGO1176BDC-D is not made for cold smoking (curing) meats or cheeses, we do apologize for any inconvenience. If there is anything else we can assist you with, please reach out to our customer service team at 877-447-4768 or email at http://www.ghpgroupinc.com/CTUS.html - GHP Group
Answer: Yes, you can. We tried everything- chicken, beef, pork, and fish. We are happy with this smoker.
Q:
Anyone use this to smoke cheeses in?
Answer: Yes I have keep temp low around 125
Answer: We have not. Sorry
Q:
Length of logs for the firebox?
Answer: We do not provide logs for this firebox.
Answer: 6 _8 in Long
Q:
is this to thin?????
Answer: Thank you for your question regarding this product. This item is made of heavy-duty steel for long-life durability, so no. Please note this is a charcoal smoker as opposed to a wood smoker. It also has the capacity to cook up to 150lbs of food due to its six-rack design. I hope this answered your question. If you have any further questions please contact us.
Answer: If you, are talking about the over all construction then, no. Mine sits out side and the fire box hasn't burnt off any paint. The smoker is either 14 or 16 gauge. It is plenty heavy enough.
Answer: It is thin, but i was pleasantly surprised by its durability. Temperature control is a bit difficult in the winter but with a little patience it can be achieved.
Answer: It is thin kind of like those filing cabinet smokers that people make. Nevertheless, the price is right and it does retain heat. Great starter smoker but I'm even thinking about buying the larger dynaglo. Great buy.
Answer: It is on the thin side but holds temp steady. I am use to a small bullet smoker and this blows that out of the water. Not sure what gauge of metal but it is less than 1/8" thick.
Answer: yes!!!!
Q:
What are the dimension and weight of the box its shipped in? I have a limit and I want to make sure it does not exceed it.
Answer: Not sure of the dimensions....but it's a good size. If I were to guess I'd say 45" x 36" x 24". It's about 104 lbs and really requires two people to pick it up. Can be maneuvered around with one person pretty easily though.
Q:
What are the dimensions of the shipping box?
Answer: About the same size as the main chamber. I don't have exact but it must have been 3.5-4' by 2' by 2'
Answer: I forget, very large
Q:
Where is my product
Answer: No
Q:
What are the dimensions of the cooking box, not the firebox? Thanks.
Answer: Not sure, but you can't put a whole rack of ribs or brisket in there. Good for small items like chicken or steaks
Q:
How longs does it take to reach temp ?
Answer: Hello Courtney,
Answer: Not long at all. It actually has a harder time controlling temp than reaching it. It is a finicky bastard
Answer: I start with Charcoal outside of the unit. It takes about 15mins for the charcoal then I add that with a piece of Oak wood to start. The unit will take another 20 minutes after that. So all together around 35-40mins.
Answer: depending on weather conditions, about 20-45 minutes
Answer: It also depends on how full you have the racks
Q:
What gauge of sell is it made of? What is the steel thickness?
Answer: I don't know the gauge of it but its not very thick at all but it does the job just have to use a high heat tape to feel the smoke in
Q:
Does the standard version easily fit a full rack of Pork Spare ribs on each grate? It's hard to tell available space from the pictures.
Answer: Depends how you stack them. I can get two horizontal —- racks of ribs per shelf or 3 to 4 if laid vertically | |.
Answer: I had to put a full rack of baby backs diagonally on there so it might fit that way but just barely if at all, you could cut them and fit 2 half racks on 1 shelf no problem.
Answer: Each shelf is 13” wide and about 12” deep. This thing is so nice. Simply love it.
Answer: Only on the wide body
Answer: Yes no problem
Answer: mine did
Q:
Can someone with the wide body version please tell me how far apart the screw holes are across ?
Answer: Good luck very few of mine lined up at all , threw it out and bought a real smoker
Q:
Anybody use it in the winter?
Answer: I'm about to, but it's northern California winter so... only low 30's at the coldest.
Answer: Hello, this smoker is made with heavy-duty steel to accommodate smoking in any temperature! Check out some of the reviews and testimonies of those who have had success! If you need additional information, we are happy to help. Just reach out by phone at 877-447-4768 or email here: http://www.ghpgroupinc.com/CTUS.html
Answer: I use mine all year. I live in Nevada so it doesn’t get that cold here.
Answer: Not this exact one but they do take a little longer in my experience.
Q:
On a porch- how close can this be to the house?
Answer: Don’t even put it on your porch!! Place it in the yard away from your house. And your porch
Q:
How much assembly is required?
Answer: It's not too much work to assemble. Gotta bolt the 2 boxes together and bolt on the legs and I believe the smoke stack also. Took me about an hour to assemble leisurely.
Answer: Not much at all. I actually put this together myself for my husband. it is very easy to assemble
Answer: A little..pretty easy to assembly..takes about 10 minutes too put together. Execllent product..works very well as a smoker ..
Answer: 30 mins or less. Remember this though. Buy some wood stove rope seal. Put it between the firebox and the cooker body. Also attached some on the cooker box door. This will help seal it and keep the temperature up during cooks. This smoker has a very small firebox so plan on spending time feeding wood to it took keep the temp steady. How this helps.
Answer: Not much you just have to connect the Firebox to the smoker the legs and the doors
Answer: Not much you just have to connect the Firebox to the smoker and the legs and doors
Answer: I put it together in fifteen min with a Phillips head
Answer: Not bad, 30 min and a screw driver
Q:
Is it large enough to smoke a turkey?
Answer: I havent tried too but I can definitely hang a turkey in it.
Answer: Hello Dk, the racks inside the smoker are adjustable so that you can fit any size bird in it! -GHP Group Customer Support
Answer: no
Answer: Yes. No problem.
Q:
Hi. Is the width with the feet and handles or without? Any idea of how high the smoke box is from the ground? Just trying to fit it into a space.
Answer: The width does include the handles and feet. The distance from bottom of firebox to the ground is just over 9”. From the bottom of the grease cup to the ground is about 7”. - GHP
Answer:
Answer: Hmm .. its not that large and you could probably place it without the feet .. I don't know the exact measurements but it is smaller than I thought it would be ..
Answer: I really don't have an answer. I drop shipped the smoker without seeing to someone overseas and it has not even got there yet. Sorry.
Q:
What gague is the steel?
Answer: Unsure of the gauge Steele but I can tell you it rusted through the back within 30 months of purchasing, it was on an enclosed patio with a cover on it. Only cooked in it three times.
Answer: Not as thick as i would like but has a long lasting tough finish.ive had for 3 yrs still looks great no rust. I love it, has chrome grates that wash up easy in the dish washer. Holds a ton of meat. Which i like because i can smoke a bunch of different meats and freeze them for later.
Q:
What tools are needed to assemble?
Answer: They include an Allen wrench and small tools but I HIGHLY suggest a battery operated screwdriver
Answer: Phillips head screw driver, pliers & adjustable wrench are called for by the manual. I also had 1/4" drive ratchet & socket set and drill driver with clutch set to low torque setting so as to not strip any threads
Answer: A Phillips screwdriver and a small crescent wrench or a pair of pliers.
Answer: Philips screwdriver plyers or channel locks.
Answer: A phillips screw driver and that it.
Answer: 1 Philips head screwdriver and 1 Cresent wrench
Answer: None don’t buy it it’s horrible
Q:
The dyna glo website lists this as $216 - buy on amazon. price on amazon in $236?
Answer: I paid $170
Q:
How many briskets, racks of ribs and pork butts can you fit in this smoker?
Answer: 9 to 10 racks depending how good you can organize them. It holds alot of meat
Q:
I am looking for a thick steel smoker like a old New Braunfels smoker. Is this a thick steel?
Answer: No, but it is very sturdy.
Q:
Size of firebox grate
Answer: The length of each grate is about 21 inches.
Product reviews of Dyna-Glo DGO1890BDC-D Wide Body Vertical Offset Charcoal Smoker and Premium Smoker Cover
Fritch : Mmmm finger licking good
The amount of food that's been prepared is mind boggling. Read reviews and YouTube videos. Take the time to follow people's suggestion's. For the price a little extra effort makes this smoker a fantastic buy. Also works phenomenally well. I bought the regular size smoker if I was to buy again I would go for the bigger one. Also smokin in the winter make a cover out of a welding blanket for protection against heat loss due to cold and wind.
Picture added after two years of use. phenomenal smoker. Well made. Read other reviews for ideas for upgrading as you assemble this smoker. I have smoked 600 plus pounds of Boston Butt for pulled pork also fantastic to use breakfast use just like bacon. Works fantastic for any smokeable meat. Ribs have fantastic flavor making your own pastrami is by far the best. The best upgrades I can think of is to first test and Mark your boiling point of the temperature gauge. Also seal All seams and parts on inside with high temp red silicone. Use masking tape / plastic wrap and red silicone to make your door seals. Also putting springs on inside of the air intake to better control air intake thus better temp control and charcoal useage this makes a very large difference in how well your smoker will work. I haven't bought a cover for this yet bu I plan on purchasing one soon. Also look on the internet for other things people have done to make this smoker fantastic.
Picture added after two years of use. phenomenal smoker. Well made. Read other reviews for ideas for upgrading as you assemble this smoker. I have smoked 600 plus pounds of Boston Butt for pulled pork also fantastic to use breakfast use just like bacon. Works fantastic for any smokeable meat. Ribs have fantastic flavor making your own pastrami is by far the best. The best upgrades I can think of is to first test and Mark your boiling point of the temperature gauge. Also seal All seams and parts on inside with high temp red silicone. Use masking tape / plastic wrap and red silicone to make your door seals. Also putting springs on inside of the air intake to better control air intake thus better temp control and charcoal useage this makes a very large difference in how well your smoker will work. I haven't bought a cover for this yet bu I plan on purchasing one soon. Also look on the internet for other things people have done to make this smoker fantastic.
John Henry Newman : Easily modified for greatness
I love the size of this smoker but the metal is thin and it loses a lot of heat, causing you to burn through the charcoal. To solve these problems, I loaded up some sand in a couple of aluminum pans, covered them with foil and put them in the bottom of the smoker (for increased thermal mass). I then ordered three 2' x 4' sheets of high-temperature mineral wool insulation (Search: Insulation Wool Foil Backing) that cost about 15 bucks each. I bolted one to the door and the others I used to cover all of the other sides using aluminum foil tape to keep them together. Everything but the firebox door and the bottom are now insulated. I use significantly less charcoal/wood when smoking and can easily get to higher temps when needed to crisp up that turkey skin. I also highly recommend a 4-probe WiFi thermometer to monitor smoker and meat temperature.
FirefighterDAD : Great for a budget smoker but needs some help
Made in China. That should sum it up.
Listen, if you are looking for a budget smoker, this one is great. It has its flaws but most can be corrected with cheap modifications such as high heat silicone and gaskets. Both of which were easy to apply. But it does have its downfalls...
Pros:
1. Large smoke box - can fit maybe 3 or 4 17lb-ish briskets in the smoker
2. Easy to assemble- instructions were not great but assembly remained easy. My unit came with a nut missing that held the vent in place. Vent still works but it is loose. One screw for the firebox was difficult to attach but possible. Will need two people when attaching the firebox or a sturdy set up that allows the firebox support while attaching it. The rest of the unit was a breeze to assemble.
3. Inexpensive - its a great smoker for the price. Not top of the line as far as smokers go, but if you are looking to remain in a tiny budget this works well with some modifications and lots of attention
4. Separate ash tray - the addition of an ash tray under the charcoal box is a welcomed addition. Wish both the ash tray and charcoal box had a system that allowed you to pull them out far enough without appearing as if they will tip over
Cons:
1. Fire box is too small - for the size of the smoke box, the fire box seems inadequate. Same with the ash tray, it fills up quickly if you burn through your fire load fast.
2. Thin metal - the box is made of very then metal which would be an issue in colder temperatures. If this is your case, look into investing in a heat resistant blanket, such as one that a welder would use
3. Vent - the air vent is too loose. Fully closed still allows air flow. This makes maintaining temp control difficult.
4. Customer Service - the latch which helps seal the bottom of the smoke box broke off my unit the first day of use. It is held together with two small pins, which popped off and disappeared into the yard (my latch was tight). I contacted customer service same day with no acknowledgement or reply. I also mentioned the missing screw on the air vent. I will have to look for a modification to hold said latch in place.
5. A lot of leaks - there are a lot of areas for smoke and heat to leak. This is easily fixed with high heat silicone but is a testament to the build quality.
Listen, if you are looking for a budget smoker, this one is great. It has its flaws but most can be corrected with cheap modifications such as high heat silicone and gaskets. Both of which were easy to apply. But it does have its downfalls...
Pros:
1. Large smoke box - can fit maybe 3 or 4 17lb-ish briskets in the smoker
2. Easy to assemble- instructions were not great but assembly remained easy. My unit came with a nut missing that held the vent in place. Vent still works but it is loose. One screw for the firebox was difficult to attach but possible. Will need two people when attaching the firebox or a sturdy set up that allows the firebox support while attaching it. The rest of the unit was a breeze to assemble.
3. Inexpensive - its a great smoker for the price. Not top of the line as far as smokers go, but if you are looking to remain in a tiny budget this works well with some modifications and lots of attention
4. Separate ash tray - the addition of an ash tray under the charcoal box is a welcomed addition. Wish both the ash tray and charcoal box had a system that allowed you to pull them out far enough without appearing as if they will tip over
Cons:
1. Fire box is too small - for the size of the smoke box, the fire box seems inadequate. Same with the ash tray, it fills up quickly if you burn through your fire load fast.
2. Thin metal - the box is made of very then metal which would be an issue in colder temperatures. If this is your case, look into investing in a heat resistant blanket, such as one that a welder would use
3. Vent - the air vent is too loose. Fully closed still allows air flow. This makes maintaining temp control difficult.
4. Customer Service - the latch which helps seal the bottom of the smoke box broke off my unit the first day of use. It is held together with two small pins, which popped off and disappeared into the yard (my latch was tight). I contacted customer service same day with no acknowledgement or reply. I also mentioned the missing screw on the air vent. I will have to look for a modification to hold said latch in place.
5. A lot of leaks - there are a lot of areas for smoke and heat to leak. This is easily fixed with high heat silicone but is a testament to the build quality.
Matthew Anderton : Awesome little smoker!
I've had a lot of smokers in my day... one of those little rocket ship vertical charcoal smokers, an electric box smoker you just put chips in, a small Traeger, etc. But the best food I've smoked has been on my Weber kettle. But when your kettle is stuck smoking a brisket, you can't crank out burgers and steaks and whatnot for the masses. Why not get a second kettle you say? Yeah, might have been the logical and even cheaper choice... but you watch enough YouTube videos on smoking and you see people with some cool smokers. Just wanted to try something new and different.
Anyway, just got this guy today - assembles quickly and easily. Don't just take it out of the box and set it on the ground without it's legs though - it's got fragile little rails on the bottom to hold the grease pan. Bent the crap out of mine.
Built a nice big fire in it and let it season for an hour or two, then brought the temp down and threw in a pork loin. Very happy with the temperature control, though I did kind of torch the bottom of my pork loin - even on the top shelf. It peaked out at 300 at one point, but I wouldn't have thought that was enough to char my meat. But it's my fault - fire was a little too big. The dampers and the fire box are built nice with a lot of attention to little details and very easy to clean out.
Only been a day and one cook, but so far so good. Would definitely recommend. Will update if anything changes.
I wanted to buy the bigger one, but there were only 2 in stock and I snoozed and lost.
Anyway, just got this guy today - assembles quickly and easily. Don't just take it out of the box and set it on the ground without it's legs though - it's got fragile little rails on the bottom to hold the grease pan. Bent the crap out of mine.
Built a nice big fire in it and let it season for an hour or two, then brought the temp down and threw in a pork loin. Very happy with the temperature control, though I did kind of torch the bottom of my pork loin - even on the top shelf. It peaked out at 300 at one point, but I wouldn't have thought that was enough to char my meat. But it's my fault - fire was a little too big. The dampers and the fire box are built nice with a lot of attention to little details and very easy to clean out.
Only been a day and one cook, but so far so good. Would definitely recommend. Will update if anything changes.
I wanted to buy the bigger one, but there were only 2 in stock and I snoozed and lost.
Amazon Customer : Needs some modifications.
This can be a great smoker if you want to take the time to modify it. If you were going to build one anyway, it is a great start... BUT, if you want one ready to go right out of the box it might not be for you. I have a full size smoker and was looking for a smaller one. The smaller version of this smoker has a single door latch that appears to work very well... this one does NOT. In stead, it has two latches with the lower one being on the bottom and very contrary to latch. I requested the latch from the smaller one, but customer service sent me the wrong parts, TWICE. I gave up on them and fixed it myself. It does need a damper between the fire box and smoker box to help control the flame. The door has a seal, but smoke leaks out between the smoker box and around the temp gauge. On the up side, it has a nice fire box with removable ash drawer and it seems to hold temp very well. Customer support is not much! I would highly recommend to purchase this from a local supplier and not from here, that way you can check it out for yourself... again, don't rely on customer support.
John Henry Newman : Easily modified for greatness
I love the size of this smoker but the metal is thin and it loses a lot of heat, causing you to burn through the charcoal. To solve these problems, I loaded up some sand in a couple of aluminum pans, covered them with foil and put them in the bottom of the smoker (for increased thermal mass). I then ordered three 2' x 4' sheets of high-temperature mineral wool insulation (Search: Insulation Wool Foil Backing) that cost about 15 bucks each. I bolted one to the door and the others I used to cover all of the other sides using aluminum foil tape to keep them together. Everything but the firebox door and the bottom are now insulated. I use significantly less charcoal/wood when smoking and can easily get to higher temps when needed to crisp up that turkey skin. I also highly recommend a 4-probe WiFi thermometer to monitor smoker and meat temperature.
Bryan Strong : missing stuff, poor design, cheap screws
Out of the box the instructions do not cover installation of the Side Damper Plate. Nor were there any bolts or nuts to install it provided. It is listed on the replacement part list only. without a damper plate installed this this will run full throttle all the time. I assume I will have to go to the hardware store and get $1 worth of bolts/nuts to complete the assembly. As an experienced pit master, I will tell you this thing needs a heat and smoke defuser. Without one it is going to run hot on the firebox side and you will be forever turning meat to keep it from burning. I plan to use an old cookie sheet with water in it to damp down the side box heat/smoke flow. Last complaint, your 12mm screws are the cheapest. Stripped 2 of them trying to put it together and of course there were no extras. Americans use power tools to assemble things, provide screws that hold up to that.
Logan R. Hansen : Just built it outta the box!
I bought this for what it is, and not what it isn't. This isn't a lifetime piece. I have a Weber Smokey Mountain. I'm sure I'll have that forever! But the cooking space on it is mid range, for a close group of friends. I cook for groups of 20 or more and needed extra room. Cheep and easy solution was this Dynaglo smoker.
It was packaged well, with only a few minor dents. Everything went together well and the instructions are super easy to follow. If I didn't add the sillicone, construction would have taken less than 40 minutes. I could see light coming through the construction, so I put high heat silicone anywhere I thought that smoke may escape, all screws, thermometer, cracks. I also added a gasket to the fire box door. I suggest adding a gasket between the firebox and the main box as the silicone may not hold and smoke will definitely leak from here.
Also a suggestion, add casters to the legs. The legs will receive single stem casters very well. You'll be glad you did this as it will raise the smoker a few inches and make it portable. It is of considerable wieght and requires two people to transport.
I've posted pictures for comparisons and hope it helps as I agonized over if it could handle the racks of ribs I wanted it too.
I'll update when I smoke this weekend.
It was packaged well, with only a few minor dents. Everything went together well and the instructions are super easy to follow. If I didn't add the sillicone, construction would have taken less than 40 minutes. I could see light coming through the construction, so I put high heat silicone anywhere I thought that smoke may escape, all screws, thermometer, cracks. I also added a gasket to the fire box door. I suggest adding a gasket between the firebox and the main box as the silicone may not hold and smoke will definitely leak from here.
Also a suggestion, add casters to the legs. The legs will receive single stem casters very well. You'll be glad you did this as it will raise the smoker a few inches and make it portable. It is of considerable wieght and requires two people to transport.
I've posted pictures for comparisons and hope it helps as I agonized over if it could handle the racks of ribs I wanted it too.
I'll update when I smoke this weekend.
Joshua F. : Leaves a little to be desired.
I want to give this a higher rating but it's kind of a bad design they were so worried about having the smokebox and firebox line up across the bottom which means the heat dumps out about at the top of where the firebox meets with the smokebox making the lowest shelf useless since you need to us it to baffle heat. I used a large aluminum cake pan to do so. If I had to modify it, which I'm sure I will at some point, I'd add a box between the smokebox and the firebox so flames weren't coming through into the smokebox. and I'd lower the Firebox so that the heat was coming in closer to the bottom. Then I'd weld in some angle iron just above that to lay some baffles in. I caught this on sale this Memorial Day weekend for 249 ish and it was well worth that price-wise. I've seen some people give it a 2 or 1-star rating because they don't know how to run an offset. One person said he couldn't get the temp above 200 another said he couldn't get it below 275 and that's them not knowing what they're doing. Overall if you catch this on sale it's worth it to grab it maybe you can do 4 briskets in it at once. They kill valuable cooking real estate with the sloppy design though. Also, mine came with several dents which I wasn't too concerned about if I had to rate it based on price which I'm trying not to do since I just want to rate the product regardless of price i'd give it a 5 on sale 4 when it wasn't. Also there is no reason to buy sealant or third party gaskets for this.
Amazon Customer : I was worried.
After reading some of the reviews for this smoker, I got cold feet, but for $151.00, I decided why not. It was delivered in the time stated. I ordered some sealant because of what I had read about it, plus, for a $151.00 smoker, you have to expect it to not be perfect. I did the usual, sealed around the stack and thermometer during assembly, then noticed around the top, along the sides and the back I could see a little light coming through so I ran a small bead around those areas. Checked around and saw no light anywhere, so we're good. Did my burn off and found no leaks.
I had read a review saying that the fire box was the poorest designed the person had even seen. Well, I am no engineer, but I have found it to be extremely easy to use and designed to be able to fill quickly with minimal heat lose.
This morning I fired it up for my first smoke. I loaded a rack of baby backs, a pork tender loin, and 2 Cornish hens. Well about an hour into the smoke, I started realizing that buying this smoker was a home run. I actually got bored. It held temp with no effort on my part. I smoked for 5 hours total and only had to add a handful of charcoal once. Oh, and the outside temp was 42 when I started with a wind chill of 36 due to wind gust of 10 - 15. Would normally not even attempted a smoke, but I had to test the waters before Thanksgiving.
I am blown away by this smoker, and see an awesome future for us. LOL
One last thing, I read a negative review saying this smoker is NOT a good smoker for competition. Well, first, I would use it in any local competition. Second, even if it wouldn't be good for that, come on, it is a $151.00 smoker. What do you want for $151.00??? But I will say, it is just as good as the $500 - $600 units. Assembly was fast and easy. It came up to temp in good time, and was easy to set the temp, then held it with no fuss. This is the best smoker I have ever used.
Most important, I was not paid or encouraged in anyway to post this review. I recommend this smoker highly no matter what your skill level is.
I had read a review saying that the fire box was the poorest designed the person had even seen. Well, I am no engineer, but I have found it to be extremely easy to use and designed to be able to fill quickly with minimal heat lose.
This morning I fired it up for my first smoke. I loaded a rack of baby backs, a pork tender loin, and 2 Cornish hens. Well about an hour into the smoke, I started realizing that buying this smoker was a home run. I actually got bored. It held temp with no effort on my part. I smoked for 5 hours total and only had to add a handful of charcoal once. Oh, and the outside temp was 42 when I started with a wind chill of 36 due to wind gust of 10 - 15. Would normally not even attempted a smoke, but I had to test the waters before Thanksgiving.
I am blown away by this smoker, and see an awesome future for us. LOL
One last thing, I read a negative review saying this smoker is NOT a good smoker for competition. Well, first, I would use it in any local competition. Second, even if it wouldn't be good for that, come on, it is a $151.00 smoker. What do you want for $151.00??? But I will say, it is just as good as the $500 - $600 units. Assembly was fast and easy. It came up to temp in good time, and was easy to set the temp, then held it with no fuss. This is the best smoker I have ever used.
Most important, I was not paid or encouraged in anyway to post this review. I recommend this smoker highly no matter what your skill level is.
C. Johnson : Good smoker, but needs an assist.
Before purchasing this smoker I did research about pros/cons to this model compared to other smokers. Overall I liked this one as it had the fire box to the side, and seemed to have good adjustments. It is however very leaky regarding smoke and it was recommended that you seal it up during assembly to reduce this. As such when I put this together I used the Lava-Lock high temp RTV seal on most of the joints including between the fire box and smoker. I also used the Fireblack high-temp smoker gasket on the door. Overall this seemed to keep the smoke from escaping and it does a good job retaining the smoke and channeling it into the smoker box. The challenge I have now is that it gets hotter than I would like, and I have added some fire brick to the lower end of the smoker box to provide some buffer between the fire and the smoke box, and that seems to help. One complaint is that the control to adjust air to the fire box is very "Open", and seems to permit quite a bit of air whether open or closed, so it burns hotter than expected. I have had some success with limiting the amount of charcoal in the fire box and also ensuring my wood is wet before adding so it burns slower. Overall a good purchase so far and I am getting used to it. I think you'll be happy with it and just take your time to adjust your technique to this smoker, and you'll have good results. Recommended.
Heavy G : The large shipping box is difficult to handle.
It arrived in one large box. There's not much to assemble really. The firebox bolts to the smoker cabinet, which is complete minus the door. The legs attach to the bottom of both boxes. The chimney bolts on the top of the smoker. Firebox door has a handle on it from the factory, just hang the door on the firebox. The door of the smoker needs it's handle and latches attached, and then hung on the smoker body. I noticed only a small dent in the bottom corner of the smoker body. It may have left the factory that way.
Derek W. Small : Really nice grill for the money.
I'm new to smoking, but so far I'm pretty happy with this grill. If you are looking for a top of the line grill, you probably won't like it, but if you think of it as a basis for a great smoker you will like it. It isn't really heavy sheet metal, but it's sturdy if you don't abuse it. The handles and clasps are actually pretty nice. And the fact that it's not really heavy steel makes it easy to move by yourself.
If you want to make a really great grill, then, buy some nomex tape for the doors. This one from BBQgaskets.com works great, and there is enough extra to make a mistake or two. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TAJW0QE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You also will want to run to your local car parts store and buy some high-temp RTV silicon to seal up ALL joints. The red silicon actually adds a nice accent, and it's usually rated much higher than you should ever get the grill up to. Wipe off any excess before it dries and it's not hard to make it look pretty good.
I also recommend buying 1 or 2 rolls of aluminum foil tape and completely lining both boxes and doors with at least two layers of foil. The foil really helps with heat retention. You absolutely must do this before you use the grill the first time though. If you apply it while the inside is still clean, it sticks great and should last for years. If you wait until after you have used it once, you will always be fussing with it. I covered everything, even where the rack holders go. You just poke the holes out after you are done and the rack holders fit still without any problem.
The last thing I did was buy a few 13.5 x 9.5 x 3 inch aluminum foil pans. I don't really get why they put a water pan under the firebox, and made it out of steel. I use the factory water pan as an ash try, and put one of the foil pans at the bottom of the larger smoker box to both old water, and catch drippings. I've been experimenting with putting the foil pan on the first shelf to get a little more moister in the main grill box, but it works pretty well in the bottom, the only catch is you have to keep the heat up to at least 220-240 for it to do much.
This grill will hold a lot of meat, and is a great choice if you have been wanting to try smoking with charcoal.
If you want to make a really great grill, then, buy some nomex tape for the doors. This one from BBQgaskets.com works great, and there is enough extra to make a mistake or two. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TAJW0QE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You also will want to run to your local car parts store and buy some high-temp RTV silicon to seal up ALL joints. The red silicon actually adds a nice accent, and it's usually rated much higher than you should ever get the grill up to. Wipe off any excess before it dries and it's not hard to make it look pretty good.
I also recommend buying 1 or 2 rolls of aluminum foil tape and completely lining both boxes and doors with at least two layers of foil. The foil really helps with heat retention. You absolutely must do this before you use the grill the first time though. If you apply it while the inside is still clean, it sticks great and should last for years. If you wait until after you have used it once, you will always be fussing with it. I covered everything, even where the rack holders go. You just poke the holes out after you are done and the rack holders fit still without any problem.
The last thing I did was buy a few 13.5 x 9.5 x 3 inch aluminum foil pans. I don't really get why they put a water pan under the firebox, and made it out of steel. I use the factory water pan as an ash try, and put one of the foil pans at the bottom of the larger smoker box to both old water, and catch drippings. I've been experimenting with putting the foil pan on the first shelf to get a little more moister in the main grill box, but it works pretty well in the bottom, the only catch is you have to keep the heat up to at least 220-240 for it to do much.
This grill will hold a lot of meat, and is a great choice if you have been wanting to try smoking with charcoal.
C. Johnson : Good smoker, but needs an assist.
Before purchasing this smoker I did research about pros/cons to this model compared to other smokers. Overall I liked this one as it had the fire box to the side, and seemed to have good adjustments. It is however very leaky regarding smoke and it was recommended that you seal it up during assembly to reduce this. As such when I put this together I used the Lava-Lock high temp RTV seal on most of the joints including between the fire box and smoker. I also used the Fireblack high-temp smoker gasket on the door. Overall this seemed to keep the smoke from escaping and it does a good job retaining the smoke and channeling it into the smoker box. The challenge I have now is that it gets hotter than I would like, and I have added some fire brick to the lower end of the smoker box to provide some buffer between the fire and the smoke box, and that seems to help. One complaint is that the control to adjust air to the fire box is very "Open", and seems to permit quite a bit of air whether open or closed, so it burns hotter than expected. I have had some success with limiting the amount of charcoal in the fire box and also ensuring my wood is wet before adding so it burns slower. Overall a good purchase so far and I am getting used to it. I think you'll be happy with it and just take your time to adjust your technique to this smoker, and you'll have good results. Recommended.
Felo Z : Missing Parts
Please if you could avoid buying this product I would suggest that, I got this product everything was in the box except for the hardware to put it together. I have a party within a couple days that’s the reason why I bought it ...call the manufacturer They said will be more than happy to send it within 5 to 7 business days which is unacceptable
Kindle Customer : This was easily resolved the next time by placing a pan of ...
The main reason I did not give this five stars is that the design of the grate for the charcoal is problematic. It barely fits over the ash drawer and often tilts into the drawer. Setting this up is a task of precision and trial of one's patience. The design of the ash drawer and its placement in the combustion system is also not the safest. Be careful if you wish to add charcoal to extend your cooking time. If you pull the drawer too far out you could be covered with lit and hot coals as well as hot ashes. My suggestion to the manufacturer is to redesign this so that the drawer stops well before this risk factor emerges.
As suggested by other purchasers, I strongly suggest purchase of the caulking or you will lose heat and smoke through the smoker door. In addition, the grease catching drawer is far too small for the size of the product. My Thanksgiving turkey not only filled the drawer but overflowed on to the floor of my deck. If you are smoking large quantities of meat you might wish to place a large pan beneath the hole at the bottom of the smoker.
My first attempt at smoking resulted in somewhat dry meat. This was easily resolved the next time by placing a pan of hot water on the lowest rack.
Other than the above mentioned concerns, the results from the product are great. Its capacity as a smaller smoker is impressive. I plan to keep using this for may years.
Finally, if you keep your smoker outdoors as I do it might be in your best interest to purchase a cover for it. The cover manufacturer markets is relatively inexpensive and seems to be good quality. If left to the elements I am sure this product will rust, develop holes and become useless in a short amount of time. I also remove all ash from the offset section and clean out all ashes in the drawer and any other part of the combustion chamber. Moisture and ash are recipes for rusting.
As suggested by other purchasers, I strongly suggest purchase of the caulking or you will lose heat and smoke through the smoker door. In addition, the grease catching drawer is far too small for the size of the product. My Thanksgiving turkey not only filled the drawer but overflowed on to the floor of my deck. If you are smoking large quantities of meat you might wish to place a large pan beneath the hole at the bottom of the smoker.
My first attempt at smoking resulted in somewhat dry meat. This was easily resolved the next time by placing a pan of hot water on the lowest rack.
Other than the above mentioned concerns, the results from the product are great. Its capacity as a smaller smoker is impressive. I plan to keep using this for may years.
Finally, if you keep your smoker outdoors as I do it might be in your best interest to purchase a cover for it. The cover manufacturer markets is relatively inexpensive and seems to be good quality. If left to the elements I am sure this product will rust, develop holes and become useless in a short amount of time. I also remove all ash from the offset section and clean out all ashes in the drawer and any other part of the combustion chamber. Moisture and ash are recipes for rusting.
Doc Martin : Sub Par design and not ready to smoke right out of the box.
I was debating between three and two stars for a long time on this one. I modded the hell out of it, sealed every conceivable gap, and it still leaked like a colander. The paint on the firebox bubbled up - and yep, I did wait until flames died down and I had nothing but glowing embers. The metal is insanely thin - even for a 'cheap' smoker. The thermometer was wonky as hell - but the provided ones usually are, so I expect that.
On the positive side, the assembly is something one person can do pretty quickly. Once I got most of the leaks worked out, temperature control was a lot easier - and yeah, I have been smoking and grilling with charcoal for a long, long time, so I am far from a novice. The price is reasonable if you are willing to invest a LOT of time and effort correcting issues the design team should have taken care of when they engineered the smoker.
I've been doing some thinking and I will use this - but I have had it with cheap smokers that end up being a pain and are fragile. The next one will be a Kamado Joe - you can buy six or seven of these for the price of one of the KJ's, but I know that it will likely outlast me.
I wonder if I am going to get two years out of this one.
On the positive side, the assembly is something one person can do pretty quickly. Once I got most of the leaks worked out, temperature control was a lot easier - and yeah, I have been smoking and grilling with charcoal for a long, long time, so I am far from a novice. The price is reasonable if you are willing to invest a LOT of time and effort correcting issues the design team should have taken care of when they engineered the smoker.
I've been doing some thinking and I will use this - but I have had it with cheap smokers that end up being a pain and are fragile. The next one will be a Kamado Joe - you can buy six or seven of these for the price of one of the KJ's, but I know that it will likely outlast me.
I wonder if I am going to get two years out of this one.
Amazon Customer : Missing parts, no service
Smoker was delivered last Thursday. Went to put it together on the Saturday and it is missing the whole side of the firebox that marries into the body of the larger smoker. Bit of an inconvenience, I had pulled out to defrost on the Thursday night enough meat to fill the smoker. Had to cook in the oven ribs, whole chicken etc as I didn't want to refreeze it. Monday morning I spoke to a disinterested customer service person, gave me the company customer service email address. I emailed Amazon order number, a photo of the firebox with missing panel and my contact details, asking for acknowledgement of their receiving the email. No such acknowledgement received the next day so went to the customer page through Amazon and filled out their contact boxes, still with no response.
It seems to me that it is possible I have received a return or seconds product. Apart from the missing part, the packaging was not that great and there were no instructions contained within.
Combine this with being handballed away by customer service and then my other contact attempts being ignored. Thankyou. For taking my money. Giving me a product that does not fulfil its designed purpose. Great. Thanks.
It seems to me that it is possible I have received a return or seconds product. Apart from the missing part, the packaging was not that great and there were no instructions contained within.
Combine this with being handballed away by customer service and then my other contact attempts being ignored. Thankyou. For taking my money. Giving me a product that does not fulfil its designed purpose. Great. Thanks.
Amazon Customer : Poor quality, unmanageable temperatures, manufacturer should be ashamed.
I’m very displeased with this smoker. I figured even at $150 it would do the basics and I would eventually trade up to a better model down the road. The firebox is the most useless, poor quality piece of manufacturing you can get. I have a hard time understanding just how they thought it would be OK producing a vent that doesn’t actually block air from flowing in when you close it. I put a full chimney of hot coals in and I couldn’t stop them from continuing to rise in temperature. Initially I thought that the hot weather and full chimney method was what made it more difficult. No. I put a bed of unlit coal into the box, then I put 3 lit coals in the middle. The temperature rose steadily and once I got into smoking range I closed the vents again. The temperature still kept rising. This is obviously due to the incredibly bad quality of the build and the many cracks and leaks which cause too much oxygen to flow into the unit. I did the mods like all the reviews say, but that still didn’t stop the regulation of temperature from being completely unmanageable. DO NOT BUY THIS SMOKER. Trash.
NewJerseyTim : This company needs to do some serious quality control on there products.
Arrived on time but very poor craftsmanship. The latch for the smoke door was manufactured the wrong way, not sure if it was from a different unit or what but it couldn't be used the way it was. 3 of the shelf brackets wouldn't fit into the slots correctly because of bad welds that needed to be ground down to fit properly. 1 of the shelf brackets had a missed weld, yet somehow it went through the chrome plating process, was packaged and shipped liked that. If i wasn't handy enough to fix these issues and didn't need it for the holiday weekend it would have been returned. Very disappointed in the extra work I had to do to get it together correctly.
Consumer : Love the smoker. Hate the latches
Purchased this item after pondering for weeks. I love the size and width of the smoker and found it much easier to use than my last one. Especially love the offset design. There is one thing I do hate about this smoker and that is the two cheap small latches that closes the door. Bad design flaw in my opinion. The bottom latch is more than difficult to close since you are standing on your head looking under the smoker to close it. The plastic sleeve covering the latches slides off too easy making hard to grasp the latch. I believe if the latches were larger and the bottom door latch was not under the smoker, this would be almost a perfect smoker for me. It would take some redesigning.
fergsRus : good after mods done
this is adequate. better than a horizontal smoker (heat moves up, not horizontally). lots of room inside and plenty of racks. Used high-temp silicone to attach firebox to smoker cabinet. first time I used it, the intake damper got stuck. I think maybe the paint melted or it was painted after it was assembled. Loosened the nuts to end of bolts and used the silicone to keep the nuts from working off. works fine now. Overall, this has a sturdy design but the legs seem too flimsy to add wheels to (don't know why it doesn't have wheels). I love the charcoal box. it is designed like a chimney and has an ash pan that is easy to empty for long smokes. Door leaks smoke, but nomex fixed that. Temp gauge is a joke; just looks nice. Took 6 hours for it to reach a reading of 150 degrees although the electronic thermometer read 200-250 for the entire 10 hr smoke
Lkniss : Customer service is terrible. There's a reason for this low price point.
Update Three: Amazon did not pick up the item when it was scheduled for pickup. It is now going to sit on my front porch for four days. This has become a total hassle. DO NOT BUY THIS SMOKER.
Update Two: Because the manufacturer became non-responsive to my emails regarding the parts I needed, Amazon's solution was to send me an entire smoker so that I could get the latch from the box. They are picking up the now incomplete smoker. I hope this doesn't mean someone will now receive a smoker that is missing parts. What a mess!
Update to review: One of the latches broke to the smoker door after about two weeks of owning it.
This means you can only partially close the smoker cabinet and you have very poor control of temps.
It makes it very difficult to use the smoker and expect good results. Customer service is very poor. I have been waiting for a part for TWO MONTHS NOW. I have spoken to someone on the phone twice and sent about 5 emails to customer support. They lost one of my orders and they ignored my last email. I will be reaching out to Amazon for further assistance. Buyer beware, service after the sale is very poor.
Ignore this next part. It is not worth owning this smoker. Terrible experience.
This smoker takes about 20 minutes to assemble. There are videos on youtube if you need help, but you probably won't. I recommend you get some Sil-Bond RTV 6500 to seal up all the areas on the smoker where you might lose heat or smoke unwittingly. You should seal the firebox where it goes on to the smoke cabinet, seal the edges around the temp guage, and around the smoke stack where it connects to the cabinet. I suggest getting a couple cans of Pam cooking spray to spray down the interior to protect it from corrosion before you do your first burn to season the smoker and burn off toxic compounds. This smoker is not super thick metal, so it adds an element of challenge to keep your temps right where you want them. It is part of the fun! I also recommend getting a drip bucket to put under the smoker where the grease trap is. The trap is too small for the amount of meat you could smoke at one time. Adding charcoal to your smoker, you will probably want to get a chimney shovel so you can easily scoop lump charcoal and dump it in the firebox ceramic coated burn box. If you plan to use this smoker on a deck, you will want to get a high heat protective mat to catch hot coals from transferring from your charcoal chimney to your fire box. The mat will also save you from oil drips on your wood. As you use the smoker, to prevent noxious bitter smoke from getting on your meats, open the cabinet until your smoke is thin or "blue." You don't want to see a lot of smoke, let it burn clean and give it plenty of air with the side vent on the fire box wide open until your wood chunks are burning bright and then you can close her up and let it come back to temp before deciding what setting you want the vents at to bring your temp up or down. The heat is hotter on the firebox side of the cabinet so be aware food on that side of the rack will cook faster or char if you don't rotate. A way to combat this is to buy a stainless steel tray and put water in it, and place it on a lower rack above the firebox. It will absorb and radiate your hot side temp and add steam to your smoker to prevent burning your meats. I highly recommend this smoker, it turns out very good tasting meat and is a fun project to learn to smoke on. The game of controlling temps and choosing woods to use is a fun one and I wish you the best with your experiences! I will be smoking home made bacon on this smoker later this week. How cool is that?
Update Two: Because the manufacturer became non-responsive to my emails regarding the parts I needed, Amazon's solution was to send me an entire smoker so that I could get the latch from the box. They are picking up the now incomplete smoker. I hope this doesn't mean someone will now receive a smoker that is missing parts. What a mess!
Update to review: One of the latches broke to the smoker door after about two weeks of owning it.
This means you can only partially close the smoker cabinet and you have very poor control of temps.
It makes it very difficult to use the smoker and expect good results. Customer service is very poor. I have been waiting for a part for TWO MONTHS NOW. I have spoken to someone on the phone twice and sent about 5 emails to customer support. They lost one of my orders and they ignored my last email. I will be reaching out to Amazon for further assistance. Buyer beware, service after the sale is very poor.
Ignore this next part. It is not worth owning this smoker. Terrible experience.
This smoker takes about 20 minutes to assemble. There are videos on youtube if you need help, but you probably won't. I recommend you get some Sil-Bond RTV 6500 to seal up all the areas on the smoker where you might lose heat or smoke unwittingly. You should seal the firebox where it goes on to the smoke cabinet, seal the edges around the temp guage, and around the smoke stack where it connects to the cabinet. I suggest getting a couple cans of Pam cooking spray to spray down the interior to protect it from corrosion before you do your first burn to season the smoker and burn off toxic compounds. This smoker is not super thick metal, so it adds an element of challenge to keep your temps right where you want them. It is part of the fun! I also recommend getting a drip bucket to put under the smoker where the grease trap is. The trap is too small for the amount of meat you could smoke at one time. Adding charcoal to your smoker, you will probably want to get a chimney shovel so you can easily scoop lump charcoal and dump it in the firebox ceramic coated burn box. If you plan to use this smoker on a deck, you will want to get a high heat protective mat to catch hot coals from transferring from your charcoal chimney to your fire box. The mat will also save you from oil drips on your wood. As you use the smoker, to prevent noxious bitter smoke from getting on your meats, open the cabinet until your smoke is thin or "blue." You don't want to see a lot of smoke, let it burn clean and give it plenty of air with the side vent on the fire box wide open until your wood chunks are burning bright and then you can close her up and let it come back to temp before deciding what setting you want the vents at to bring your temp up or down. The heat is hotter on the firebox side of the cabinet so be aware food on that side of the rack will cook faster or char if you don't rotate. A way to combat this is to buy a stainless steel tray and put water in it, and place it on a lower rack above the firebox. It will absorb and radiate your hot side temp and add steam to your smoker to prevent burning your meats. I highly recommend this smoker, it turns out very good tasting meat and is a fun project to learn to smoke on. The game of controlling temps and choosing woods to use is a fun one and I wish you the best with your experiences! I will be smoking home made bacon on this smoker later this week. How cool is that?
G. Hall : Make some great bbq.... it will pay for itself the first time you use it.
I read a lot of reviews about this smoker (wide-body) before making a purchase. The reviews ran from “this is the best smoker ever!” to “it leaks like a sieve, don’t waste your money!”. The funny thing about reviews is that you have to read between the lines and find some common ground. First off, this smoker is not for pro. The sheet metal is thin, which means you really pay attention to the firebox, and the smoker temps. There is a decent vent on the firebox but the vent on the chimney needs some work. There detents that hold the flap in place but if you need to position the flap in a position that is between the detents, the flap usually pops in to one or the other detents. You also can’t fully close the flap. (Yes, you wouldn’t want to do that while you are smoking.... I get it.) So, it makes fine tuning the temps more difficult than it should be. Continuing with the firebox, it would be nice if the bottom had contraption so that you could dump the ashes during a smoke. The ash tray fills up on long smokes, forcing you to leave the firebox door open for a long time so you can dump the ashes, making temp control harder. Moving on to the smoking chamber... If you are on the fence between the normal width smoker and the side body, go wide body. I guarantee you will be disappointed with the normal width one. Not because it does a poor job, it’s just that you’ll not be able to fit a whole packer brisket in it unless you separate the point from flat. With the wide body smoker, you also get a rib rack and a sausage hanger that you don’t get with the normal width one. The wide body has six shelves that slide out and have the ability to be pulled out and stay there for you place your meat, or sprtiz with your juice of choice during the smoke, not mention when you remove your brisket, pork butt, ribs, or whatever. You can see from the pictures I was able to fit five briskets in with no problem. My only complaint is the space between the shelves is very narrow and if you have a few particularly “healthy” briskets, they’ll be wedged. It isn’t a problem if you aren’t smoking a bunch of meat. Now on to something a lot of people have complained about... leaks. I was worried about leaks from what I read because I didn’t purchase any additional sealant. My fears were undeserved however. There is some “slight” leakage from where the chimney is attached to the cabinet, and from around the temperature probe. Other than those two places, I am leak free. I also read a review that said the user had a difficult time getting to temperature. Honestly, I’m not sure where that one came from. My smoker came up to temp quickly and was consistent. I’m not sure the probe is 100% accurate because those briskets in the picture were done hours before I expected them to be. I’m going to do some testing and probably replace the temp probe with a better quality one soon. So, in my opinion, this is an excellent smoker for the beginner as well the experienced. It is easy to put together. The price is right. Most importantly, it produces some great bbq. Those briskets had a smoke ring I’ve only ever seen in competition level bbq. If you are in the fence between this, other offset smokers, and maybe pellet smokers, go with this one. You won’t be disappointed.
Joshua F. : Leaves a little to be desired.
I want to give this a higher rating but it's kind of a bad design they were so worried about having the smokebox and firebox line up across the bottom which means the heat dumps out about at the top of where the firebox meets with the smokebox making the lowest shelf useless since you need to us it to baffle heat. I used a large aluminum cake pan to do so. If I had to modify it, which I'm sure I will at some point, I'd add a box between the smokebox and the firebox so flames weren't coming through into the smokebox. and I'd lower the Firebox so that the heat was coming in closer to the bottom. Then I'd weld in some angle iron just above that to lay some baffles in. I caught this on sale this Memorial Day weekend for 249 ish and it was well worth that price-wise. I've seen some people give it a 2 or 1-star rating because they don't know how to run an offset. One person said he couldn't get the temp above 200 another said he couldn't get it below 275 and that's them not knowing what they're doing. Overall if you catch this on sale it's worth it to grab it maybe you can do 4 briskets in it at once. They kill valuable cooking real estate with the sloppy design though. Also, mine came with several dents which I wasn't too concerned about if I had to rate it based on price which I'm trying not to do since I just want to rate the product regardless of price i'd give it a 5 on sale 4 when it wasn't. Also there is no reason to buy sealant or third party gaskets for this.
jeeperman : Very nice cooker/smoker.
Great smoker/cooker. Per the directions, I seasoned the smoker as soon as I put it together. Directions recommend 45-60 minutes of seasoning, which means burning your charcoal/wood as you normally wood, but do not put any food into the smoker at that time.
I started up some kingsford charcoal using their chimney device. Tossed that into the smoker's firebox and put a couple chunks of hickory wood right on top of the coals. Smoker got up to about 250 degrees F with the box vents completely opened. It stayed there for the entire seasoning period.
I do recommend the high-temp, red sealant. I used it on mine and I am only leaking smoke at the temp gauge. I did put a bead of sealant around it, but maybe not enough. i will try to apply more sealant this weekend. So far, even with out smoking any food, it appears to be awesome. If necessary, i will update my review after I smoke some food.
I may have been one of the lucky ones because mine arrived in perfect condition...no dents, no bends, no missing pieces.
I started up some kingsford charcoal using their chimney device. Tossed that into the smoker's firebox and put a couple chunks of hickory wood right on top of the coals. Smoker got up to about 250 degrees F with the box vents completely opened. It stayed there for the entire seasoning period.
I do recommend the high-temp, red sealant. I used it on mine and I am only leaking smoke at the temp gauge. I did put a bead of sealant around it, but maybe not enough. i will try to apply more sealant this weekend. So far, even with out smoking any food, it appears to be awesome. If necessary, i will update my review after I smoke some food.
I may have been one of the lucky ones because mine arrived in perfect condition...no dents, no bends, no missing pieces.
TMK248 : Great smoker!
Delivered quickly and with no damage-not a scratch. Very easy to assemble. It is already mostly assembled in the box. You just have to put large parts together and add handles and legs. I did get a tube of the black silicone to seal it up at the joints and was glad I did. Very impressed with quality and fitment of components.
Used it for the first time yesterday for pork butt and chickens and very impressed with the final product. I did preseason the smoker before use as recommended in the instructions. Easy to maintain temp using mix of charcoal briquettes and chunks of hardwood. Better than my old horizontal offset box smoker. This smokes better and takes up much less room. I will be buying some of the tape sealant to seal the doors. They really don't leak much smoke but I would like to have full control over temp on colder months. I also got an aluminum drip pan and placed it in the bottom of the unit when using.
Highly recommended.
Used it for the first time yesterday for pork butt and chickens and very impressed with the final product. I did preseason the smoker before use as recommended in the instructions. Easy to maintain temp using mix of charcoal briquettes and chunks of hardwood. Better than my old horizontal offset box smoker. This smokes better and takes up much less room. I will be buying some of the tape sealant to seal the doors. They really don't leak much smoke but I would like to have full control over temp on colder months. I also got an aluminum drip pan and placed it in the bottom of the unit when using.
Highly recommended.
Scott : Most cooking space available in a mass-market smoker!
I have now purchased two of these smokers. They have been fantastic. There are, however, some things I'd like to point out after reading some of the other comments.
When you purchase a smoker like this, and sometimes even a custom smoker such as a Lang or East Texas model, you WILL have to do some extra work. On this model, it isn't nearly as much as I've seen with others. Read through the cooments! See what people are saying about high temp gaskets and sealant? DO IT! When I assembled this model, I filled all screw holes that entered either chamber with and created a secondary and tertiary seal between the firebox and cook chamber with Lavalock sealant and gasket. To date I have no leaks.
Having said that, learning how to control temperature and burn rate will be trick with these. These are technically charcoal smokers and not stick burners, so the firebox is smaller than you'd expect for a stickburner. Eventually I will Frankenstein the second smoker with a fabricated firebox and see how much better it does.
All in all, you can't go wrong with this smoker, ESPECIALLY if you like to have large parties where you have alot of people to feed. you can put such a huge variety and quantity of food in here that you will likely have leftovers.
When you purchase a smoker like this, and sometimes even a custom smoker such as a Lang or East Texas model, you WILL have to do some extra work. On this model, it isn't nearly as much as I've seen with others. Read through the cooments! See what people are saying about high temp gaskets and sealant? DO IT! When I assembled this model, I filled all screw holes that entered either chamber with and created a secondary and tertiary seal between the firebox and cook chamber with Lavalock sealant and gasket. To date I have no leaks.
Having said that, learning how to control temperature and burn rate will be trick with these. These are technically charcoal smokers and not stick burners, so the firebox is smaller than you'd expect for a stickburner. Eventually I will Frankenstein the second smoker with a fabricated firebox and see how much better it does.
All in all, you can't go wrong with this smoker, ESPECIALLY if you like to have large parties where you have alot of people to feed. you can put such a huge variety and quantity of food in here that you will likely have leftovers.
Steven Gormely : Takes a little extra work and purchases.
It's a nice smoker, but out of the box there are huge gap between the coal box and the meat rack side, as there are only screw fitting on the bottom, not the top of the charcoal box as well, so I could see through the gap into the box once assembled and turned up right. I knew this going in from reviews, so I bought the gasket and silicone. The silicone works great and completely sealed the gaps where applied. The gasket is hard in the doors as they aren't built to have such thick stuff added in so close the hinge. It popped the welds on the extra metal helping the halndle on the main smoking door right off within a day of use the gasket stressed the door so hard. But that's fine. It still work great and leaks much less smoke than it would have right out of the box. Do not use straight of out the box. If that's what you want, spend a few hundred more on another one, instead of $30 more with a little extra work on this one.
Stephanie Moore : Delivery issuses hope it works
Just received my smoker today, has a significant dent in the smoker itself and a small ding on the fire box door. I don't want to send it back because we are supposed to use it for a BBQ father's day weekend please make a note to your delivery provider that this is unacceptable... I didn't spend good money on a dented smoker . Hopefully it will work just fine.????????
Joe Kocinski : On Going First Use Review
First day of cooking. I did some research , YouTubing, web and decided to pull the trigger on the DG wide body smoker. Per the recommendations of a YouTube video, I also ordered some high temp food grade silicon to seal the seems between the top cover and the body that are only tack welded. Also need the sealant around the lips of the body where the firebox attaches. The door has a nice gasket, during the initial burn-in and today's first use, I'm pleased with the seal.
Had a lot of what I thought were issues with the temp not getting high enough.... DON'T trust the door thermometer. Mine right now is reading 230, my ThermPro dual probe thermometer is reading 304.
The construction is okay for Chinese, do watch an assembly video on YouTube and do seal where the video states to. It is not a one person move unless your super human, I whish the legs had secondary cross support for when you might need to move by yourself as to do so means walking the smoker side by side.
10# of pork shoulder has been on for 90 minutes, the fire is rocking, the smoke is a nice light blue, using charcoal briquettes and lump for heat with hickory for the smoke.
Will update at about the 4 hour mark
5 hours. Still holding heat well, it's 78 ambient temperature. Got to 265 a few times but that's my fault not knowing yet how much charcoal to use. Don't trust the grease drip pan, too small, have a mess on my driveway I'll have to deal with. I ended up stealing a deep well cooking sheet pan to lay on the bottom of the smoker.
Had a lot of what I thought were issues with the temp not getting high enough.... DON'T trust the door thermometer. Mine right now is reading 230, my ThermPro dual probe thermometer is reading 304.
The construction is okay for Chinese, do watch an assembly video on YouTube and do seal where the video states to. It is not a one person move unless your super human, I whish the legs had secondary cross support for when you might need to move by yourself as to do so means walking the smoker side by side.
10# of pork shoulder has been on for 90 minutes, the fire is rocking, the smoke is a nice light blue, using charcoal briquettes and lump for heat with hickory for the smoke.
Will update at about the 4 hour mark
5 hours. Still holding heat well, it's 78 ambient temperature. Got to 265 a few times but that's my fault not knowing yet how much charcoal to use. Don't trust the grease drip pan, too small, have a mess on my driveway I'll have to deal with. I ended up stealing a deep well cooking sheet pan to lay on the bottom of the smoker.
Amazon Customer : Needs some modifications.
This can be a great smoker if you want to take the time to modify it. If you were going to build one anyway, it is a great start... BUT, if you want one ready to go right out of the box it might not be for you. I have a full size smoker and was looking for a smaller one. The smaller version of this smoker has a single door latch that appears to work very well... this one does NOT. In stead, it has two latches with the lower one being on the bottom and very contrary to latch. I requested the latch from the smaller one, but customer service sent me the wrong parts, TWICE. I gave up on them and fixed it myself. It does need a damper between the fire box and smoker box to help control the flame. The door has a seal, but smoke leaks out between the smoker box and around the temp gauge. On the up side, it has a nice fire box with removable ash drawer and it seems to hold temp very well. Customer support is not much! I would highly recommend to purchase this from a local supplier and not from here, that way you can check it out for yourself... again, don't rely on customer support.
Amazon Customer : Expect to modify it after you get it
1. Easy to assemble and fairly light-weight. But it is low-gauge steel.
2. The pieces of the box are arc welded at points so there is some daylight that can be seen through the seams. Not much but it will required sealing.
3. No water bowl or anything for water. I am using 2 aluminum lasagna pans (Size: 13.38" x 9.63" x 2.88") for the bottom. They are a little big sitting in the bottom, side-by-side, but it allows the door to close.
4. The bottom latch is awkward to use.
5. I "seasoned" it per the directions. Just took a small bag of briquettes (which fit precisely), added some starter fluid, slid the unit into the side box and lit it with the doors open. Once the flames settled it took off. I closed all doors, opened all vents and let it go. It got over 375° in the box (according to the temp gauge on the door).
6. The vent for the hot box is very sloppy and does not seal up or even close to it. You will want to apply some gasket around it to get it to pull in less air to get it cooler.
7. Unlike inline smokers, the offset box does get the water at the bottom of the box hot enough to keep the meat from drying out. I put the water pan on the lowest rack right next to the output of the hot box.
8. The temp gauge reads about 25-30 degrees hotter than the actual temp.
Don’t expect your first smoke to come out as expected; especially if you’re used to the inline smokers, as I am.
2. The pieces of the box are arc welded at points so there is some daylight that can be seen through the seams. Not much but it will required sealing.
3. No water bowl or anything for water. I am using 2 aluminum lasagna pans (Size: 13.38" x 9.63" x 2.88") for the bottom. They are a little big sitting in the bottom, side-by-side, but it allows the door to close.
4. The bottom latch is awkward to use.
5. I "seasoned" it per the directions. Just took a small bag of briquettes (which fit precisely), added some starter fluid, slid the unit into the side box and lit it with the doors open. Once the flames settled it took off. I closed all doors, opened all vents and let it go. It got over 375° in the box (according to the temp gauge on the door).
6. The vent for the hot box is very sloppy and does not seal up or even close to it. You will want to apply some gasket around it to get it to pull in less air to get it cooler.
7. Unlike inline smokers, the offset box does get the water at the bottom of the box hot enough to keep the meat from drying out. I put the water pan on the lowest rack right next to the output of the hot box.
8. The temp gauge reads about 25-30 degrees hotter than the actual temp.
Don’t expect your first smoke to come out as expected; especially if you’re used to the inline smokers, as I am.
C. Johnson : Good smoker, but needs an assist.
Before purchasing this smoker I did research about pros/cons to this model compared to other smokers. Overall I liked this one as it had the fire box to the side, and seemed to have good adjustments. It is however very leaky regarding smoke and it was recommended that you seal it up during assembly to reduce this. As such when I put this together I used the Lava-Lock high temp RTV seal on most of the joints including between the fire box and smoker. I also used the Fireblack high-temp smoker gasket on the door. Overall this seemed to keep the smoke from escaping and it does a good job retaining the smoke and channeling it into the smoker box. The challenge I have now is that it gets hotter than I would like, and I have added some fire brick to the lower end of the smoker box to provide some buffer between the fire and the smoke box, and that seems to help. One complaint is that the control to adjust air to the fire box is very "Open", and seems to permit quite a bit of air whether open or closed, so it burns hotter than expected. I have had some success with limiting the amount of charcoal in the fire box and also ensuring my wood is wet before adding so it burns slower. Overall a good purchase so far and I am getting used to it. I think you'll be happy with it and just take your time to adjust your technique to this smoker, and you'll have good results. Recommended.
Amazon Customer : Missing parts, no service
Smoker was delivered last Thursday. Went to put it together on the Saturday and it is missing the whole side of the firebox that marries into the body of the larger smoker. Bit of an inconvenience, I had pulled out to defrost on the Thursday night enough meat to fill the smoker. Had to cook in the oven ribs, whole chicken etc as I didn't want to refreeze it. Monday morning I spoke to a disinterested customer service person, gave me the company customer service email address. I emailed Amazon order number, a photo of the firebox with missing panel and my contact details, asking for acknowledgement of their receiving the email. No such acknowledgement received the next day so went to the customer page through Amazon and filled out their contact boxes, still with no response.
It seems to me that it is possible I have received a return or seconds product. Apart from the missing part, the packaging was not that great and there were no instructions contained within.
Combine this with being handballed away by customer service and then my other contact attempts being ignored. Thankyou. For taking my money. Giving me a product that does not fulfil its designed purpose. Great. Thanks.
It seems to me that it is possible I have received a return or seconds product. Apart from the missing part, the packaging was not that great and there were no instructions contained within.
Combine this with being handballed away by customer service and then my other contact attempts being ignored. Thankyou. For taking my money. Giving me a product that does not fulfil its designed purpose. Great. Thanks.
Nick86 : Great Potential!
Smoker has plenty of room to fill up. Since the metal is so thin on this, it doesn't keep very good temperature when it's cold out. Do yourself a favor and get the lavarock silicone sealer for all of the edges, along with the door gasket or smoke will come out of all of the corners of the smoker. Definitely needs some mods to make it a good smoke.
Other things to consider for the smoker would be a baffle to put over the firebox opening inside the smoker, modifying the charcoal cage for snaking the charcoal/chips through. for really cold temps, some welding blankets to put over it while smoking to avoid more heat from escaping.
Other things to consider for the smoker would be a baffle to put over the firebox opening inside the smoker, modifying the charcoal cage for snaking the charcoal/chips through. for really cold temps, some welding blankets to put over it while smoking to avoid more heat from escaping.
Joe Kocinski : On Going First Use Review
First day of cooking. I did some research , YouTubing, web and decided to pull the trigger on the DG wide body smoker. Per the recommendations of a YouTube video, I also ordered some high temp food grade silicon to seal the seems between the top cover and the body that are only tack welded. Also need the sealant around the lips of the body where the firebox attaches. The door has a nice gasket, during the initial burn-in and today's first use, I'm pleased with the seal.
Had a lot of what I thought were issues with the temp not getting high enough.... DON'T trust the door thermometer. Mine right now is reading 230, my ThermPro dual probe thermometer is reading 304.
The construction is okay for Chinese, do watch an assembly video on YouTube and do seal where the video states to. It is not a one person move unless your super human, I whish the legs had secondary cross support for when you might need to move by yourself as to do so means walking the smoker side by side.
10# of pork shoulder has been on for 90 minutes, the fire is rocking, the smoke is a nice light blue, using charcoal briquettes and lump for heat with hickory for the smoke.
Will update at about the 4 hour mark
5 hours. Still holding heat well, it's 78 ambient temperature. Got to 265 a few times but that's my fault not knowing yet how much charcoal to use. Don't trust the grease drip pan, too small, have a mess on my driveway I'll have to deal with. I ended up stealing a deep well cooking sheet pan to lay on the bottom of the smoker.
Had a lot of what I thought were issues with the temp not getting high enough.... DON'T trust the door thermometer. Mine right now is reading 230, my ThermPro dual probe thermometer is reading 304.
The construction is okay for Chinese, do watch an assembly video on YouTube and do seal where the video states to. It is not a one person move unless your super human, I whish the legs had secondary cross support for when you might need to move by yourself as to do so means walking the smoker side by side.
10# of pork shoulder has been on for 90 minutes, the fire is rocking, the smoke is a nice light blue, using charcoal briquettes and lump for heat with hickory for the smoke.
Will update at about the 4 hour mark
5 hours. Still holding heat well, it's 78 ambient temperature. Got to 265 a few times but that's my fault not knowing yet how much charcoal to use. Don't trust the grease drip pan, too small, have a mess on my driveway I'll have to deal with. I ended up stealing a deep well cooking sheet pan to lay on the bottom of the smoker.
PbLead : Best smoker for the money!
This is the 5th smoker I've owned and by far it is the best one yet. I spent a little extra for the sealing materials and the cover. Ice owned this one for over a year now, and have only one smoke leak and it's from the door latch. It does have an inherent design flaw where fire can reach the food. I eventually fixed that by wrapping the bottom rack in anulminum foil. Since then I've never had an issue with the fire reaching the food or the chamber getting too hot. The temperatures are a bit low for this one but I can manage that, the tradeoff is the amount of smoke this thing produces. I have to step back about four feet when I open the chamber door because the amount of smoke that'll hit you is overwhelming. Now as far as wear and tear, it does have a spot on the firebox where the hear has removed the paint and is starting to rust, but that can be managed. Otherwise, that's really it. I keep. It covered when I'm not using it and the cover works great!
Robert M Chadwick : Great smoker once you figure out your particular quirks
I chose this smoker because I wanted to be able to do full racks of ribs. I've been happy to say that I've succeeded in that. I've also done full pork loins, split chicken breasts, leg quarters, and drumsticks, as well as a brisket and a turkey. Here's my experience.
Assembly
=========
This was pretty easy, but a few pieces didn't fit together quite as tightly as I would have liked - notably, where the firebox joins with the smoker body. This turned out to not be a big deal. Many other people have recommended sealing the gaps with heat-resistant silicone or the firebox door with gasket and I tried this; I found no significant difference before and after.
I did manage to break the temperature gauge while tightening it - the connector is much less sturdy than it appears and it was easy to over-tighten. I replaced it with a different gauge and haven't had any trouble.
They recommend two people to construct it, but I was able to put it together myself carefully. It is heavy, so be careful.
The handles make it convenient to relocate if needed, but I haven't needed to do so.
Temperature Control
==================
It is very easy to get started and charcoal does a great job. Use lots more than you think you may need - don't skimp. I've tried with hardwood chunks as well as wet wood chips in aluminum and both worked well. The hardwood makes it a little hotter (it burns nicely) but I think the chips made better smoke.
The down side is that while you can initially get it up to temperature around 225°F-250°F, it quickly drops down to 175°F and stays there. I tried multiple vent settings, adding more charcoal, leaving the doors closed longer, and so on, but I couldn't break that barrier until I learned the secret.
THE SECRET: Air flow. Keep the upper damper open. Use the lower damper on the firebox for controlling the temperature. But even with that, YOU NEED GOOD AIR FLOW. In my back yard, I didn't have enough air going in the lower dampers, so the fire got too cool. I fixed this with a small portable fan a couple of feet away, and just blow the air in the dampers. This way, I was easily able to get my temperature steady at 225°F for several hours, adding fresh charcoal and hardwood along the way. I use the lower damper to control the temperature.
The Cooking
==================
I have had great success with bone-in split chicken breast. The meat is thick enough to keep the juice well and the smoke penetrates wonderfully. Use a dry seasoning with some flavor to it. 2.5 to 3 hours works well.
A whole pork loin also works out very well. The meat is thicker and can really hold up to the smoke. Again, the dry rub seasoning is great. Be careful of getting too much salt into the meat. 2.5 to 3.5 hours seems to be about right.
Chicken legs and leg quarters also work well, but because they are smaller you need to pay closer attention and cook for a shorter time - maybe 2 to 2.5 hours.
The turkey worked nicely but I had to remove a couple of shelves to make it fit. It was a 14lb bird but could easily accommodate more. Be sure to thaw it fully first. I did not do any tenting. It cooked in about 4 hours.
Pork ribs have come out wonderfully. I've done them standing in the rib rack as well as flat on the grills and both ways are great. 3 hours is fine. I've done with a dry rub several times, and the last time I added BBQ sauce with a brush about an hour before finishing, which added a great caramelized layer. The meat will literally fall off the bones when you get it right.
Brisket worked, but I had less success. I need more experimentation here; I'm sure it's a problem with the chef and not with the smoker itself. I easily fit a 10lb brisket on once shelf but had to remove the one above it to make room.
The smoker will hold enough for a small army or decent-sized family reunion. Easily 6-8 breasts per shelf, 10-12 leg quarters, 2 pork loins, or a rack of ribs flat. If you go for something larger, you'll need to shift a couple of the shelves.
BIG WARNING: The right side of the smoker body gets significantly hotter than the left side. You will want to check and rotate your meat regularly. I strongly recommend a good multi-probe thermometer so you can check temps in different spots.
COOKING TIP: Take the food off 30 minutes BEFORE you think it's done. Because it probably is. Remember the resting time is needed afterward and the food will continue cooking after that time. This is probably my biggest error and results in slightly drier food, but overall no one has complained. Use that meat thermometer and give yourself a 5°-10° head start.
CARVING TIP: For ribs and brisket, as well as turkey, invest in a good HEAVY knife. I ended up cutting through bone when slicing ribs into pieces the last time. Watch your fingers!!!
After packing the food into the refrigerator, you'll smell that great smoke every time you open the door.
Accessories
=========
Get a good pair of heavy-duty heat-resistant silicone gloves. You'll need them to put things in and out of the smoker or to add more charcoal to the firebox. I burned my fingers through a pair of light welding gloves. Use a vice-grip to move the fire grate around because prolonged contact will go through almost anything.
Get yourself a good instant-read thermometer, or a multi-probe wireless one is even better. You'll want to use it to determine food done-ness instead of eyeballing.
Get that carving knife I mentioned, and a meat fork too.
Have a heat-resistant table handy near the smoker - it'll make it easier to take things off the shelves because you can just pull them out and quickly close the smoker door again.
Get some BIG cutting boards so you can slice the meat and display it. It'll be worth it!
Assembly
=========
This was pretty easy, but a few pieces didn't fit together quite as tightly as I would have liked - notably, where the firebox joins with the smoker body. This turned out to not be a big deal. Many other people have recommended sealing the gaps with heat-resistant silicone or the firebox door with gasket and I tried this; I found no significant difference before and after.
I did manage to break the temperature gauge while tightening it - the connector is much less sturdy than it appears and it was easy to over-tighten. I replaced it with a different gauge and haven't had any trouble.
They recommend two people to construct it, but I was able to put it together myself carefully. It is heavy, so be careful.
The handles make it convenient to relocate if needed, but I haven't needed to do so.
Temperature Control
==================
It is very easy to get started and charcoal does a great job. Use lots more than you think you may need - don't skimp. I've tried with hardwood chunks as well as wet wood chips in aluminum and both worked well. The hardwood makes it a little hotter (it burns nicely) but I think the chips made better smoke.
The down side is that while you can initially get it up to temperature around 225°F-250°F, it quickly drops down to 175°F and stays there. I tried multiple vent settings, adding more charcoal, leaving the doors closed longer, and so on, but I couldn't break that barrier until I learned the secret.
THE SECRET: Air flow. Keep the upper damper open. Use the lower damper on the firebox for controlling the temperature. But even with that, YOU NEED GOOD AIR FLOW. In my back yard, I didn't have enough air going in the lower dampers, so the fire got too cool. I fixed this with a small portable fan a couple of feet away, and just blow the air in the dampers. This way, I was easily able to get my temperature steady at 225°F for several hours, adding fresh charcoal and hardwood along the way. I use the lower damper to control the temperature.
The Cooking
==================
I have had great success with bone-in split chicken breast. The meat is thick enough to keep the juice well and the smoke penetrates wonderfully. Use a dry seasoning with some flavor to it. 2.5 to 3 hours works well.
A whole pork loin also works out very well. The meat is thicker and can really hold up to the smoke. Again, the dry rub seasoning is great. Be careful of getting too much salt into the meat. 2.5 to 3.5 hours seems to be about right.
Chicken legs and leg quarters also work well, but because they are smaller you need to pay closer attention and cook for a shorter time - maybe 2 to 2.5 hours.
The turkey worked nicely but I had to remove a couple of shelves to make it fit. It was a 14lb bird but could easily accommodate more. Be sure to thaw it fully first. I did not do any tenting. It cooked in about 4 hours.
Pork ribs have come out wonderfully. I've done them standing in the rib rack as well as flat on the grills and both ways are great. 3 hours is fine. I've done with a dry rub several times, and the last time I added BBQ sauce with a brush about an hour before finishing, which added a great caramelized layer. The meat will literally fall off the bones when you get it right.
Brisket worked, but I had less success. I need more experimentation here; I'm sure it's a problem with the chef and not with the smoker itself. I easily fit a 10lb brisket on once shelf but had to remove the one above it to make room.
The smoker will hold enough for a small army or decent-sized family reunion. Easily 6-8 breasts per shelf, 10-12 leg quarters, 2 pork loins, or a rack of ribs flat. If you go for something larger, you'll need to shift a couple of the shelves.
BIG WARNING: The right side of the smoker body gets significantly hotter than the left side. You will want to check and rotate your meat regularly. I strongly recommend a good multi-probe thermometer so you can check temps in different spots.
COOKING TIP: Take the food off 30 minutes BEFORE you think it's done. Because it probably is. Remember the resting time is needed afterward and the food will continue cooking after that time. This is probably my biggest error and results in slightly drier food, but overall no one has complained. Use that meat thermometer and give yourself a 5°-10° head start.
CARVING TIP: For ribs and brisket, as well as turkey, invest in a good HEAVY knife. I ended up cutting through bone when slicing ribs into pieces the last time. Watch your fingers!!!
After packing the food into the refrigerator, you'll smell that great smoke every time you open the door.
Accessories
=========
Get a good pair of heavy-duty heat-resistant silicone gloves. You'll need them to put things in and out of the smoker or to add more charcoal to the firebox. I burned my fingers through a pair of light welding gloves. Use a vice-grip to move the fire grate around because prolonged contact will go through almost anything.
Get yourself a good instant-read thermometer, or a multi-probe wireless one is even better. You'll want to use it to determine food done-ness instead of eyeballing.
Get that carving knife I mentioned, and a meat fork too.
Have a heat-resistant table handy near the smoker - it'll make it easier to take things off the shelves because you can just pull them out and quickly close the smoker door again.
Get some BIG cutting boards so you can slice the meat and display it. It'll be worth it!
Consumer : Love the smoker. Hate the latches
Purchased this item after pondering for weeks. I love the size and width of the smoker and found it much easier to use than my last one. Especially love the offset design. There is one thing I do hate about this smoker and that is the two cheap small latches that closes the door. Bad design flaw in my opinion. The bottom latch is more than difficult to close since you are standing on your head looking under the smoker to close it. The plastic sleeve covering the latches slides off too easy making hard to grasp the latch. I believe if the latches were larger and the bottom door latch was not under the smoker, this would be almost a perfect smoker for me. It would take some redesigning.
Big Tex : Bang for your Buck$$
Unboxed it, had FDA silicone and Lavalock gasket roll, easy to install with clear instructions.
Seasoned it that night works well, I haven't modified anything except sealing the firebox to the smoker, chimney and the doors.
Smoked my first time this weekend, if you keep coals on it and add an occasional chunk of wood, smokes clean all day. Held at approximately 250 degrees using lump charcoal for about 6 hrs.
Buddy came over to help with the first smoke, now he's getting one.
Lots of space inside, we ended up smoking 4 racks of ribs, oxtail, smoked sausage, and some brats-under the drippings of course.
*** Assembly Note: Run a bead of silicone around each opening to the firebox during assembly. Saves time.
Run another bead around the outside of the thermometer on the amoker door- upon seasoning smike leaked there.
Enjoy.
Seasoned it that night works well, I haven't modified anything except sealing the firebox to the smoker, chimney and the doors.
Smoked my first time this weekend, if you keep coals on it and add an occasional chunk of wood, smokes clean all day. Held at approximately 250 degrees using lump charcoal for about 6 hrs.
Buddy came over to help with the first smoke, now he's getting one.
Lots of space inside, we ended up smoking 4 racks of ribs, oxtail, smoked sausage, and some brats-under the drippings of course.
*** Assembly Note: Run a bead of silicone around each opening to the firebox during assembly. Saves time.
Run another bead around the outside of the thermometer on the amoker door- upon seasoning smike leaked there.
Enjoy.
Amazon Customer : Horrible Customer Service
The product may very well be great, however there was no hardware or user manual included. Easy fix right? Just call them up and ask for the hardware. Until you reach someone who consistently interrupts you, doesn’t really care what you have to say and tells you they can’t stay on the line while you locate your email receipt. I’m positive I will have to make multiple calls to get my issue resolved, the representative was not even listening to me. I’ve been in the customer service world a very long time and never would I advise a customer that I can’t stay on the line while you locate something I am requesting you provide to me. Time to get back to the basics on your customer service, you can start by listening when someone is speaking.
Kristine Burks : Not great out of the box, needs some TLC to make it a great bang for the buck.
Ok so, this smoker is a great design and is super easy to put together, I give them a gold star on assembly. Their customer service is pretty sold and they bend over backwards to make things right.
Some TLC is needed to turn it into a great little smoker though. You MUST use some gasket on the doors and you MUST use some RTV to seal it up. Mine had taken a hard fall at some point so some of the joints on the big box were open a little (could see daylight). And the joint between the smoke box and smoke chamber needs it as well....basically, you gotta RTV the snot out of this thing.
And....as to why I mention their customer service...
So, on my unit the door handle didn't fall into the latch correctly. It's just a stamped bit of metal bent into a spot for the handle to lay down into. On mine, the handle doesn't make it and can't fall into the slot, just rides on top allowing the door to swing freely. I had to hit it with the dremel to make it right and of course, got my measurement wrong the first time. No worries, contacted customer support and they got one to me within a week. Installed it.....same exact problem, the handle won't fall into place. Now they're going to send me a new handle AND DOOR to try and fix it. I'm afraid it's the holes in the body are off center though and no amount of new parts will correct this.
SSssooooooo, be aware that this little gem might need some good 'ole southern know-how to get it to settle down and seal up. BUT, once you get that out of the way it DOES work like a charm. No, you won't be smoking a half a cow in it. However, if you just need a good little smoker to do everything ELSE in then this one is tough to beat.
If I had to change one thing in the design (other than the parts fitting right out of the box, just say'n guys), It'd be the grill racks. They have a great design for them to kind of fall into place and not wiggle around. But the side brackets can make this a little squirrely at times. I'm sure with use they'll open up a bit though.
Some TLC is needed to turn it into a great little smoker though. You MUST use some gasket on the doors and you MUST use some RTV to seal it up. Mine had taken a hard fall at some point so some of the joints on the big box were open a little (could see daylight). And the joint between the smoke box and smoke chamber needs it as well....basically, you gotta RTV the snot out of this thing.
And....as to why I mention their customer service...
So, on my unit the door handle didn't fall into the latch correctly. It's just a stamped bit of metal bent into a spot for the handle to lay down into. On mine, the handle doesn't make it and can't fall into the slot, just rides on top allowing the door to swing freely. I had to hit it with the dremel to make it right and of course, got my measurement wrong the first time. No worries, contacted customer support and they got one to me within a week. Installed it.....same exact problem, the handle won't fall into place. Now they're going to send me a new handle AND DOOR to try and fix it. I'm afraid it's the holes in the body are off center though and no amount of new parts will correct this.
SSssooooooo, be aware that this little gem might need some good 'ole southern know-how to get it to settle down and seal up. BUT, once you get that out of the way it DOES work like a charm. No, you won't be smoking a half a cow in it. However, if you just need a good little smoker to do everything ELSE in then this one is tough to beat.
If I had to change one thing in the design (other than the parts fitting right out of the box, just say'n guys), It'd be the grill racks. They have a great design for them to kind of fall into place and not wiggle around. But the side brackets can make this a little squirrely at times. I'm sure with use they'll open up a bit though.
Mark A Lloyd : Putting the smoker together was easy and straight forward
Putting the smoker together was easy and straight forward. The only issue I had was that the bottom part of the smoker body was "kicked out" a bit, so when the smoker box and smoker cabinet were assembled together (and the smoker cabinet door was closed, the smoker box door would hit the cabinet door. I remedied this by placing small washer in between the two at the top of the smoker box. I did use high temp silicone sealant to seal the cabinet and smoker box (and in between the two where they mate). I have the Lavalock High Temp Nomex BBQ HT gasket on order, and will be using that on the smoker box door. The only other issue I have is with the smoker box vent. I do not have the nuts tightened down(the screws turn easily), but it takes a lot of force to move it. Anyone have any ideas on how to make this slide better, maybe some high temp grease?
I make a cart for it out of some 2x4's, plywood and caster wheels. Don't mind the messy garage in the picture.
I make a cart for it out of some 2x4's, plywood and caster wheels. Don't mind the messy garage in the picture.
Robert MacDonald : No hardware/found-good smoker
It did not come with any hardware, fortunately i keep 316 ss on hand, did initial burn off and it worked fine for that, will be smoking foods tonight and will update, the 3 stars is only because of hardware at this point., 2 days later i found the hardware, taped between 2 bottom flaps of cardboard box, performed 1 smoke and it works great as long as you seal the troubled areas, royal oak natural charcoal lasts a long time, use soaked wood chunks wrapped in foil and the wood will last also. After using a few times it seems to work really well, takes some time to get used to but keep trying and the easier it gets
After several smokes i figure the door thermometer is 60 degrees high so be like me and have several digital ones, always good to measure temps everywhere, it will help you to know best places for thinner meats.
After several smokes i figure the door thermometer is 60 degrees high so be like me and have several digital ones, always good to measure temps everywhere, it will help you to know best places for thinner meats.
Robert MacDonald : No hardware/found-good smoker
It did not come with any hardware, fortunately i keep 316 ss on hand, did initial burn off and it worked fine for that, will be smoking foods tonight and will update, the 3 stars is only because of hardware at this point., 2 days later i found the hardware, taped between 2 bottom flaps of cardboard box, performed 1 smoke and it works great as long as you seal the troubled areas, royal oak natural charcoal lasts a long time, use soaked wood chunks wrapped in foil and the wood will last also. After using a few times it seems to work really well, takes some time to get used to but keep trying and the easier it gets
After several smokes i figure the door thermometer is 60 degrees high so be like me and have several digital ones, always good to measure temps everywhere, it will help you to know best places for thinner meats.
After several smokes i figure the door thermometer is 60 degrees high so be like me and have several digital ones, always good to measure temps everywhere, it will help you to know best places for thinner meats.
Philthy G : The Integra or Civic of the Smoker world....
UPDATE: I no longer have this smoker as I sold it to my brother, however I do suggest if you have a little extra money to get the wide version. While in my possession, I noticed ribs had to be put diagonal and the brisket had to be angled a bit as well to fit. I imagine the wide version doesn't have this issue. Great smoker though. It doesn't have the temp issues as my new Highland. This one gets hot a lot faster so that can be a great plus if you're impatient or it's 2 AM and you wanna sleep
Before I start, I bought this thing a few days before price dropped to current price. It's a little annoying to say the least. That being said...on to the review:
BEFORE BUYING THIS SMOKER, PLEASE UNDERSTAND A FEW THINGS....I saw a review here that said the same things I am about to revisit. I'll keep this guy-short. It works but requires some tweaking. You need to buy gaskets for the doors and silicon for the gaps....like between the firebox and smoke box.(the square and rectangle). You may also want to buy some high temp paint too. The forums and Youtube show the paint above firebox crap out after a bit. The thermometer on mine was a bust as it is with some other peoples. I bought one and drilled through door and installed it. It's not hard with a good drill. Smoked chicken so far and it was pretty tasty. Read the forums and watch some YouTube videos if you need more information. While this is not by any means the best smoker you could buy, I mean buy a Traeger if you got the money, it works well enough. Consider this the Integra or Civic of the smoker world...you need to fix it up a bit to get it awesome. So far no regrets...brisket ready for Sunday...we'll see how it fares.
Before I start, I bought this thing a few days before price dropped to current price. It's a little annoying to say the least. That being said...on to the review:
BEFORE BUYING THIS SMOKER, PLEASE UNDERSTAND A FEW THINGS....I saw a review here that said the same things I am about to revisit. I'll keep this guy-short. It works but requires some tweaking. You need to buy gaskets for the doors and silicon for the gaps....like between the firebox and smoke box.(the square and rectangle). You may also want to buy some high temp paint too. The forums and Youtube show the paint above firebox crap out after a bit. The thermometer on mine was a bust as it is with some other peoples. I bought one and drilled through door and installed it. It's not hard with a good drill. Smoked chicken so far and it was pretty tasty. Read the forums and watch some YouTube videos if you need more information. While this is not by any means the best smoker you could buy, I mean buy a Traeger if you got the money, it works well enough. Consider this the Integra or Civic of the smoker world...you need to fix it up a bit to get it awesome. So far no regrets...brisket ready for Sunday...we'll see how it fares.
me : Large volume, but has trouble holding temperature.
While it's easy to put together, it really doesn't like ambient temps below 50°. With a full basket of mesquite lump charcoal, a 15lb packer brisket, and 1 9lb bone in shoulder it only got to 200° in 40° weather. The thermometer and fire box are very leaky. A bit of thermal tape should fix it. Overall this is a decent smoker for medium volumes on a budget. With a few mods (thermal tape, sealing edges with thermal caulk), this is a worthy buy.
2 month edit: yes, it can hold a lot of meat, but today i had 40 chicken legson the bottom 2 racks, 2 8lb pork shoulders in the middle, and 1 17lb prime packer brisket at the top. I couldn't get the temp above 190 until i got the chicken legs out. My theory is that this smoker can't hold the stated amount of meat without having serious airflow issues. As soon as i got the legs out the temp was rock steady 230°. If you don't overload it is pretty good.
2 month edit: yes, it can hold a lot of meat, but today i had 40 chicken legson the bottom 2 racks, 2 8lb pork shoulders in the middle, and 1 17lb prime packer brisket at the top. I couldn't get the temp above 190 until i got the chicken legs out. My theory is that this smoker can't hold the stated amount of meat without having serious airflow issues. As soon as i got the legs out the temp was rock steady 230°. If you don't overload it is pretty good.
Amazon Customer : Horrible Customer Service
The product may very well be great, however there was no hardware or user manual included. Easy fix right? Just call them up and ask for the hardware. Until you reach someone who consistently interrupts you, doesn’t really care what you have to say and tells you they can’t stay on the line while you locate your email receipt. I’m positive I will have to make multiple calls to get my issue resolved, the representative was not even listening to me. I’ve been in the customer service world a very long time and never would I advise a customer that I can’t stay on the line while you locate something I am requesting you provide to me. Time to get back to the basics on your customer service, you can start by listening when someone is speaking.
G.Quinton : Green with envy.
Getting a bit green with envy of all my friends and their Komodo style grills I was looking for a more affordable smoker than the $800 or more cost of the ceramic eggs. The Dyna-Glo DGO1176BDC-D Charcoal Offset Smoker ... seemed to fit my criteria. First it is about 1/4 the cost of a large egg, and it will cook about 5 times as much meat. Second, it isn't your typical side-mounted smoker/grill. This is purpose built to be a smoker. Low and slow cooking of lots of meat. Does it work? Yes, but you will want to do the following: 1. Buy some hi temp sealant and seal all the joints during assembly. 2. Buy some wool gasket and put a gasket all around both doors. 3. Add a baffle. The smoke and heat come out the side of the firebox and tend to cook the meat directly above faster than the rest, but if during construction you screw on a piece of one of those disposable aluminum trays to direct the smoke towards the center of the chamber things will cook more evenly. Finally you must use hard wood or lump charcoal. Regular briquettes do not get hot enough. A starter chimney full of briquettes never got above 180 degrees F, while a chimney full of lump got to 225-250 quickly and was maintainable for an hour. My only quibble is the air vent on the firebox is a thin sheet metal with an easily bent tab. You want to be careful opening and closing the vent.
you can compare the product price from Costco, wayfair, bestbuy, lowes, target, homedepot, Walmart, ebay, amazon to find the best price for you
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ASMOKE AS500N-1 Electric Wood Fired Pellet Grill and Smoker, Pack of 6 Summer Best value BBQ Kit,Safe Certification, 465 sq in Cooking Area, 8 in 1 Outdoor Cooker, PID Control Temperature 180℉ to 500 ℉,40lbs Applewood pellets,Tahoe Blue review and price compare
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Cracker Cast Nets - 1/2 Inch x 10 Foot review and price compare
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12 Hand Impulse Sealer Heat Seal Machine Poly Sealing Free 2 Accessories Kits review and price compare
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KJBGS Fishnet Fishing Net Foldable Collapsible Fishing Landing Net Telescopic Pole Handle Safe Fish Catching or Releasing Network Convenient and Durable (Color : White) review and price compare
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