New Braunfels Smoker?

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AustinTejasFan

1,000+ Posts
Looking for a new medium priced smoker. Anybody use New Braunfels (now Char Broil) Smokers? Any other recommendations for a modestly priced smoker?
 
The wife got me the New Braunfels easy setup one at Wal-mart for $168 and I have been very pleased with it. It is not the normal black color, it is a dark grey and it comes assembled, all you have to do is take it out of the box and unfold the legs and burn it out to get the manufacturing oils out and you are ready to smoke. It's not the normal round shape of the rest of the offset firebox smokers it's a more modern shape. It's basically the same size as their Silver Smoker.
 
yep! I looked for a pic of it on the internet but I can't seem to find one
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. The only thing I don't like about it is that for ribs I can't stand a large rack of ribs up in a rib rack as the cooking chamber lid is too low to do that. For StLouis or baby back ribs it works great and for briskets it works great the low lid is an advantage as it keeps the heat right on the meat more evenly. It will hold two big briskets, which is what I usually cook cause if I cook only one there are no leftovers to take back to Miami
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so I cook two and voile-ah!!! leftovers to go back with me
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.

If I want to do ribs and brisket I take the briskets off after they got a good smoke on them, i.e. 6 or 8 hours and wrap them in heavy duty foil and pop them in the oven in the house at 275 and put the ribs on the smoker and cook them for 3 or 4 hours.

One of these days I am going to build a real pit out of concrete block or bricks but for now this works great.

BTW - I can also reccomend this smokerThe Link . This is the smoker that I replaced. We brought it over from Texas and it lasted 6 years but finally rusted out. The reason that we didn't buy another one is that the "Texas Firebox" version is not sold in Florida (they sell this oneThe Link and the firebox is extra and you have to order it as they don't stock it
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) and we were craving brisket real bad and didn't want to wait for Char Griller to ship us one. This one does a great job and is improved over the one that I had as it now has a top opening lid on the firebox for ease of adding charcoal or wood. Mine didn't have that and it was always a hassle to tend the fire in it through the side opening. Lowes or Home Depot carries these.
 
The Black Diamond served me well for many years, just make sure you tell them you want them to put it together at the store.

Phlegm,

You use the oven? Why don't you just declare yourself a communist and be done with it
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You may want to consider a Weber Smokey MountainVirtual Weber Bullet
If you watch those bbq cookoffs on the food channel you are bound to see several of these in the background. The greatest thing about it is that you can easily maintain 200 - 250 degrees without messing with it. Also that link above has a forum where many experts share recipes, etc. dedicated to this grill. It goes for about $180 and pretty much can only be had by mail order (walmart, amazon), but is a really quality unit.
 
I only use the oven if I need to do ribs too, or if I run out of charcoal and don't feel like running to WalMart for more. The interesting thing about using the oven is that it makes the house smell like a real bbq resturant.
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tejassmoker

I have had this one for years and years, and it is a great pit. I wouldn't say it is of the "value" variety. It is 1/4 inch steel, has an optional gas log lighter to get the fire going, and keeps temperature nice and steady. I don't know much about the New Braunfels pits, but I am sure they are fine.
 
My brother got a new NB smoker last month and seems to like it. But I've got a Big Green Egg, and it's outstanding for everything from brisket to ribs to steaks and corn. I can keep it constant around 200-250 with little effort and get it up past 700 for great searing.
 
Thanks for all the good feedback. I bought the New Braunfels Hondo Deluxe model at Academy. It's grey instead of black. No fold out legs, had to assemble myself which took about an hour for an old fart like me.

It's a very nice pit. Heavy, weighs +150 lbs. Nice size; the main cooking area is 16x34 and the fire box is 16x18. The fire box is quiet a bit larger than some models I've looked at. Heavy duty cast iron grills in the pit and fire box, so no rusted out grill in 3-4 years.

Tough textured grey finish. Didn't show any signs of burn after +3 hours with hot fire in fire box seasoning pit. Tempratures on the thermostat +350 degrees.
 
MeaHorn - The only "bad" things I could say about it is that it cannot double as a grill. It is exclusively for cooking low and slow, but it does that exceptionally well, and very efficiently: Last week I cooked a 11 pound brisket on a single load of charcoal (about 12 pounds?) for 12 hours with minimal fiddling around. For half the cook time I was sleeping. Brisket was incredible.

I was about to buy a cheaper (New Braunfels type instead of something like a Klose) offset smoker a couple of years ago, but after a lot of research chose the weber. Don't confuse it with one of those cheap *** brinkmann $40 smokers - while it may look alike, it is a totally different design. Bottom line is that it offers the best bang for the buck, imho. Try searching google groups for weber smokey mountain if you're really interested.

And for total laziness check out a thermometer like this link
Wireless remote with two probes, one for the grill temp, one for meat temp, alarms, timers, etc.
 
Here's a link to an Academy web page with the Hondo Deluxe. It's not on the New Braunfels Smoker web site.
The Link

It looks like one sweet BBQ pit. Only time will tell.
 
my dad and i are thinking about making a smoker out of an old fridge.

the only problem is the fridge. we need one of the old fridges with the locking handle and the door that bows out. i know where i can get one, but gott wait to get it.
 
EEE - thanks for the info. I spent a while on the Virtual Weber Bullet site and that smoker just sounds amazing. It's ok that it can't be a grill, i've got a gas and a charcoal grill. This would be my first smoker and I really like what people are saying about the consistent heating temps that the Bullet can provide (especially over 10+ hours). It's also cool to have such a huge resource of ideas and mods for the smoker. I'm amazed at amount of food that people are cooking on the Bullet. Can't wait to get one!
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That Weber bullet does indeed look awesome. I've got a Weber Platinum kettle and a regular Weber kettle and was planning on getting a smoker box next, but that bullet might be the way to go.

One question: does the bullet have a built in thermometer or temp. gauge or do you rely on a meat thermometer? If it doesn't have a temp. gauge do you have any good suggestions on keeping track of the temp of your coals while smoking?
 
Wow. Excellent stuff. I just briefly looked at the front page when I first saw the site. There are a ton of excellent resources out there.

I've always wondered why Weber doesn't include temp. gauges on their kettles. I could have sworn they did this briefly back in the late '80s or early '90s. I've used the ol' thermometer through the upper vent technique for years, but I wonder why they don't design one into the kettles from the start.
 
This is the New Braunfels smoker that I have used for the last five years and have been very happy with the results.

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The thing that I enjoy the most is the size as I typically smoke a variety of meats at the same time. I will usually smoke brisket, ribs or pork roast for a weekend meal but at the same time I will also smoke a dozen chicken halves to freeze.

The firebox will accomodate standard cut firewood which is more convenient and economical than having to buy commercial bags of cooking wood. I typical use well dried hickory due to the fact that after hickory has been allowed to dry for a while, the bark will release and fall off thus avoiding the excessive acidic smoke created by the bark.

These smokers also have a drip/water pan in the cabinet side which I typically fill with a mixture of water, apple juice, and beer. This along with the dry rub that I mix up has always produced great BBQ.
 
I have the NB smoker that is just one big vertical cylinder with a big door on the front. It uses a water pan. I hate it.
 
The BBQ pit that I crave is the one that my father-in-law has.

He made it out of a couple of butane tanks, a big one (house size like you see in the country) for the cooking chamber and part of a smaller one for the firebox. It's mounted on one of those 16' utility trailers. He's used it to make BBQ for the entire town of Burnet before.
 
I have a Weber smoky moantian and it rocks. Might be the best thing I ever bought.

It can indeed double as a Grill I do it all the time. Here are even some instructions on how to do it. www.virtualweberbullet.com/grilling.html

If you are looking for a smoker I would get this one for sure, super easy to use and great results.
 
The Weber Smoky Mountain is allsome. It's my first smoker so I can't compare personally, but I've been told that the other style (cylinder laying on it's side with a separate fire chamber) is much harder to control temp and therefore requires more attention. Not a good thing when doing a 12+ hour smoke. There are cheaper water smokers that look similar to the Weber. They may do the job but are made of thinner guage steel and don't fit together well. There are big gaping holes where the parts fit together. The Weber is first rate quality. The above website is great. They tell you how to modify the Weber and have great recipes. They show you how you can do an overnight smoke and practically not have to mess with the smoker at all (Minion method). The only downside to the Weber is that it seems smaller than some of the NB smokers. This is the smoker used by alot of the smaller entrants at BBQ competitions. You won't be disappointed.
 
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