Need Ideas for Adding Brinkmann Smoker Door to Mini

[RCBaughn]

Lookie here what I scored from a guy at Home Depot! I was asking him about how I might be able to get the door from Brinkmann and he got out his screwdriver and took it off and sent it home with me! He said they had two displays and that one was already missing parts so no loss to them at all! I was so pumped since I've wanted to add a door to the mini for a while! I thought about mounting it to the front where my thermometer is and just mounting the thermometer on the door. It would swing out with the door each time, but I don't think that it would affect how accurate the therm was since hopefully it will be pretty air tight.

Also gotta figure out the best way to cut the hole in the pot so I can get a good smooth edge that looks professional. I have my Brinkmann electric at home that I can use to draw out a hole template shape and I have a pretty big Dremel model so I don't know, maybe that would do a good enough job. I know the holes in the bottom that I drilled has some really rough edges that would look like garbage around the door but doesn't matter on the bottom where it isn't seen and your hand would never go in or touch.

Another thing though, think that it's gonna be okay to do this mod as far as draft and heat retention goes? I don't think it will, the only thing that I am a bit afraid of is putting the therm on the door and how that might affect accuracy of it. Only way I have of measuring the temp of the little smoker so it's gotta be close. Thank you guys, can't wait to get this door mounted on here. Only thing that I want to do at some point in the future is use the bottom of another Smokey Joe and make a round top for it so it looks just like a WSM.

 

[George Curtis]

i don't think something like that is needed but it sure will be interesting to see the outcome.

 

[George L]

What would be the purpose of the door on the mini? I never use the door on my modified ECB.

 

[RCBaughn]

I'd like to have the door for looking at the meat down low really. Where I smoke at night is darker and being able to prod a brisket would be nice without having to remove whatever is above it. Thought it would look cool too, make it look pretty professional. Kinda like adding a sports decal in my mind since I'm OCD and like stuff to look factory made.

Thought about removing the bottom out of the pot too and I could add charcoal/chips without lifting the whole pot full of meat up. Would only work on smokes where I didn't use the terra cotta divider though.

Don't ya think a little door would look cool though? As long as yall don't think it will negatively affect heat or therm accuracy I totally don't mind the work involved installing it. I think it's really fun to tinker. Ima paint the pot super glossy black if I go through with this too, make it real nice looking.

 

[George Curtis]

if you think you want it then by all means do it. not for us to decide. if while cooking you have wished many times that you wished you had a door then thats what you need to do !

 

[RCBaughn]

Haha thanks George. I was just hoping to find out that it wouldn't hurt my heat retention seriously or affect my therm with it being on the door. I'll just go for it and maybe I won't ruin my pot! Ha.

 

[RCBaughn]

Well I did it finally! Used my Dremel with the reinforced cutting wheel to do the majority of the straight cuts and used the round sanding attachment to notch out the corners. The sanding attachment was the perfect size that matched the curve of the cardboard I used to get the cut pattern onto the pot. I'm lucky that I have a Brinkmann electric smoker that has the same door so I was able to use that for the pattern of the door hole and the screw holes.

The curve of the door wasn't enough so I had to do some hand bending there but it was really easy since it's aluminum and everything mated up pretty awesome. I have a pretty tight fit but I'm yet to see if I get any smoke loss through the door. If so I am going to be back here posting something up about how to seal the door. Maybe there is a product that has a sticky side that is heat resistant that I could use if it does leak.

I am excited though, it is definitely nice to not have to pull everything off the top rack to get at the bottom rack if you need to, and I am pretty sure you could pull out a pretty big boston butt out the door hole too. The bottom of the door is RIGHT at being level with the bottom rack which is really nice. I didn't really plan that, but lucky it worked out to be like that. I think it makes the little smoker look a lot more factory made too, which kinda fits me since I am so damn OCD! LOL.

Anywho, I got some Rustoleum Caliper paint out of the automotive section at Walmart. Anyone ever used this stuff? Didn't know if I needed to add a primer coat to the pot or not since it is aluminum and this paint is usually put on vehicle calipers which are steel. I wanna get a really slick coat that is almost as good at the lid and base, but I know that probably won't happen. I'd like to get real close though!

Here's the pictures though -

Also got me a new toy for the mini. It's a rib rack which will be super nice since I usually had only enough space for one whole slab that I cut in half. Now I can get a good many more half slabs on there.

 

[George L]

Very nice mod you did there! Aesthetically pleasing as well!

 

[Tim K]

Really looks good. (Like you mentioned) looks like it came from the factory that way. Can't wait to see the finished pics. As for painting, I washed mine really well to get the outside surface clean, let dry, and shot it with some h/h engine block paint. (Gloss Black) that was 2years ago, and it still matches the Weber coat almost perfectly.
Good luck,
Tim

 

[RCBaughn]

Oh yeah! She's all painted and put back together!

Mom found this for me on Craigslist! Marshmallow roasting is gonna be on soon.

Got a Boston Butt and a Pastrami on right now that will finish up late tonight, let's hope that it holds heat and can maintain as well as it did before. It did take a bit longer to hit 225 than I remember.

 

[George L]

That turned out very nice!

 

[RCBaughn]

Alright, well, it burned through fuel a bit faster and took a bit longer to hit 225 with the Boston Butt and Brisket. That mean that I have a draft on the door somewhere? I have no doubt I can fix it, but was just wondering if that is tell-tale signs of a draft in a smoker.

That said, the meat on there wasn't room temp when it went on there and it went on when the smoker was only at about 100 degrees inside. Didn't know if meat being cooler and being on there before heat up can affect it coming up to temp that much. Had it throttled all the way up too, vents wide open.