Grills

Char-Broil Charcoal Water Smoker 4654301 Char-Broil Charcoal Water Smoker 4654301 Product Technical DetailsTechnical Details:246346 ...

Char-Broil CharBroil Kettle 81-23069 Grill Char-Broil CharBroil Kettle 81-23069 Grill Key FeaturesType:GrillFuel Type:Charcoal ...

When I moved to Kansas City this was one of my first purchases. After struggling through attempting to smoke ribs, brisket, and chicken I was getting ready to abandon barbecue to the professionals. I just couldn’t keep the temperature up in this smoker long enough to slow cook any of my foods. In frustration I tried my standard Weber Kettle and haven’t looked back.

The Char-Broil Water smoker consists of the light body, an upper grill near the top, a lower grill directly above a water pan, and a charcoal pan at the bottom. The two racks above the water pan give you space for a pretty good amount of food, you could probably fit four briskets or six racks of ribs on it at once, but it would be a bit crowded. To use the unit, you simply add lit charcoal to the bottom pan, add the water pan above the fuel pan, fill the water pan with water, juice or some liquid, and place the food on the top two racks.

There is a thermometer on the lid, but it is not marked in degrees. There are only vague “Too Cool”, “Ideal” and “Too Hot” marks. The unit has a door above the charcoal pan you can use to add wood or charcoal to adjust the temperature in the smoker, but it is not the easiest to use. It has a very small aluminum latch which gets hot due to its proximity to the coals, but is too small to be operated easily with gloves. I had to use a wrench to operate mine. Also, the door is not large enough to pour coals into from a chimney starter. You need to light the coals then insert them one by one into the fuel pan with tongs.

As I said, it is difficult to keep this unit in the “Ideal” smoking range. I think the heat maintenance problem stems from the open bottom on this smoker. If there’s any wind whatsoever, it just sucks the air directly out of the Char-Broil and you just can’t keep the temperature in the range it needs to be in for low and slow cooking. If you add enough fuel to compensate for the effects of wind, your temperature is going to be too high during calm periods.

Also, other smokers have variable vents you can open and close to control the oxygen supply to the coals. If the temperature is getting too high, you can close the vents, lowering the oxygen supply and eventually lowering the temperature in the smoker. The open design of this smoker does not allow you to control the oxygen supply, so you must regulate the temperature solely by the amount of fuel in the unit.

My Weber Kettle certainly isn’t ideal; When you have your fuel piled on one side you can only use half the grill for food, but you can at least keep the temperature where it needs to be for slow cooked goodness.

The problems with the Char-Broil Water Smoker are with its open design. I’ve heard good things about the fully-enclosed Weber Smoky Mountain, but if you have a standard Weber Kettle grill, I’d start your smoking career there. Don’t waste your time on this frustrating piece of equipment.

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