Dyna-Glo
Dyna-Glo 36-Inch Vertical Charcoal Smoker
A straight vertical charcoal cabinet with no offset firebox - the charcoal chamber sits directly under four 196 sq in grates and the heat rises through them, with a separate wood chip box for smoke. Double doors keep the fuel access separate from the food access so refuelling does not dump the cooking chamber's heat. At around $149 it is the entry point of the whole charcoal-cabinet category and the cheapest smoker in this catalog that still gives you four full racks.
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Specifications
Pros
- ✓Four 196 sq in grates for under $150 - nothing else in the catalog comes close on area per dollar
- ✓Double-door layout is the right design: you add charcoal without venting the cooking chamber
- ✓Porcelain-enameled charcoal chamber rather than bare steel, which is unusual at this price
- ✓56 lbs means one person can move it, and it stores in a corner of a garage
- ✓Sliding side dampers plus an adjustable smokestack give more airflow adjustment than most cheap cabinets
Cons
- ✗Very thin steel: 56 lbs spread over a 50-inch cabinet leaks heat and smoke at every seam until you gasket it
- ✗The included thermometer is a bimetal dial with a smoke-zone band, not a number you can cook to
- ✗Small charcoal chamber means refuelling every few hours on a long cook
- ✗Chrome-plated grates and light hardware; expect to be replacing parts within a couple of seasons
Compare the Dyna-Glo 36-Inch Vertical Charcoal Smoker
Related grills
More from Dyna-Glo →A vertical offset, which is a different animal from the horizontal offsets already in the catalog: the firebox sits at the base of a tall cabinet and heat rises through six adjustable grates rather than travelling sideways down a barrel. Dyna-Glo's wide-body version gives 1,890 sq in across those six grates, each rated to 25 lbs, with a porcelain-enameled charcoal chamber, a pre-installed high-temp rope door seal and a removable ash pan. At $349 it is the cheapest way to get close to 2,000 square inches of charcoal smoking space.
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Dyna-Glo's volume model and a fixture of Home Depot and Lowe's floors: four burners making 48,000 BTU over 461 sq in of primary grate, 136 sq in of secondary, 597 sq in total, with a side burner. The open-cart layout leaves the tank visible but drops the price against cabinet grills of the same size. Stainless steel with a black powder coating rather than bare stainless.
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