With a two rack smoker which one cooks best - Char-Broil Electric H2O Smoker

I have found that when using my electric smoker and cooking ribs or brisket I use the gadget that you can purchase that puts your food on end thereby exposing all the meat surface to smoke.The item I use I made myself but similar racks can be puchased. I would not use a pan at any time , if nothing else place directly on a rack.
Happy Smoking !

I always break my Brinkmans in with spray cooking oil, I oil the inside and the racks!

The "offset" box is your firebox. This is where you will put your charcoal. The meat goes in the larger chamber on the grill. This type of cooking is known as indirect cooking where the heat source is not directly under the meat. A grill cooks direct with the heat source coming from charcoal or gas burners located directly under the cook grills. Smoker can really deliver some great tasting food. Be patient and learn the ins and outs of cooking with a smoker. The most important thing is to cook low and slow. try to keep your temps in the cook chamber around 225. I hope this helps.

Google "Smokering" and you will find a lot of forums dedicated to smoking food. It is an art in itself but many of these forums are helpful in learning.

The answer to your question is basically put as many racks of ribs that fit without touching and as long as the temperature is maintained they will all cook at the same time. I typically smoke my ribs at 225 for 4-5 hours.

Food can be placed directly on the cooking racks, unless it will fall through.

It sounds like you have an "offset smoker". The fire goes in in the firebox (the small offset box). If you have a rack that fits in the firebox, you can put that in there too and use it to grill.

Go to www.charbroil.com and click on "instruction manuals" and find the manual for the one that looks the most like yours. Char-Broil took over New Braunfels a few years ago.

Once you have it assembled, there are huge resources on the web on how to use it.

Personally I rarely use charcoal, I prefer the taste of cooking with Pecan wood - if you live in Texas you can buy a 50lb bag at Academy for about 10 bucks.

I grill over the firebox part directly (although I often close all the dampers and let the meat smoke a little while cooking). A few times a year I'll smoke a turkey or other meat in the main chamber, keeping the fire in teh firebox.

I have a LC with fixed racks. They are 5" apart.

I have used the charbroil bullet electric H2O smokers for years (wore 2 out - currently on my 3rd). I won't use anything else (having used many, many others - HOWEVER - as with every product made there are things to watch or overcome. Learn to use it properly and look forward to many years of great BBQ.

Ambient (outside) air temp below 70 (depending on wind also) will affect these smokers drastically - highly recomend getting or making a "smoker blanket" (got mine at cabelas years back - if you can't find one welding blankets from an industrial supply store can be made into one) to insulate the sides - this drastically reduces heat loss and reduces the electrical load.

Another MAJOR mistake many people make is extension cords - avoid the use of them at all if possible - if not possible then purchase the heaviest gauge you can find.

Always pre-heat your smoker - Always use boiling water (or other liquid) in the H2O pan added after smoker is pre-heated - Always minimize opening the smoker once cooking has begun.

The heater element can be cleaned when cold with a very mild detergent and room temp water.

If you have the large 2 rack but are only smoking enough to use a small amount of rack space on only one rack remember that you are heating a whole lot of air - i have a couple (different size) wood boxes wrapped in foil to take up excess air space - this means less air volume to be heated and better heat control - DO NOT use cardboard boxes or other low temp combustable items in the box construction!

Make sure the house outlet you are plugging into is a 3-prong GROUNDED outlet on a 20 amp breaker.

Finally, make sure your smoker is level and remember there can be up to a 20 degree cooking temp swing in temp between the bottom rack and top rack (top rack 5-20 degrees hotter than bottom).

The heater element will cycle on and off during normal use.

Good smoking and enjoy.

I have used the charbroil bullet electric H2O smokers for years (wore 2 out - currently on my 3rd). I won't use anything else (having used many, many others - HOWEVER - as with every product made there are things to watch or overcome. Learn to use it properly and look forward to many years of great BBQ.

Ambient (outside) air temp below 70 (depending on wind also) will affect these smokers drastically - highly recomend getting or making a "smoker blanket" (got mine at cabelas years back - if you can't find one welding blankets from an industrial supply store can be made into one) to insulate the sides - this drastically reduces heat loss and reduces the electrical load.

Another MAJOR mistake many people make is extension cords - avoid the use of them at all if possible - if not possible then purchase the heaviest gauge you can find.

Always pre-heat your smoker - Always use boiling water (or other liquid) in the H2O pan added after smoker is pre-heated - Always minimize opening the smoker once cooking has begun.

The heater element can be cleaned when cold with a very mild detergent and room temp water.

If you have the large 2 rack but are only smoking enough to use a small amount of rack space on only one rack remember that you are heating a whole lot of air - i have a couple (different size) wood boxes wrapped in foil to take up excess air space - this means less air volume to be heated and better heat control - DO NOT use cardboard boxes or other low temp combustable items in the box construction!

Make sure the house outlet you are plugging into is a 3-prong GROUNDED outlet.

Finally, make sure your smoker is level and remember there can be up to a 20 degree cooking temp swing in temp between the bottom rack and top rack (top rack 5-20 degrees hotter than bottom).

The heater element will cycle on and off during normal use.

Good smoking and enjoy.