Dyna-Glo DGY784BDP 36" Vertical LP Gas Smoker

I don't write many of these, but thought it needs to be said that this is a great smoker!! Wish it were insulated but knew that it wasn't at the time of purchase, no surprise there. I had many questions about the unit before I jumped in and the folks at (GHP) DayGlow could not have been more helpful X10. There is a lady I think her name was Susan that helped with my 2 problems which did not stop the unit from working out of the box, this was all shipping problems. (I don't know what they are paying her but it is not enough I'm sure) She is most polite and knows her products well, very well. I had a dent in the side from shipping and they replaced the main body it's self, she could not have said "i'm sorry" more than she did. I'm just like you I hate to sit on hold forever, well I can say from experience that over 10-15 calls to them I think the longest hold time I had might have been 7 mins. a couple of times I was asked "can I call you back" and sure enough they do call back very soon after. I have waited to review this Dayglow smoker till now to see how it really worked. I have been smoking meats and even cheese for some 40 yrs. In this Dayglow Smoker unit we have made some of the best BBQ. We have done Brisket, Chickens, Turkey, Pork Ribs, Loins, Butts, Bacon, and Sausage. All has come out perfect! temp is easy to control as is the amount of smoke, that being said I should tell you the gaskets on the doors work as intended, they seal the unit very tight. The only smoke you see is from the vents (4) and the chimney(1) I get a perfect smoke ring every time as well as the food being very moist, that is due to the water pan that sits above the smoke box. (BTW) Both the water pan and chip box are big enough to smoke anything you can put in this monster size unit.!!! Notice I said chips Not CHUNKS, NOT LOGS, Chips!!! This is very important that you use what some might call large chain saw chips. Some say they burn up to fast, that is true if you get to hot and don't wet them. But that i mean put a small amount of water, beer, or wine to the chips. This will slow down the burn and the smoke will become a perfect clear smoke. (not white or back/blue) that smoke will make your food bitter and dry as well. Even commercial outfits use sawdust, been there and seen it in use. That's what changed my way of smoking. The way I see it if I wanted to, I could put 20 racks of whole spare ribs, just buying more rib racks. You should know that all shelve brackets are adjustable by maybe 3 inches per move. I can say safely I have not found a smoker with the flexible options this unit has. You Get 6 shelves 1 rib rack for 5/6 slabs and 8 hooks at the top for sausage or like me I've done bacon as well, now understand the the bacon hooks themselves I bought separate, but you do get 8 hooks to hang them on. In total I am very happy with this unit, I know I can light my cast iron burners put a big pile if chips in and cook some of the best BBQ my wife and I have ever made. Now when your wife who BTW is an Executive Chef says that's some of the best Q. She has had to date. You can get a big head for a job well done, believe me. Hell she even does the dish's after I worked so hard to make perfect BBQ (LOL) For those who are reading this I need tell you I have not been asked to write this by (GHP)/ DayGlow) or anyone. This is my smoker and my experience with it. It works the cost was fair and the company service was way better that most these days. Also I DO NOT WORK for or Have ANY Interest in this Company! I'm just giving them their due for a good product & great service! The only thing I can say if they ever build an insulated model I will be 1st in line. Here in Mi. it gets cold in the winters and we cook on our grill and smoke foods all winter, for now I will build a small covering to keep some heat in during the snowy months. Hope this helps! Enjoy, Wayne.

REVIEW SUMMARY: Smoker is really bad without modifications. You NEED to modify it to make any decent BBQ. Here's a short list explained in more detail in the full review. REQUIRED mods (Sealing off smoke leaks) Additional cost ~$20 on products on Amazon - BBQ RTV sealant on every hole and panel gaps - BBQ Smoker Gasket Optional mods. (Improving air/smoke flow control) Additional Cost ~Free - Cutting off the vent stopper on the chimney - Stuffing foil to block air coming in the grease trap hole. - Covering one of the vents in foil to seal it off. - Replacing the bolts on the other vent to press the vent down tight to the smoker panel to reduce air leaking in. FULL REVIEW IN DETAIL: Unmodified this is a really terrible smoker. It leaks smoke everywhere. Temperature is near impossible to keep below 300, even with both side vents closed and the top chimney closed "fully", when you add fuel into it especially if it's wood chunks or lump hardwood charcoal. Now this is a great cheap entry level smoker with about 20 dollars of mod which still make this a great budget smoker worth the price. These mods are a must if you want to make anything decent on this smoker. RTV sealant. I used Lavalock BBQ RTV here on Amazon. In my photos you can see the black smear of RTV on the gaps between the panels. I put a bead of RTV on the gaps between panels then used my finger to squeeze it into the gaps and holes and flatten it. I also squeezed RTV into the holes that had bolts that went into the smoker like the side handles, the nuts for the door handle and latches. I also put a large amount in a circle around the thermometer and the chimney holes. Second necessary mod is to get a BBQ Grill/Smoker gasket which you can see in my photos around the doors. You can get whatever brand you want on Amazon. I had to use about 15 feet of smoker gasket to seal off the doors. Other mods I've been testing that I don't think is a REQUIRED MOD but sure does make this a better smoker modifying ways air flow in and out of the smoker. I ended up sealing the vents on the bottom because it's too much air coming into the smoker causing the temps to be too high. I covered the "grease" trap hole on the very bottom with foil because nothing ever gets down there anyways and it just let's air in. I also put foil in between the vent slider and the wall of the smoker to seal off one of the vents completely. The gap between the vent slider and wall of the smoker is too much and it let's air in even if you don't want it to and have it closed completely. I also changed the bolts that you use to attach the vent slider to the side of the smoker. I used a bolt that lets me tighten it down all the way so I can adjust it so it just barely slides but clamps the vent to the side wall to seal off air from leaking in. I push washers to sandwich the slider and panel so it can still slide and I used a lock nut with teeth to bite into the washer so it doesn't become undone by the vent sliding back and forth over time. Lastly I used a oscillating tool to cut off the metal nub that stops the chimney vent from closing more and weirdly there's hole under that basic is another notch you can close the vent to. Before the chimney only closed about 75% shut but after cutting off the stopper I can close down the vent almost 90% shut as seen from my pictures. With those mods alone I completely stopped all the smoke leaking out of the smoker. The last thing I would do is increase the thermal mass inside of the smoker. Some people put bricks inside but what I did was keep the very bottom tray to be a spot for a water pan so it can absorb the heat and regulate it with the humidity it makes in the smoker. If you don't do those mods this smoker isn't worth buying. If you do the mods listed then it's a great entry into smokers and honestly if you're skilled enough people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between BBQ cooked in this 145 dollar smoker with an additional 20 dollars on mods vs a 400 dollar Weber Smokey Mountain.

I am seeing this listed over $200, please dont buy it at that price. I got a "used" model for about 99$. I am happy with my investment, but within 3 months have repeatedly looked to upgrade. PROS - small footprint. Having the heat right under your food saves space on your patio. Its a good starter smoker (better with mods). It does have limited smoking space, which is fine for most people doing 1 or 2 items per smoke. CONS - direct heat is not what you want for a smoker. I thought (didnt know) that this was more efficient. Let me tell you, smoking food with wood fire is not about efficiency (mostly). The direct heat method means that every time you need to check the fire, you are letting in tons of air and letting out tons of heat. There is no buffer between the meat layer and the fire layer. In fact, the fire door is too low to really add fuel. Small fuel box. Leaks too much without mods. Temperature control is a constant balance. The door side is cooler than the back when cooking. When cooking wings, I rotate my trays front to back. If the fire gets too high or too low, there is an immediate impact on your cook. It wont ruin your brisket in 10 min, but if you dont correct the issue for 30 min, it will. CON - the smoker does have some significant leaks. The handles dont leak. The temp gauge will leak regardless of sealing. but the top of the smoker is not sealed well to the body. look for these big gaps in a well lit area and seal these major spots up. The metal used is thin, you will lose temp if smoking in the rain or the cold, it is a huge factor. Ok. Heres the review. Easy setup. Many reviews recommend a self sealing gasket for $10-20 and some high temp RV sealant for another $10. I paid for the cover $40, I dont recommend it. I use it less and less. As I put it together, I tried following instructions in a review to seal every hole. Id advise against this. The door gasket is a definite need, but I like the idea of running 1 or 2 smokes the way it was built. I removed the standard chimney tabs, so I could close the top off better, but eventually removed the standard and put about 2 ft of duct metal in the chimney hole with a few metal pipe clamps. There is enough space for 4 racks of food, with some considerations. My smallest briskets need more than 1 hole of space between them. Wings do not. I added a small wire ramp from some welded wire fencing so I could add more fuel to the side of the fire box in an attempt to self feed the fire. I did metal tape cover 2 of the intakes on the left side of the firebox, I initially sealed one side off, but that was overkill. I initially plugged up the grease hole, but that was overkill. So, with my door gasket. My taller / un adjustable chimney, my bigger fire box, and minor /non-permanent adjustment to the air intake, it works well. The main things I focus on are fuel and intake air. Get the fire started for 30 min before thinking about adding food, even if you can get up to temp in 10 min, let that fire burn down first. The air intake generally needs small changes, if your temps are trending down, more air, and consistently too warm, too much air. I add fuel every 30-60 min. Sometimes you just need to shake the ash and fuel down into position, but often add some fuel. With a smoker like this, Id focus on charcoal. Although you can add some flavor woods, the wood charcoal mix is going to affect heat and timing of re-fueling. Maybe 10% flavor wood to charcoal. I have not used the flavor box yet, the only use I am working on is trying to offset the back heat with the front and currently Im using this box in the bottom food holes with the flavor box touching the back wall, to try and balance the temps. I have used pans of water to help stabilize, but mainly Im doing this to catch grease drips and decrease temps jumps. I use the inkbird bluetooth wifi, and I put one temp probe on the probe holder in the rack. This temp is at least 20 degrees hotter than the gauge on this smoker. I really want either an offset fire (dynaglo has a Standard Offset which seems good for about $200 and a wide version possibly better build for about $270 currently amazon). The fire box is about 50% bigger for either Dyna-Glo offset. Ideally, Id like to see a direct way to adjust heat from fire into the smoker box.

NOTE: buy the black or clear "LavaLock RTV 650 F BBQ grill smoker sealer Hi Temp Silicon adhesive 3 oz". If the red one sticks out like a sore thumb. SUGGESTED: multi-probe digital thermometer like Inkbird Wi-Fi & Bluetooth Grill Meat Thermometer IBBQ-4BW. PACKAGING: undamaged, all parts were straight and flat. SUGGESTION: wash it before you assemble it. I used Dawn PowerWash. ASSEMBLY: super easy and fast, I didn't even need my Dewalt screwdriver. I put the LavaLock on any parts that attached to the smoker with an opening to the inside, like screw holes. OPTIONAL: I replaced the nut and screw on the round adjustable vents near the bottom of both sides. The original ones didn't tighten all the way so the vent could easily be opened or closed accidentally. BREAK-IN ("seasoning"): follow instructions. I didn't cover the inside with oil but I bought an oil sprayer so I can when I re-season it. I just put some wet mesquite chunks in and filled the water tray. Start at the lowest gas knob setting and wait for the temperature to stabilize. Then turn the gas to 50% and let it stabilize. Finally, set to 100%. (If you blast it at 100% from the get go, some parts might heat up quicker and cause some warping.) Once the wood starts to smoke, lower the temp but make sure the wood is still smoking. Set the gas knobs until the internal temperature is at your smoking temperature. I used 225F. Then check the built-in thermometer and make note of the position of the needle. Mine was just a tick above the lowest smoking temperature range. FIRST SMOKE: two racks of pork ribs with St. Louis dry rub and two racks of beef ribs from Costco. Rubbed the beef with light salt and pepper. I used the 3-2-1 method for ribs: 3 hours with dry rub, 2 hours wrapped in butcher paper, 1 hour with BBQ sauce. Step 1: Make sure your propane tank is full and you have a backup tank. Prep meats. Soak the wood for 20 minutes. Close the vents. Step 2: warm it up like you're seasoning it, lowest - stabilize - med - stabilize - high. Step 3: add the wet wood and wait. Adjust the vents until you see smoke coming out of the top vent. Step 4: Lower the temp to the smoking temperature. Put in your meats and insert the thermometer probes. Make sure you don't poke it all the way through! For ribs, I smoked it for 3 hours at 225F and until the meat hit 185F. Step 5: (the rest of the steps are for ribs) Take the ribs out and wrap them with pink butcher paper. Make sure the paper is folded so any juices don't leak out. Put the ribs back in for 2 hours. Watch the temperature, don't let the meat get too much above 185F. Step 6: Take out the meat and unwrap. Slather with BBQ sauce. I used Sweet Baby Ray's for my first smoke, no use using the fancy stuff while I get to know my smoker. Put the meat back in the smoker and let it go for another hour. Step 7: take out the meat and let it rest. The meat on ribs are thin so you don't have to rest it much. Turned out perfect, see picture.

This is the 3rd time I have bought this smoker, I have cooked 20 + years as a competition cooker . I travel for business in a Fifth Wheel Trailer. This unit is the best one for its compact size, Easy and lighter wgt. for traveling. I add a heat gasket to the doors which minimizes any smoke loss. This is the only one which has a smoke stack catching for a full draft for smoke movement. Has a large wood tray(i use Chunks and chips and and large water pan. set up time before a cook is less than 5 minutes, add wood and liquid to trays, Turn it on and you at at 225 degrees 5 to 7 min average. This unit holds temp in cold and windy weather , has a covered chimney so no rain into interior. I have done well over 100 8 hours smokes with these units. double doors to add wood is easy to use. The stainless racks will outlast the smoker. I get a 3 to 4 years use from this smoker especially if you add a cover for it and sets outside in weather. The unit eventually rusts in the bottom but could be repaired if needed. , but for $200 bucks and with its features, None better for similar size and style. I add a side shelf that folds down when not in use. 1/4/inch brisket smoke rings are normal. bottom rack is slighter hotter then upper 3 others. If you want dependable consistent results , this one has everything you need when it comes to smoking foods.

So far so good. I have a 7 yr old Grillpro that is still working but grates are rusting and I wanted a bigger unit. Also, I've ducted my old unit with 4 inch duct into the side of an old grill so I can smoke a turkey on a spit (I'm a big fan of spit cooking to keep meat moist). As I write I am smoking 4 racks of baby back ribs (mesquite). Unit came with no damage, 2 days as promised. Assembly was a snap - unlike my Grillpro, the box was already assembled so that was nice. Nice to have the nuts welded in to no messing with that. Holes for bolts lined up perfectly. This midsize unit isn't really that heavy, I had no problem lifting it. It is at least twice as large as my old unit, could do 8+ racks at a time if I wanted, so unless you are smoking for a big crowd I wouldn't go for their biggest unit (and there is the extra weight). Even this one is too big for my winter storage shed I keep on my deck so it will have to have it out in the winter (bought the Dyna-Glo cover specified for this unit). I personally don't think "seasoning" is really needed,b ut you do want to crank it up to high heat to burn off any gunk from manufacturing (about 40 min). As with all units of this type, there is a learning curve for controlling temperature. After running at full/both burners to get chips/blocks smoking - I did this with the lower door open to keep temp from spiking, running with one burner at lowest setting (70 deg outside), one lower vent full open, the other fully closed and the top vent fully open, temperature stable at 190 degrees, more or less perfect. Most of the time I suspect those will be the only two settings I use (depending on outside temp and wind). With my single burner/old unit keeping the temp low enough was tricky. A tip for newbies: I use a combination of wood chips and wood blocks. Chips are going to burn up fast and you are going to be adding more almost every 20 minutes. You will be going through them fast. I personally don't like real heavy smoke and that is what you will get if you add a lot of chips. Wood chunks will burn slower and you will only need to add more about every hour. I typically smoke for about 4 hours. My daughter lives in southern New Mexico (I'm in Minnesota) so I collect my own Mesquite when I'm down there. A few more notes: I just noticed a slight dent in one of the doors, hardly noticeable. These units do have flexible seals on outer edges of both doors, no leakage! Lastly imho, soaking wood in water first is utter rubbish.

Received the smoker in three days after ordering it. FAST DELIVERY! Went together quickly with the simplest of tools and w/o issue. EASE OF ASSEMBLY! Fired it up and let it burn off anything I didn't want the meat to taste like and to check how it functioned. Minimal smoke loss and thermostat worked perfectly. Heat regulated easily and accurately. AS ADVERTISED WITH NO SURPRISES! Refilled it with charcoal and after it burned down I added some seasoned pecan wood that I soaked in water. Smoked two full racks of ribs and two large beef roasts. AWESOME SMOKED FLAVOR! I had been smoking meat on my grille/smoker for a couple of years but using my grille for a smoker required my constant attention which took hours. With my new DYNA GLO SMOKER I checked it a few times but found that to be unnecessary. The smoker maintained my desired temperature with no constant adjustments. I eventually left it alone and was able to do other things I needed to do. I had never used a real smoker in my life and I am elated with this purchase. I can relate most things in life to a country song. One old country song said "if you've never had filet mignon peanut butter tastes just a fine." My old grille/smoker is the peanut butter and my new DYNA GLO SMOKER is fillet mignon! Like with other reviews, my smoker did have a small dent in the door but I figure it's not furniture, ITS A SMOKER. No big deal at all. I'm sure my wife wouldn't care for it in the living room anyway. BUT, I'm happy to report that she is as thrilled with the smoker as I am. Last but not least, our 35 year old son has a birthday in two weeks. I ordered his gift today. I hope he enjoys his DYNA GLO SMOKER as well as I do mine.

This is the double burner smoker... Bought this smoker in 2016. Best smoker I've ever had... 4th and hopefully the last one. My only complaint is the temp is temperamental... Cooks a little hot. I use Bluetooth thermometers to monitor heat and I added wheels to the front to make it easier to move. I didn't bother to seal the unit... It still smokes great. I use both pellets and chips. Some of the items I've smoked include 20 lbs of Elk Sausage, Chicken Breasts, Pork Butts, Smoked BBQ Beans (the best), Smoked Mac-n-Cheese, Jalapeno Poppers, herbs, and lots of Salmon. Today is Whole Salmon.