homemade smoker (what could go wrong?)

[Steve Viegas]

I have a smoker that takes charcoal and wood. It does a fine job but requires a lot of hands on. Every 15 minutes I am adding either wood or charcoal.

I am thinking about using the housing from this smoker but changing the fuel. I believe I can use a heating element (hot plate) to provide the heat and smoke the wood.

From calculations available on the web, I need about 50 BTUs to maintain the heat I need and I found a hotplate that will provide about 3000 BTUs.

In order to create smoke, I think I can put wood chips into a metal container, with limited air supply thereby creating a smoldering effect as opposed to fire. My current thinking is using the charcoal holder from my smoker and putting a pie tin (which is really aluminium) upside down on it, with soaked wood in the airspace created.

Anyone want to explain to me why this will not work and why I should make sure that my property insurance is up to date? In theory, I think it should be good as long as I can regulate the tempurature (a huge if I suppose).

Thanks for your input.

[looneybin]

why not just buy an electric smoker?

[Steve Viegas]

Originally Posted by looneybin

why not just buy an electric smoker?

The main reason is price. Funds are tight.

Also, I see this as a potentially small project that might be fun. I could use parts from around the house and make something useful or more useful.

[Freybird]

Check youtube for Alton Brown's/"Good Eats" homemade smoker. He used a hotplate and two large terracotta pots.

[Steve Viegas]

Originally Posted by Freybird

Check youtube for Alton Brown's/"Good Eats" homemade smoker. He used a hotplate and two large terracotta pots.

Alton Brown rocks.

[RWebb]

I'd like to use my Weber Q-grill to smoke fish in...

[Zeke]

Steve, you shouldn't have to be adding wood every 2 hours, much less 15 minutes. Are you soaking at least some of the fuel wood? Do you have proper dampers to regulate both the combustion air as well as the smoke? Is the unit air tight enough to extinguish the fire if you want? It needs to be because you operate a smoker just above the threshold of combustion.

You need some high temp combustion wood or charcoal (not briquets) as well as your aromatic chips. I'm talking hardwood.

Also, every time you open the unit you upset the balance of the process.

[Steve Viegas]

Milt, thanks for chiming in. Basically I have a Brinkman Bullet. It is not know for being hands off, but it sure does seem to me to require a lot of handling.

It is difficult to add either charcoal or wood chips to the unit once meat is in place and therefore it has to happen in small increments, on a regular basis (at least that is the only way I have been able to figure out how to do it).

The food always comes out good ( generally ribs, chicken and vegies) but it seems to be more work than it should.

I absolutely accept that I may not have the proper mix of wood/charcoal and air flow.

[Zeke]

I have read the reviews on the Brinkman. Let's just say I didn't buy one because of that.

IIRC, some people found the unit to be hard to use. I had a way old version and I had a lot of trouble keeping it going beyond 4 hrs no matter what.

Google "brinkman bullet" and half the first page is how to modify the thing. Like this one:

El Cheapo Brinkman a.k.a. Bullet Smoker Mods

Don't miss the links on that page, that's where the real info is.

[Steve Viegas]

Milt,

I just checked out the site and the mods look good, easy and logical. I think I will do them on top of my hot plate. I put the hot plate idea on a bbq forum and others seem to have tried it before with reasonable results.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

i just picked up a stainles upright smoker, with propane power. i am removing the propane unit and using wood instead.....of course we have good wood out this way. did some fantastic chickens last week, this weekend is ribs! go chiefs!!

[dtw]

Something's not right there. I have been running a $60 Brinkman POS for three years with pretty epic results. There is an even-more-cheapo version than mine, which does not allow the 'body' to be lifted off the fire bowl.

Tim Walsh of this board has one of those, and yes, he made some really cool mods to it, and it now functions as well or better than mine. Do you have a lift-off body ($60 Brinkman), or the one with the cheesy 'legs' at the bottom ($40 Brinkman)?

All that being said, he and I can easily run a three-hour smoke session without having to tend the fire.

Sounds like you might have a new unit that isn't sealing really well. Whip up a sausage fatty and smoke it for 5-6 hours - build up a nice layer of black fatty creosote on your unit. That will help insulate and seal it.

Tabs is likely to weigh in here with a lecture about 'you get what you pay for', and he's right. However, these cheap smokers can produce truly unbelievable results. Not only that, but I can (and DO) toss mine into the trunk of my car and take it over to my parents or to the racetrack. Try that with a $2k smoker :]

I have turned out everything from BBQ chicken thighs and sausage logs, to masterpieces like standing rib roasts and whole turkeys, using my POS smoker. I love the damn thing.

BTW - I stopped using chips. Unless you fret over them with soaking and making foil 'packets' to make the chips last more than 90 seconds, they are a complete waste of time/money. Get nice chunks of wood that will last a couple hours - your guests will thank you, and you will spend less time diddling with the smoker.

The added benefit, is you don't have to waste time soaking the chunks.

Gawd I love these smoking threads

[tabs]

You do get what ya pay for..

However since you are on a limited budget...then we got to make do and be creative.

For my 2 cents I would go down and buy the 2 biggest Terra cotta pots and start from there. Remember thin metal dissipates heat very quickly. Also ease of refuling without distrubing the cooking process is very important. The idea is to creat a stable temp at 200 to 250 over a long period of time.

I too started off with a Brinkman Watersmoker..paid $39 for it and when I left S CA I left it in S CA. It did a good job for what it was worth, and one really doesn't need more. It was the water pan that retained the heat to creat that stable temp envirnoment.

Also start checking Craigs List and other local penny saver type of advertisers. U never know what you might find as a bargain.

[Steve Viegas]

Yes, I have the cheap brinkman, legs that hold the pan. I am looking into the mods that Milt pointed me to. I am going to try a cheap piece of meat with my hot plate idea and I will give you the results.

[Steve Viegas]

While I understand the insulating properties of the terra cotta planters, I am not ready to go that way yet. I will see how the hot plate brinkman works first.

Thanks

[Zeke]

You could always get some exhaust header wrap for the main tube.

[Super_Dave_D]

I have a Webber Smokey Mountain smoker and I love it! I have smoked for 12 hours without adding additional fuel. I read the reviews on the Brinkman and went the Webber route.

[Steve Viegas]

Well, just a heads up, my idea did not work. I was able to create smoke with no problem, but when it came to fitting the hotplate under my smoker, that was a no go.

I thought that another problem might be creating enough heat if the hot plate cycled, so I decided to see if I could fit my hot plate and a cast iron skillet under the smoker and use the mass of the cast iron skillet to aid in the heating process.

With this set-up, I was still able to create smoke, but I was never able to get the rack temperature above 112 degrees (even with using boiling water in the water pan.

Well, this started at 6:30 in the morning. By 8:00, I had the smoker going with charcoal was was resigned to a day of sitting watching my smoker.

6.5 lb boston butt (pork shoulder), 8 hours on the smoker (mopping every hour after meat his 100 degrees), plateaued at 150 degrees, brought into the house and finished (4 more hours) bringing the internal temp to 200 degrees. Let rest for one hour and had delicious pulled pork.

Thanks for all of the advice, next step, Christmas and a new electric smoker.

[vash]

steve i have a cheap smoker. (nice DTW..as a chinese person..whatever, not worth it..)

anyways back to the smoker. i found that the type of charcoal you use really makes or breaks the deal. anything pre-soaked with lighter fluid is destined for failure. same goes for the fancy smanchy, lump charcoal that is so great for grilling. you need to use quality briquettes. i find i can get at least 6 hours of heat from a pile of briquettes. at about 5.5 hours in, i get my chimney started again, and use long pinchers to add more glowing pieces to push the heat back up.

having said that..i blew it on some beef ribs yesterday. i overcooked them! living in california i couldnt find the "flintstone" sized ribs i typically found in texas. i found "half" ribs..store called them beef spare ribs. yeah, right. butcher told me most of the bones go with the bone in steaks. i didnt compensate for the smaller size, and shorter cook times. and i was watching baseball...i dropped the bbq ball. dang!

[dtw]

Wow! That is a rough smoke session. Part of it may be opening it up every hour - smokers hate being opened. For butt/shoulder, I like to brine the pork in advance (24 hrs or more), rinse/dry, rub, toss in smoker, then leave it alone.

Last shoulder I did, I also had a problem with a temp plateau. Managed to get to 165 and hold it for a couple hours, so I just went with that. Got a little bit dry on the outside, but on the whole it was tasty and delicious.