Bummer folks. I was informed a couple of days ago that I could no longer use my grill or smoker at the condo we are renting while I build our new house. No propane, no charcoal. Electric only. As much as I don't like it I do undersand the rationale though. In the mean time I went out and bought a Cajun Injector XL double door electric smoker to tide me over until I get the house completed. It was on sale at Academy for $100 off so it seemed to be a good deal. I fired it up yesterday and followed the instructions (yes, I actually read them) just to see how it worked. I didn't put any meat on, just did a dry run to get a feel for it. I had my offset really dialed in and was turning out some world class Q but now I have to go through the learning curve again.
Some observations and questions for those in the know regarding electric smokers:
-There appears to be a plus/minus 7 degree temperature differential. That means temp swings of 14 degrees from the set point. Set at 225 it goes up to 232, shuts off, then comes back on at 218. Is this normal?
-The instructions mention "chips" on a regular basis. I don't have chips, only chunks. I got my hatchet out and chopped some small pieces but they still barely lit up, I got little or nor smoke, and it took over an hour before I got any smoke at all. Not good.
-Are chips more suitable for this type of unit or should I consider pellets? I need do something different, that's for sure. After 6 hours only 5 little chunks of wood were burned and 3 of those were still in tact to a large degree. Obviously this is not enough smoke to make it worthwhile.
-One problem causing the lack of smoke is that when the unti hits 232 degrees and shuts off, the power to the element heating for the smoker wood cuts off too.The wood has barely started to smoke when it hits temp then the heat is gone so no more smoke until it drops back to 218 and the heating elements fire back up. This pretty much sucks :-)
-I checked out Todd's site and saw a couple of products that may help but I have a couple of questions regarding those too. Are his pellet trays / tubes used in addition to or instead of the factory chip tray? The space I have for the smoker tray is only 8" wide, 6 1/2" deep, and 1" tall. That doesn't leave me much room for anything and the tops of both heating elements are enclosed with meal housings so without tearing something apat I don't have the availability to use a supplemental pellet or chip source.
Any help or guidance would be VERY much appreciated!!
Smokeless in Cedar Park,
Robert
Some observations and questions for those in the know regarding electric smokers:
-There appears to be a plus/minus 7 degree temperature differential. That means temp swings of 14 degrees from the set point. Set at 225 it goes up to 232, shuts off, then comes back on at 218. Is this normal?
-The instructions mention "chips" on a regular basis. I don't have chips, only chunks. I got my hatchet out and chopped some small pieces but they still barely lit up, I got little or nor smoke, and it took over an hour before I got any smoke at all. Not good.
-Are chips more suitable for this type of unit or should I consider pellets? I need do something different, that's for sure. After 6 hours only 5 little chunks of wood were burned and 3 of those were still in tact to a large degree. Obviously this is not enough smoke to make it worthwhile.
-One problem causing the lack of smoke is that when the unti hits 232 degrees and shuts off, the power to the element heating for the smoker wood cuts off too.The wood has barely started to smoke when it hits temp then the heat is gone so no more smoke until it drops back to 218 and the heating elements fire back up. This pretty much sucks :-)
-I checked out Todd's site and saw a couple of products that may help but I have a couple of questions regarding those too. Are his pellet trays / tubes used in addition to or instead of the factory chip tray? The space I have for the smoker tray is only 8" wide, 6 1/2" deep, and 1" tall. That doesn't leave me much room for anything and the tops of both heating elements are enclosed with meal housings so without tearing something apat I don't have the availability to use a supplemental pellet or chip source.
Any help or guidance would be VERY much appreciated!!
Smokeless in Cedar Park,
Robert