New to the ECB, need help/advice!!!

[erodinamik]

My wife always raves to her parents about my Q and now her mom is retiring and throwing a party and wants me to "cater" it.  The problem is they live in TX and don't have a smoker.  I tried to talk my father in law into building a UDS but he went to the store and picked up a Brinkman before I could convince him to build the UDS.  So the party is less than a week away and I have never used an ECB and I've got lots of questions.  I've read through some of the forums looking for mods and important things to do with the smoker but work has been getting in the way of my smoker research and I thought I would see if I could get some help.

My big question is: what are the most important mods so while we are putting it together we can set ourselves up for success?  I'm also wondering what are the best methods for keeping the heat going (probably gonna make 2 briskets) for long periods of time?  How much charcoal should I plan on?  Any sort of advice would be much appreciated.  Even links to good threads I can read.

I'm a little scared since I'm just getting the hang of my Chargriller with the SFB I feel like this will be quite a bit different.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mr500]

As far as mine,,.,First I reversed the legs so that they are on the OUTSIDE of the cooker. I then took 3 pcs 8inch long all thread with nuts and washers and made 3 legs for the charcoal pan. Drill 3 holes and adjust the legs so that the charcoal pan sits just inside the cooker. Mine is a couple inches and works great.  this way the coal bowl stands on legs so that I can remove the cooker and add coals etc with out opening that side door.

Add a new thermometer at grate level. bought one at lowes and screwed it into the side..

some have drilled holes in the charcoal pan and used fridge magnets to adjust the air flow.

Links..

http://www.randyq.addr.com/ecb/ecb.html

http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1780069052/m/8220034585

loads just google ECB Mods

 

[flash]

I removed the legs totally. I would add more holes in fire pan and double check the therm provided. Mine was - 65º off.  Plan on replacing charcoal every 4 hours. This unit here is over 30 years old now.

 

[erodinamik]

Turns out the people I we stayed with had an awesome "Texas Best" horizontal smoker with SFB that I used for the 3 brisket, but I did use the ECB for some smoked sausages and ABTs and fatties the day of the party.  Unfortunately I didn't take photos since I was running around for 2 days straight getting the food ready for and during the party.  So I gues that makes the smoke not count right? I will post the few photos I took of the brisket smoke in a new thread when I get a chance.

Thanks Flash for your advice.  After my several hours of usage I could see where some minor tweaks would make this a great little smoker.