Hello, My name is Adam, I'm from southwest WI. I just got into smoking earlier this year in the spring so you could say I'm pretty new yet. I found this forum and the Smoking-Meat.com website just searching the web for how to smoke different kinds of meats, and I still cannot believe what a great place I stumbled into. 4 months ago i knew nothing about smoking, and now i have access to all kinds of tricks and tips that even my friends who do smoking and catering for a living are new to hear about. Either way I'm still pretty green when it comes to smoking, but i learn more and more every day, and I'm pretty sure I've been on this site every day since i found it( about 3 1/2 months now!). My smoker is a Brinkmann Smoke N' Pit(or ECB as I've seen it referred to as) I found at wal-mart. I picked this one over the char-griller because at the time I thought it seemed like the better buy, more durable, heavier, looked better etc...now I'm not so sure. Fortunately, there is a plethora of information and how to's on upgrading and modifying this monster to make it produce some excellent meals. I've added pics of the mods I've done so far, let me know what you think!
First off I extended the chimney to close to grate level, I have seen a lot of mods using dryer vent hoses, but I wanted to keep my top rack for more cooking space, so I crafted this out of some aluminum flashing in about an hour.
View from the outside, she looks filthy but she gets treated better than that! added a couple of therms at grate level.
Made a charcoal basket out of expanded metal, thanks for all the help on that everyone! Made it through only requiring a couple of the band-aids.
baffle made out of sheet metal, I want to see how this works on it's own before adding tuning plates
some more aluminum flashing to seal up the ends and prevent smoke loss, and a mountain dew can to catch the excess, and yes... it'll tickle yer innards!
flashing again, just a rectangular piece folded hamburger style and riveted in the middle to plug up the massive holes at each end of the cooking chamber.
out of jealousy of the char grillers and a little creativity crafted a sheet metal drawer to empty ashes from the sfb to keep my fire from being smothered during long cooks.
used the remaining scraps of expanded metal to section off a space in the charcoal basket for wood to go and hopefully not burn up right away
I have done a couple of cooks but only with a couple of these mods so far, will be doing a butt this weekend. Hope all goes well.
One more question I have is about my sfb. During one of my last burns, the paint from the lid on the inside and out bubbled and flaked off...I'm a little disappointed but I'll get over it. I scraped off any left over flaky paint but am concerned about more flaking off the next time around since it has already started, I have remedied the problem that caused it the first time, but just want to make sure I'm only cooking with coal and wood!
Thanks again everyone!
First off I extended the chimney to close to grate level, I have seen a lot of mods using dryer vent hoses, but I wanted to keep my top rack for more cooking space, so I crafted this out of some aluminum flashing in about an hour.
View from the outside, she looks filthy but she gets treated better than that! added a couple of therms at grate level.
Made a charcoal basket out of expanded metal, thanks for all the help on that everyone! Made it through only requiring a couple of the band-aids.
baffle made out of sheet metal, I want to see how this works on it's own before adding tuning plates
some more aluminum flashing to seal up the ends and prevent smoke loss, and a mountain dew can to catch the excess, and yes... it'll tickle yer innards!
flashing again, just a rectangular piece folded hamburger style and riveted in the middle to plug up the massive holes at each end of the cooking chamber.
out of jealousy of the char grillers and a little creativity crafted a sheet metal drawer to empty ashes from the sfb to keep my fire from being smothered during long cooks.
used the remaining scraps of expanded metal to section off a space in the charcoal basket for wood to go and hopefully not burn up right away
I have done a couple of cooks but only with a couple of these mods so far, will be doing a butt this weekend. Hope all goes well.
One more question I have is about my sfb. During one of my last burns, the paint from the lid on the inside and out bubbled and flaked off...I'm a little disappointed but I'll get over it. I scraped off any left over flaky paint but am concerned about more flaking off the next time around since it has already started, I have remedied the problem that caused it the first time, but just want to make sure I'm only cooking with coal and wood!
Thanks again everyone!
