Yellow fellow smokers. Well I took the plunge and smoked me some ribs yesterday. They came out better than I hoped for. I had trouble with temp and smoke. I smoked two racks (7-1/2 lbs). I was going to use the 2-2-1 method but had to leave them in longer. (I'll get to that). The meat was tender but not falling off the bone. I used famous dave's rub on them , wrap in plastic and put in fridge over night. Next day, sat them at room temp for about a 1/2 hour before I stuck them in. After about 2 -1/2 hours, took them out of smoker, sprayed applejuice/applecider vinegar on them and wrapped in foil. Back in smoker for two hours. After that, took them out of foil, put baby ray's barbeque sauce on them , then back in the smoker for about 45 minutes.
I modified this Brinkmann smoker like I said. The literature claimed that it was made out of "heavy duty" metal. I've used toliet paper that was thicker than the metal on this thing. Anyway
I used a 1650 watt heating element that I had from a Faberware rot. I thought I had a hoffman encloser to use but it was too small. I wanted to use a temp controller I had so it would cycle the heat on and off. I didn't have a relay with a 120 volt coil so I had to use a transformer with a relay that had a 24 volt coil. I threw this together cause I wanted to try this. I find the parts to finish right later.
Here are some pics I took.
Observations:
Bought wood chips at home depot. cherry and mesquite. Putting chip pan directly on the element was a bad idea.
I had my Temp controller set for 230*. It got up to that temp in about 15 min. I put the wood chip pan in along with the filling the water pan and put the ribs in. The thing smoked like a sob,
I put gasketing around the door. The thing smoked like crazy for 10 -15 mintues then that was it. No more smoke.
Problems:
Having the wood chip pan directly on the element was a mistake. The chips burnt up to o quickly. As I said , when I first turned the unit on with the chip pan in, it was smoking like crazy. After 15 min. It wasn't smokin anymore. I will put another grate above the heating element and keep the chip pan about an inch above the element.
Next time put HOT water in the pan.
I had trouble getting the temp up and maintaining 230*. I had to keep both upper and lower vents pretty much closed all the way. Is this normal?
The temp controller worked good cycling the element on and off the times it reached temp.
The element was rated at 1650 watt. It was glowing red. It was pulling 13.3 amps. I thought I wouldn't have any trouble as far as getting this thing up to temp.
What positions should the vents be in? I wonder if I insulated the box on three sides if that would help?
The last couple hours with the ribs in foil and out, the unit maintained a pretty steady temp of about 220* but the element was on constantly.
Thats the whole reason I wanted to use a temp controller was so I could put the food in set it and walk away. I don't want to have to baby sit it the whole time its cooking.
Will try beer can chicken this saturday and see what happens.
Please, any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated!
