- Mar 17, 2012
- 28
- 10
I recently bought a new, assembled but never used ECB (Dos Equis version) for $30 on Craigslist. I modified to get the results I wanted. I looked thru this forum and made a trip to Ace to look at WSM 22.5 for ideas. Below is what I did.
Started by turning the legs to the outside, and putting legs on the charcoal pan, 3/8 X 24 threaded rod cut to three lengths. I added three small L-brackets to the inside of the charcoal pan to set a grate on for the charcoal, to give air flow in the pan. The placement of the grate sits about 1.5in below the top of pan, setting up the ability to use the minion method. I used a 1in hole saw to cut four holes in the bottom of the pan to provide airflow as needed. These holes can be plugged with push in buttons to control air flow. In the dome, cut four 1in holes as I did in the pan. These can also be plugged as needed, and keep stale smoke from staying in the cover. I also put a real thermometer in the dome. It sits just a couple inches off of the top grate, so it gives a very accurate temp reading as opposed to those in the top of the dome. I want to better seal the dome to the body. This will get more of the smoke across the top of the meat. I also want to move the water pan up, but will have figure a way to get water in the pan since it will be at the top of the access door. But this will provide needed room between the charcoal grate and water pan.
I used this smoker last weekend along side my newly acquired 22.5 WSM, it worked great for what it is. Probably could have cut two or three holes in the pan and dome. But they can be plugged, so it's not a big issue. Below is a link to my post comparing the ECB and WSM.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/161928/vertical-smoker-cookoff#post_1172133
Started by turning the legs to the outside, and putting legs on the charcoal pan, 3/8 X 24 threaded rod cut to three lengths. I added three small L-brackets to the inside of the charcoal pan to set a grate on for the charcoal, to give air flow in the pan. The placement of the grate sits about 1.5in below the top of pan, setting up the ability to use the minion method. I used a 1in hole saw to cut four holes in the bottom of the pan to provide airflow as needed. These holes can be plugged with push in buttons to control air flow. In the dome, cut four 1in holes as I did in the pan. These can also be plugged as needed, and keep stale smoke from staying in the cover. I also put a real thermometer in the dome. It sits just a couple inches off of the top grate, so it gives a very accurate temp reading as opposed to those in the top of the dome. I want to better seal the dome to the body. This will get more of the smoke across the top of the meat. I also want to move the water pan up, but will have figure a way to get water in the pan since it will be at the top of the access door. But this will provide needed room between the charcoal grate and water pan.
I used this smoker last weekend along side my newly acquired 22.5 WSM, it worked great for what it is. Probably could have cut two or three holes in the pan and dome. But they can be plugged, so it's not a big issue. Below is a link to my post comparing the ECB and WSM.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/161928/vertical-smoker-cookoff#post_1172133
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