Newbie converting cheap offset to electric.

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urnp34

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 25, 2016
4
10
Hello everyone. I've got a cheap offset that has seen better days. Firebox was in terrible shape so I took it off and covered the opening to the cooking chamber. The cooking chamber is still in good shape.

I have an electric skillet rated at 1300 Watts. It's the type with the control that plugs in like the cheaper masterbuilt with low, medium, and high.

If I were to line the bottom with some brick, would this help keep the heat even across the chamber? I also don't plan on putting anything I smoke directly above the skillet (side where the firebox was). I'm OK with only bring able to use half the cooking area as that is about all I used before anyways.

Just wondering if this will work. I'm trying to do this from scraps I have laying around. Does anybody have any suggestions?
 
Depends on how big the smoker is....   I would skip the FB....   too much thermal mass....   Insulate the CC...   severely reduce the intake and exhaust...   you don't need much air flow in an electric smoker... you need enough so the chips or dust will burn completely and moisture can be removed thru the exhaust...  This is a guess....  1 sq. inch inlet and 2 sq. inches exhaust...
 
Thanks Dave. I might have time to work on it today. I'll skip the brick for now and will just test to see what temp I can get to when I get it going. From there I'll figure out an insulation solution.
 
Well I got the electric skillet installed. Temp only gets up to about 150° according to the thermometer on the smoker (I plan on getting a more accurate one and a meat probe). What would be some good insulation for relatively cheap that I could pick up from Lowe's? All I have laying around is stove pipe wrap. Would like to keep cost very minimum as I have no money invested yet and like to repurpose things I have laying around.
 
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