Expanding My ECB (revised)

 The first pictures of a 2-stage Brinkmann/Bass Pro Saturn V Smoker. I may opt to just use it as is before I decide to modify a hinged door to the upper chamber for easier access. I will however, use my modified lid that has the vent holes drilled into it. It works well! I used an old disc-brake shim as the cover for the top vent. I've been using a turkey deep fryer thermometer in one of the end holes of the top vent until I can get a better one from Wal-mart.

 

Hey Fellas!! Well it's been last July since I last posted but I keep up with you all on FB and the Daily Newsletters.

As I showed you last year. I felt I needed a little more space to increase my volume of smoked meats so I decided

to double up my ECB's. The results so far have been excellent. The chicken, ribs and salmon have turned out excellent.

Really, there's no reason they wouldn't. I've just expanded the space is all. But the REAL test is coming this weekend.

I'm going to try a nice brisket and see how well it produces and retains heat and smoke. Unless someone has a good

reason not to, I'm going to put the brisket on the very top grill just under the lid. In case you're wondering, the reason

using both cylinders  for just one cut of meat is that I want to see if I get a better smoke with the meat the furthest away

from the coals. I'm guessing it will take a little longer, but not much. After all, the temperature should remain constant.

The 3rd picture shows the lid with 8 holes drilled and I've employed a disc backing brake plate as a vent regulator.

This allows me to regulate the heat pretty well. Better than I had originally expected.

The middle picture is the charcoal bin. I of course used the larger of the two pans that came with the second ECB.

There are exactly the same number of vent holes on the opposite side. My question here is this. Should I also drill the

same holes on the other two sides or would that be inviting TOO much air?

Please feel free to give comments and suggestions as I am always open to constructive criticism. I hope to post this

weekends brisket attempt. This is not my first attempt at brisket but it will be the first in this expanded version of the ECB.

Thanks Folks and have a most Blessed day!

~David

FYI, my own rub for beef I've been using with success is:

·             1/2 cup Brown Sugar

·             1/4 cup paprika

·             2 teaspoons chili powder

·             1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·             2 tablespoon salt

·             2 teaspoons black pepper

·             1 tablespoon garlic salt

·             1 tablespoon celery salt

·             1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

·             1 tablespoon Coriander

·             1 tablespoon Cumin

Got a got 14# full packer at Sams Club. Trimmed all the fat clean which I'm sure was at least 4#, which you can see in the pictures. then I cut the brisket where it looked to taper down to the smalIer flat. I got the brisket on at 6:15. About 9:30 just before leaving for church I had to add the 2nd batch of coals. Smoker temp was sitting a nice 230 degrees and internal meat temp was 117 degrees. Church ran over and I didn't get home until 1:00pm and the temp was all the way down to about 160. Stoked another starter canister full of lump charcoal (it's ALL I ever use) and it rose in excess of 280. I vented it a bit. Open the lid and check the temp at about 2:30 and the internal temp is 140. I figure another 2 hours should do it. Since I took all the fat off, I used apple juice in the liquid pan. As you can see in the pics, they're staying nicely moist on top. The liquid pan is just above the coals on the bottom smoker. both pieces of brisket are on the top two racks of the upper smoker.