Make a charocal smoker electric

[Nolo]

Hi everyone
I have a weber smokey mountain and i think about add a heating element to simplify my job.
Someone can explain me how to do this so i'll still be able to work with charocal somtimes ?
thanks

 

[buzzy]

This should work & easy to install.

 

[bill1]

Nolo,
What kind of temperatures do you want? The WSM doesn't have insulated walls so this Amazon element may not have enough power for you. At the least, space it above a shiny surface that's isolated away from the WSM black bottom so the half of the IR energy radiated downward from the hot element is redirected back up to where your meat is.

Note also the meat that "sees" the red-hot element will cook faster than meat that is "shadowed" from it. So if you tend to use multiple grates you may need to interchange them during the cook. If that seems egregious, you can put another plate (louvered is great) spaced above this element that shadows all the meat. (Ideally it's black on the bottom, shiny on top.) Then the radiative component is minimized and you'll be cooking through pure convection. And, that upper plate could take the form of a chip or pellet box so that you don't lose the smoke flavor you're getting now from charcoal.