ive been racking my brain about this for a couple of days and i just need some people to tell me im an idiot or im onto something 
. so im just going to write out the plans i have in my head and you guys can tell me if im wasting my time or if im actually stumbling in the right direction.
i have a 6ish' double door smoker that was given to me a couple months ago. i posted before about doing a propane set up it in, but im leaning towards charcoal/electric now. ill post the picture of it again at the end of this. the plan is to be able to cook using a charcoal box most of the time, but have the option to slide an electric heating element into the top half and be able to do overnight cooks without having to worry about wild temp swings.
so for the charcoal set up, i would have a charcoal box, elevated 6" or so off the bottom to allow ash to drop, and an intake whole somewhere around the same height. then, a foot or so above that, i would have a metal plate that would go the width of the smoker but would leave a 6" gap at the back to allow heat and airflow around it. this would be a place to put a drip pan/water pan and protect the meat any direct heat.
then for the electric option, i would have a 120v 1500 watt heating element attached to a metal plate that i would slide in just above the bottom of the top door with the goal of cutting the volume of the smoker in half so the element would have no problem keeping temp. i would have a PID hooked up to it to regulate temp and use an A-Maze-N pellet tube to provide smoke.
now ive never built a smoker before, so i dont know if any parts of this are viable/necessary, but i would love some input or advice on my ideas here.
. so im just going to write out the plans i have in my head and you guys can tell me if im wasting my time or if im actually stumbling in the right direction. i have a 6ish' double door smoker that was given to me a couple months ago. i posted before about doing a propane set up it in, but im leaning towards charcoal/electric now. ill post the picture of it again at the end of this. the plan is to be able to cook using a charcoal box most of the time, but have the option to slide an electric heating element into the top half and be able to do overnight cooks without having to worry about wild temp swings.
so for the charcoal set up, i would have a charcoal box, elevated 6" or so off the bottom to allow ash to drop, and an intake whole somewhere around the same height. then, a foot or so above that, i would have a metal plate that would go the width of the smoker but would leave a 6" gap at the back to allow heat and airflow around it. this would be a place to put a drip pan/water pan and protect the meat any direct heat.
then for the electric option, i would have a 120v 1500 watt heating element attached to a metal plate that i would slide in just above the bottom of the top door with the goal of cutting the volume of the smoker in half so the element would have no problem keeping temp. i would have a PID hooked up to it to regulate temp and use an A-Maze-N pellet tube to provide smoke.
now ive never built a smoker before, so i dont know if any parts of this are viable/necessary, but i would love some input or advice on my ideas here.
