Electric ECB - Modifying for Charcoal

[brewmate76]

Hi guys,

I'm running an ECB electric and would like to modify it to be able to run charcoal as well. Have any of you done this? I'm thinking all I would need to do is order the charcoal pan and the charcoal ECB base and I would be set. I've been looking for some information on this process but have come up empty. I also haven't seen the base unit for sale anywhere, including the Brinkmann website.

 

[bcfishman]

Not sure what the Charcoal ECB base is, unless you are talking about the legs.

I have seen people use three Bricks/Cinder Blocks in a triangle pattern instead of the wobbly legs that come with them.

Charcoal pan shouldn't be too hard.

 

[davidmcg]

I have both an electric and a charcoal ECB. Just a question, why do you want to convert it? Wally world has the charcoal ECB for about 35 bucks. Buy one and enjoy both worlds. That electric one can come in handy on weather challenging days. But if you want to convert, especially cheaply, then here is my other 2 cents. For the base, go with bricks or blocks. Anything that gives about a 6 inch space under the main cabinet area will work. For the charcoal pan it is relatively simple to make. Go to a garage saleor thrift store or whatever and look for a cheap round cake pan. Drill some holes in the bottom. Go up on the sides with some expanded metal to finish the basket form. Then you have the charcoal pan. I discarded the legs on my ECB years ago and use red clay bricks stacked up and set the charcoal pan right on the lip of the bricks. Then every hour or so you just pick the hole thing up off the bricks and set aside, shake the ashes out of the charcoal pan and maybe add a few more pieces of charcoal or wood chunks and replace the smoker back on the bricks. It works great. Make sure you make a vent up on the lid to get a good airflow. A few half inch holes in a 4" circle work and then atach a piece of sheet metal or frozen pie crust pan onto it with a sheet metal screw to regulate air flow. I even saw a guy once that converted his into a pellet burning ECB. He just cut a small hole in the side and ran a pipe from there down to his pan to drop pellets in. Worked great. I am looking into finding a cheap ECB to try that mod. Of course that comes after I build me a UDS.

 

[davidmcg]

One more thing I forgot to mention for your conversion. Be sure to replace that thermometer that is on the electric ECB. Go to Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, Sears or what ever you have in your area. You ought to be able to get a small 2 or 3 inch replacement that will go in there. Leave the old gauge where it is. Up about an inch or so from where the meat grate is just drill a small hole the sie of the new temp gauge probe and put it in there.