first time fail :(

[thathdbandit]

Went to use my new smoker for the first time yesterday and  boy was it a foul up, id brine a chicken and then got the dry rub on it, and that's were it all started to go wrong, i have a bullet water smoker, and had previously seasoned it and managed with little effort to get it up to a half decent temp, this time however i couldn't get it past 70-80c, i think in hindsight i may have put too much water in the water pan, perhaps the coals were not hot enough from the charcoal starter initially....oh i don't know.

Any way i cooked the chicken in the oven in the end and it turned out very nice but still disappointed as it was first time and as you do i was trying to impress lol

A question, is the water bowl really necessary as A it sits so close to the coals when you open the bottom door of the smoker it makes it almost impossible to get extra coals in and B i presume heating the water saps some of the heat anyway, also the rack directly above the water bowl doesn't really get the full effect of the smoking process as does the top rack, so would this then allow smoking on both levels.

From reading these forums and various books it would seem only really chicken and turkey need the extra moisture content and you can get round this by either beer caning the bird or brining, wotcha think?

ill stop my rant now and try and plan my next failure lol

peace out

 

[shooterrick]

Well many smokers never use water and I know many will fill the pan with sand.  If I understand correctly those filling the pan with sand say it holds heat and helps stabilize the temps.  This makes sense in my mind.  The reason cast iron is a great material in wood stoves is because once heated it holds and stabilizes things.  If you increase the mass then the same would hold true in a smoker. 

That said I do not use a bullet type smoker so someone with more experience with this type unit will chime in soon I am sure. 

 

[mdboatbum]

I think you're kinda getting off track here. First, I'll assume we are talking about a brinkmann bullet smoker. These are, straight out of the box, pretty capable little gadgets. Water in the pan will slow the heating process, but will not keep it from happening. It shouldn't allow it to get over 250 or so either. Fahrenheit, maybe 120 c. Did you use the minions method? What kind of charcoal are you using? Provide a little more info and people here will be able to chime in and help. Most importantly, don't get discouraged. It'll get better and easier.
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[thathdbandit]

this is the smoker i have, i was using charcoal

I like the idea of the sand method in the water bowl makes sense, will have to look into it

cheers guys

 

[meateater]

I had one of those and put out many great smokes. I never put dirt in the pan, only water. I'm in an apartment and it was leaking all over my patio so that's when I built my UDS. I still haven't found dirt on the USDA site as approved. 

 

[thathdbandit]

UDS?

 

[teeznuts]

Not sure about your temps but draping some bacon over the top of turkey or chicken seems to keep things moist in my experience within putting water in the pan.

 

[SmokinAl]

I always put water in the water pan.

I think you may not have had a big enough fire going.

 

[desertlites]

i use to use the ECB also and have put out many a great smokes along with bacons and sausage.First off you need to do the mods to your smoker,legs mounted on the outside,etc.and yes sand in the water pan helps a whole lot-u can buy clean play sand at your hardware store,not sure why Dirt has been mentioned but common sence will guide you away from doing somthing like that.I dropped my coal pan onto 3 bricks to give added room to feed with fuel when needed.Also a type of wrap has been used to help hold the heat. use the search for the mods for your smoker. the bullet is a great little smoker and yes I also have used the same design and built my own 50 gal UDS.Good luck