Hello from Az.

[rong]

I'm new to smoking but having a lot of fun experimenting. I have a Weber kettle that I've been pretty lucky with so far, and jut picked up a used brinkman 2 door charcoal smoker. It's been modified and so far so good with charcoal. I can keep the temp between 200 and 225. It took a little practice but I smoke 6 lbs. of bacon in it a couple weeks ago and it came out pretty darn good for an amature.

I have access to a couple of old gas grills that I'm thinking about salvaging the burners from and converting the brinkman. I'm also thinking a hot plate. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Ron

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• rong
• Nov 9, 2012

 

[s2k9k]

Hi Ron! 

to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 40,000 members and over 800,000 posts so you should be able to find almost anything you want to know. Remember the search bar at the top can be your best friend for finding answers fast!

You might want to check out Jeff's Free 5 day E-course it will teach you all the basics and a whole lot more!

 

[roadkill cafe]

Welcome aboard Ron. Glad you found us. You're gonna love it here. Lots of great infomation and advice. Not to mention the folks are very friendly and always willing to share. That bacon looks awesome. Great job!! Again,

 

[daveomak]

I have access to a couple of old gas grills that I'm thinking about salvaging the burners from and converting the brinkman.

I'm also thinking a hot plate. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Ron

Ron, morning and welcome to the forum.....  If you use a hot plate, they have an "over temp" cut off switch in them... That will not allow them to get hot enough to run the smoker...   I would recommend taking it apart, removing the controls and wiring the element to a dimmer switch...   Then you can control the heat output of the element as you would control a gas burner on a stove.....  I have done that, and it works very well....   You will need to reinstall the element in something that will not melt or burn...  It will get VERY hot....  and the wiring to the element, at least a few inches of the wiring, will need to be the fiberglass coated wiring used in an electric stove.... non coated crimps etc....   Here is my Totem smoker I did that to....  I did use the original controls but that was my first mod....   The attached link shows the mods and how I did it....     Dave

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/...r-element-for-colder-climates-and-hot-smoking

 

[rong]

Hi Dave,

Thank you that is great info. I had been wondering about getting the plate hot enough, and the wiring. You pretty much answered all of my questions.

Thanks again,

Ron

 

[smokinhusker]

Hello and welcome to SMF!