I wanted to try smoking, so I bought a Char-Broil brand square box smoker. Simple, base line model, should be a good unit for a beginner to start with.
The directions that came with it makes me wonder if the people that wrote it have ever really done any smoking. They suggested 5 lbs. of charcoal. Not ever having done this, I don't know any better.
I filled a chimney starter with charcoal, got it going good, dumped it in the charcoal pan, stuck it in the box and shut the door. I watched the needle on my temp gauge go up like a rocket! Grabbed a pair of Channel Locks, pulled the pan out, ran out in the stone driveway and dumped out all but about ten pieces. The temp still went up a little higher than I wanted, but not nearly as bad as a full pan.
Yesterday, I did a little redneck engineering. I used a church key to punch holes around the bottom of a number ten food can. I got six pieces of charcoal going, put that in the food can and set that in the charcoal pan. The temp went up to 175 and stabilized. I can add to that as needed without my smoker going to auto melt down.
The directions that came with it makes me wonder if the people that wrote it have ever really done any smoking. They suggested 5 lbs. of charcoal. Not ever having done this, I don't know any better.
I filled a chimney starter with charcoal, got it going good, dumped it in the charcoal pan, stuck it in the box and shut the door. I watched the needle on my temp gauge go up like a rocket! Grabbed a pair of Channel Locks, pulled the pan out, ran out in the stone driveway and dumped out all but about ten pieces. The temp still went up a little higher than I wanted, but not nearly as bad as a full pan.
Yesterday, I did a little redneck engineering. I used a church key to punch holes around the bottom of a number ten food can. I got six pieces of charcoal going, put that in the food can and set that in the charcoal pan. The temp went up to 175 and stabilized. I can add to that as needed without my smoker going to auto melt down.
