Modified ECB is running cold

[gmebey]

I converted my old electric ECB back to charcoal in the hopes of learning to smoke with charcoal. (YES I went to Electric early on)

This last weekend was the guys camping trip and I decided to take it along.

The first run was with 25 drumsticks, and the smoker struggled to get to 210 F. We added another batch of hot coals and crocked the lid and removed the dampener flap from the coal pan. We managed to get the temp to ~250, and the it spiked to 300F once the water pan ran out.

The drummys turned out great, but it was nail biter.

The next night was about the same thing with ABTs....a struggle to get yummy supper.

My questions are:

1) How much coal is typically needed?

2) Do I need holes in the lid to allow air flow in order to raise the temp?

3) What else could be wrong?

Thanks in advance.

 

[gargra03]

Hey bus, I have a brinkman gourmet and did a few mods that may help yu, first i installed a weber damper in the lid and second ordered a big green egg lid gasket and installed that around my brinkman lid. I also made my own charcoal basket and it really has seemed to help with the temps, and the last thing I did was intall a decent thermometer at rack level .