suggestions to up my game on a Smoke Hollow ES?

[kelsosmokes]

Hi all,

I received an electric Smoke Hollow vertical smoker [http://thd.co/176iHKi] this past August as a birthday gift. I've used it a few times and been relatively successful - wonderful whole and spatchcocked chickens, ribs and salmon....okay pork shoulder - and things really made a difference when I started using the A-MAZE-N tube pellet smoker.

However, I feel like I'm over-relying on the tube now and not using the actual smoker as intended. The smoke box in the bottom rarely ignites the small amt of wood chips I do try to use, so after every smoke there's just a bunch of half charred chips. I think this is a result of (a) keeping my temp around 200 for many hours and not letting it get above 225 for fear of cooking the meat too quickly; and (b) the electric element cycling on and off to maintain this temperature making it hard for the chips to stay lit. Maybe also there's not enough ventilation / air circulation?

I've never had to go above the "med / low" setting on the smoker. So, on everything I've done except the salmon, I've never been able to form a true bark or crispy skin.

Is there a better way to leverage the aspects of this smoker? I'm happy with the chicken and salmon, but I'm especially hoping to smoke better ribs / pork shoulder. Suggestions welcomed...

 

[themule69]

You need to get your temp up to 225°-240° for better bark and break down of tissue. The AMNTS is the way to go. Forget about chips. For chicken you will do better even higher temps 325° will give you crispy skin. The only thing low and slow does for poulty is allow for more time in the smoke.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[old sarge]

Although my smoker is different than yours, it too cycles on/off to maintain the set temperature. My set temperature is 225 to 235 for all my smokes.  And the wood (chunk) is fully consumed. Make sure your vent is open per your user manual.  225 is not that high and I think if you read through the many posts you will see that it is perhaps the sweet point for low and slow smoking. I get good bark at the temperatures I mentioned. I do not use a water pan and instead rely on the moisture (fat) in the meat to keep things moist.  

As for your chips not being fully reduced to ash, try placing them so that they are above the heating element proper and not in a vacant space.  And nothing is wrong with using the tube to get your smoke. But if you want to use the smoker as is, try a rack of ribs at 225 for 5 hours with just the stock chip tray and a full load of chips and just let it go. If you are a foiler on ribs, by all means do so. Just experiment.  That is half the fun.

 

[demosthenes9]

Turn the smoker up.  Butts and ribs can take much higher temps (so can just about anything else

)

 

[kelsosmokes]

OP here -

This is helpful, thanks. I do use the water pan and I've always thought that it keeps things a little too hot (the surface area is huge). I might try ditching that the next time and also modifying the smoker itself to allow a bit more ventilation...there is only a small pipe feeding out the back.

I'll also experiment with the temps a little higher!

 

[uncle harley]

I've also got a Smoke Hollow electric & I put 3-4 charcoal briquettes in the pan, get them going with a propane torch, really get them going with a hair dryer & then throw on my chunks & close the door. Good for about 2 hrs then repeat.