Yesterday I received an email from Brody had built his own electric smoker based on the page I made.
No question.
Just thought I’d let you know I built the smoker, per your page.
I did cut a large hole where the elec. heater goes in, and I cover it during use with tinfoil, which I hold on with magnets.
I also had the opportunity to smoke something that wouldn’t fit in the smoker with the top on. Made a temp top from tin foil, and it worked fine.
thanks again,
Brody
Good work Brody, your smoker looks great.
Now that’s what I’m talking about people! Soon the backyards of America will be filled with homemade smokers and the smell of burning hickory wood.
I like his modification with the tinfoil and using magnets to keep it in place. He should be able to add wood chips to the smoker without having to move the meat like I had to do.
So you have the lid-top thermometer, and you strive to keep that at 225-230, right? What do you do if it starts going above 230? Adjust the hot plate temp?
And how do you measure the meat temp? Do you lift the lid and measure or run in a remote temp probe and just leave it there?
Yes, adjusting the hot plate can do it, or simply lifting the lid and releasing some smoke & heat can do it as well.
For the meat temp, I usually let it simply cook for 4-5 hours and then use a Polder electric thermometer to check it. For beef and pork, I’m not really worried about the temp, it’s supposed to get up there and stay up there for a while.
When cooking a turkey, you do want to hit the 170-175 mark and then pull it out.
I saw Alton Brown on Good Eats make one out of a couple large terra-cotta planters and an electric hot plate. He used the terra-cotta because it retains the heat better than metal.
You can see somehting similar to what he built here: http://homepage.mac.com/dubmann/PhotoAlbum1.html
Total cost: around $60.