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Smoking Food Thread

Question for the experts out there...

My biggest issue with my smoker is maintaining temperature the longer the meat is in the smoker. After about 6 hours I have found it gets especially hard to maintain temperature, which I believe is happening due to ash buildup. I'm using the basic Brinkmann vertical smoker with Royal Oak lump charcoal. It usually will maintain temperature for the first 2 hours or so but after that I generally need to add more about once an hour. From what I've read, I feel like I shouldn't need to do this. It also obviously means opening up the door longer and more often, so I lose heat and then have to wait for the new charcoal to catch. I'm not using a chimney as there is only really room in the smoker for me to add new charcoal by hand. Any suggestions?
 
Nothing major. I think I drilled a hole in the bottom of the coal pan as someone on here suggested, but that's about it.
 
That's basically just the experience I've always heard of and read of for Brinkmanns. The design is fine for their electric smoker, but they don't really pay much/any attention to the airflow required to keep a proper charcoal fire going. It's all about airflow. The Weber Smokey Mountain has a lot more air flow, with three adjustable vents on the bottom and one larger vent in the lid, and rather than a charcoal bowl, the charcoal area is created out of a grate on the bottom with a sheet metal "surround" with large holes drilled to allow airflow.

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There are lots of suggestions around the net for modifying the Brinkmann. It usually comes down to drilling lots and lots of holes for more airflow. I've seen folks who have drilled 50+ holes into the charcoal bowl as well as some holes into the smoker itself.
 
Won't increasing the airflow cause the charcoal to burn faster?
 
wfumike02 said:
Won't increasing the airflow cause the charcoal to burn faster?
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Aren't you having trouble keeping the fire hot enough? Airflow is needed to keep the fire going. Adjustable airflow is needed so you can adjust the temperature throughout the smoke (if things are moving slower than you'd hoped, it's nice to be able to bump the temp up to 300 just by opening up the vents). Right now, it sounds like you don't have enough airflow. The modifications the WFU71 provides are designed to get you "too much" airflow so that you can then dial it back to what you need.
 
You can do the smokey joe modification. Essentially you buy a weber smokey joe and use that as your charcoal pan.

It's more complicated than that but that's the basic gist.
 
Also, ditch the water. It makes absolutely no difference in the BBQ and only serves to regulate temperature. In theory, if the fire gets "too hot", the boils and keeps the temps down...in practice, it simply means you're burning a lot of fuel unnecessarily. Replace it with a heat sink like sand or a piece of pottery and use managed airflow to regulate your temps.
 
RacerDeac said:
Aren't you having trouble keeping the fire hot enough? Airflow is needed to keep the fire going. Adjustable airflow is needed so you can adjust the temperature throughout the smoke (if things are moving slower than you'd hoped, it's nice to be able to bump the temp up to 300 just by opening up the vents). Right now, it sounds like you don't have enough airflow. The modifications the WFU71 provides are designed to get you "too much" airflow so that you can then dial it back to what you need.
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Yes, but not until the later stages. It seems to be because the fuel is being consumed/loaded up with ash.

I've been doing it with no water from the get go, thanks to advice from the board.
 
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wfumike02 said:
Yes, but not until the later stages. It seems to be because the fuel is being consumed/loaded up with ash.
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Could be that the the way it's burning, with too little airflow, is using up the fuel but not generating much heat. Airflow will also help with the ashing problem. Good airflow will carry the ash up and out (there's rarely much ask leftover when using quality lump charcoal). I bet your ask is falling down and clogging up your airflow, which is where the modification to raisue the charcoal would really help. There's a reason that there are 100's of sites, posts, etc, dedicated to increasing and controlling the airflow on Brinkmann's.
 
My wife's 3 best friends and families are all staying at our house this Saturday. Planning to throw a butt on the smoker first thing tomorrow morning and enjoy it for dinner tomorrow night.
 
wfumike02 said:
Yes, but not until the later stages. It seems to be because the fuel is being consumed/loaded up with ash.

I've been doing it with no water from the get go, thanks to advice from the board.
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I've made my brinkman a little better by drilling holes and installing a grate for the charcoal so the ash doesn't snuff out the coals. I can get about 6 hours before I take the meat off empty the ash and start a new load of coals and keep going. Sometimes I just wrap the meat up in tinfoil and finish it in a 225 degree oven or even the gas grill. I've found that smoke doesn't make much of a difference after the first 6 hours.
 
Agreed with the above suggestions for modifying the ECB. I drilled holes on the bottom of my coal pan, added a grate and installed a damper to control airflow underneath. I also installed the legs backwards and put the coal pan on stilts, so that when I need to mess with the coals and empty the ash or add chips I just pick up the whole unit rather than try to use the door. Oh and I put a real thermometer up top instead of that bad warm/ideal/hot gauge.
 
Wuffey said:
I've found that smoke doesn't make much of a difference after the first 6 hours.
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Meat stops taking on smoke flavor at 140 degrees. The outer portions where the smoke can penetrate easily hit that within 6 hours.
 
Its been said earlier, but its an airflow issue. I drilled a larger airhole and added a coal grate to alleviate the problem. I grew up using the Brinkmann, but I'm bowing out to the WSM.
 
i've joined the cult. after having the WSM in the cart I decided to go with the Brinkmann (couldn't justify the cost difference for something i've never done before).

Made these mods this afternoon. http://www.smoking-meat.com/modify-brinkmann-ecb-smoker

Holes in the charcoal bowl, eight holes and a thin piece of steel for a regulator and new thermo on the lid.

Gonna try a #butt tomorrow. Any advice for rubs?
 
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