ECB mods started and 1st test...w/Prono

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deathamphetamine

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K here are the mods so far... Put one almost full chimney with 20 briqs and lump. Temp went to 320 within 15 minutes. Closed intake vent, waited about half an hour temp was down to 250 ish. Another half hour, settled at 225 with exhaust a sliver open and intake closed. I left factory hole in the bottom without control... I think I will plug it next test for better control. Held this temp for an hour & a half before having to shake ash off and open the intake a bit more. Temp stayed above 200 for another hour. Not bad but I am going to try the minion method for some pork shoulder tomorrow. I really hope I can go 10 hours without adding fuel. :?: OH... I had a thermo on each grate and they were very very close throughout the test, two of the pics illustrate this(Clean thermo = Top grate,, Used one = bottom). I also filled the water pan as I would if I were cooking. Any suggestions or comments welcome.:biggrin:
 

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man, you are going to town on that ECB, I suspect you will find a way to make that sucker work yet.
 
i still think the coals laying on the lower part is not the way to go. get a grate and get it off the bottom part several inches.
 
Interesting mods. Looking forward to some food pron.
 
Dude...shorten your name!!!:biggrin: Looks like a good smoke session.
 
I'm not sure if you'll hold temps for 10 hours with at least some way to get those coals off the bottom of that pan. But I've been wrong before, more often than not actually.
 
I tried a 10 hour cook with an ECB last weekend. I used Trader Joes Hardwood Briquettes thinking less ash and more heat. Mistake.

I use rack to keep the briquettes up off the bottom of the pan and after about six hours still I ended up smothering the coals.

I tried a full packed minion method and ended up with a full pan of burning coals within 2 hours. I thought the ecb was going to melt and dumped the whole pan to start over. Here's a picture of the construction, I must have done something wrong. I need to build a uds.

If you get a good long steady burn, Please let me know what to do.
 

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82much, do you have a vent under that pan? You gotta control how much air you're getting to those coals. Too much air = too much heat.
 
JiveTurkey said:
82much, do you have a vent under that pan? You gotta control how much air you're getting to those coals. Too much air = too much heat.
Click to expand...

Yup. I have a vent with a pivoting cover. I can increase the out put of the coals by opening up the holes. The problem is all of the incidental air that gets in around the outside of the pan as a result of the open construction. I can't cut off airflow enough. I end up making a small fire and just tossing in a few coals every 30 mins or so to keep it going. I would like to set it and let it run for a few ours but that just doesn't work out so well.
 
82 I am doing four picnics in the morning and I will post results. I will lift my coals a bit but keep in mind that my ECB differs from yours. The gourmet has a sealed bottom with a vented coal pan that sits about 3/4" away from sides and bottom of cooker. I am guessing you have the open style bottom? Not quite sure how they are built, I'll google it and see if I can come up with an idea for sealing. Better yet, throw up some pics of yours.
 
death

I have a brinkman cookncajun ( similiar charcoal pan arrangement, as yours, separate charcoal bowel/chamber that sets in the base of the smoker) which I no longer use since I got a WSM on CL.

I drilled holes in the bottom such as you and put a damper (pie tin) which I could open and completey close over all the holes on the bottom.

Added vent holes to the top lid with a damper as well, raised the charcoal, with a charcoal grate from a weber. Sealed the lid with stove rope gasket etc.

I could easiley cook several hours (250 ish), mininon with mine, with water in the pan.

I will say this I "always" had to keep the bottom holes almost completly covered to keep the temps down.

I would make sure you sliding vent in the "Side" of the base can be sealed up pretty darn well, to keep the temps down and control the burn of your charcoal, IMO.

Good luck and happy smoking !!!

Sunline1
 
Thanks for posting, will show this to dear husband so he can figure out how to fix the Brinkmann I bought!
 
deathamphetamine said:
82 I am doing four picnics in the morning and I will post results. I will lift my coals a bit but keep in mind that my ECB differs from yours. The gourmet has a sealed bottom with a vented coal pan that sits about 3/4" away from sides and bottom of cooker. I am guessing you have the open style bottom? Not quite sure how they are built, I'll google it and see if I can come up with an idea for sealing. Better yet, throw up some pics of yours.
Click to expand...

You are right on. Mine is identical in construction and mods (except the temp guage is still the crappy one) to the famous ecb mod page http://www.randyq.addr.com/ecb/ecbmods.html
Its very similar to yours, I just don't have the bottom pan with a sliding vent. Its wide open. You have a nicer coal pan too. My coal pan looked like a slightly larger water pan before I drilled a bunch of holes in it and added legs. Oh, and mine is really ugly (California sun, dust, and ash mod).



I was wondering why your's look so nice:grin:?!

Its ALL in that bottom pan to seal the air out.

I think my ecb has hit the limit of its modifications. I think it will be next to impossible to seal this sucker and that is the reason why I can't use the minion method. GOT to have ultimate air control (Reduction is most important) to control the minion burn rate (still learning here). Thats impossible with an open bottom cooker i guess. Maybe time to butter up the wife. oooh, Now i'm hungry.:mrgreen:
 

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Well thanks for the input fellas... No pork today, I will continue modding and hopefully cook tomorrow morning then. I wanted to use stove gasket, Is it available at hardware stores?
 
This should seal the lid...
 

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After the cement dries I am going to torch the rope to get rid of fibres. The seal sits outside the cook chamber so I think it should be ok
 
I am going to make some mods to my ECB. If I come upon any birght ideas I will let you know.
 
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