Quick ECB Mods - Pics

Pardon me if Im wrong, but after using one of those animals for ten years, that little hole in the bottom is the least of your worries! The ash buildup with NO WHERE to drop was always my problem. The leaky door, the rim on the top cover, designed to let air in may foil your attempt to cut back on the air flow. Let us know how it works. Even with its flaws you can turn out some mighty fine BBQ on the gourmet Brinkmann.

looks good bro! i like your stops too!

might want to grind/cover those corners on the handle sticking out ... just incase you come across it with your ankle or leg (like i would :wink... unless you plan on making it a bit shorter.

I tried it on my ECB. It works better than nothing but I still have a problem keeping the temps steady for a long period of time due to air leaks in other places.

I spent the summer learning to smoke on my tiny little Brinkmann combo grill/smoker, and finally decided that I needed something bigger. Soooo... after reading what I'm pretty sure was every available thread in the world on UDS's and ECB's, I stumbled upon a new in-the-box Smoke'n Grill on Craigslist for $20.

What I learned from my reading was:
1: The smoker needs to be airtight
2: You need to be able to control airflow precisely.
3: The coals need space under them so the fire doesn't smother
4: The smoker needs to be airtight
5: You need to be able to control airflow precisely
6: You need to be able to control airflow precisely

Thus begins the adventure!

I cut a 2" wide ring of sheet metal to put in the bottom of the ECB. OD was the same size as the ID of the smoker. This provides a shelf that prevents all the air from coming around the coal pan and effectively seals the bottom of the smoker. I sealed it with Furnace Cement and high temp mortar, then put a bead of the mortar around the inside edge to make an airtight seal with the coal pan. I coated the coal pan with Pam so that the mortar wouldn't stick to it and I could still remove it.

I cut a 2 inch hole in the coal pan, and made a pivoting aluminum damper to cover it so that I could control the airflow.

I had a turkey fryer basket sitting around that convenienlty sits in the coal pan with about 2 inches of clearance, that I cut down a bit so that I could have access to the coals through the side door if I need to add fuel.

I did the fire rope gasket mod around the lid, drilled vent holes in the lid and put a pivoting cover over the holes.

I carefully bent the door and latch until it was an almost perfect seal, sprayed the door with Pam, smeared a bit of furnace cement on the body of the smoker and latched the door. The seal is now great with only a wisp of smoke escaping through the hinge.

I'm doing a test burn now. I started it using the minon method with 16 briquettes in my chimney, dumped on top of one side of the 5 pounds of fuel in the basket, with the air intake wide open. As soon as the temp hit 300, I choked the air opening down to about 1/3 and the temp dropped to about 240 in a matter of minutes. It's been sitting there happily for about 2 hours now. I'll report back later with the final results. ( I plan on adding a real thermometer shortly, but right now I'm using my zillion dollar ExTech lab thermometr to keep track of the temp)

Thanks for all the help!

Photos of the mods are at http://picasaweb.google.com/reverendchip/Brinkman#

Here's what I did with the ECB I picked up this summer.. I've since drilled more holes in the charcoal pan and ditched the charcoal grate. Cheers!!!

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1422936#post1422936

5 hours (more or less) later... I've shaken the charcoal basket once to get rid of the ash, and opened the air vent a bit since the temp had dropped and held steady at 230 for about 10 minutes. Back to 240 now. This is just amazing to me, since with my little Brinkmann grill I had to tend the fire and try to regulate temps about every 15-30 minutes while smoking...

It's looking like I can get a 12 hour smoke out of about 7-10 pounds of charcoal. Does that sound reasonable?

Awesome first smoke with my ECB!

NICE!

To handle the draft at the lid, I used some fiberglass rope (stove gasket) and some high temp silicone to secure it to the lid. Works nicely.


To handle the ash issue, just use a charcoal grate for a WSJ and some bolts/nuts....




I did the floor mod like you and drilled holes in the lid and covered so I could control the outflow.




I can get a good, consistent smoke for HOURS.

Ahhhh, the ECB....'twas my first smoker.

update??

I get steady temps with my ECB also.

I added a 3 in elbow vent to mine on top the dome, sealed with Red RTV
Put the legs on the outside, I still need to add the legs to the
coal pan so that I can add more coal