If so were you able to find all the parts locally? Any tips?

9/8/2011 9:48:33 AM

Found 2 huge terra cotta pots and a round grill grate @ home depot, ordered a hot plate and grill thermometer off of amazon, bought some meat and wood chips.... profit. Total cost = ~$65


Worked okay for the first few times, I feel like the heat was a little TOO direct.

One of the pots ended up cracking and it was just annoying to work with so I bought a really nice electric one to replace it.

9/8/2011 10:58:37 AM

does not help me

9/8/2011 11:34:04 AM

How does that not help you? He told you what he did, where he bought everything, how it worked out, and the end result.

9/8/2011 11:42:49 AM

For further elaboration.... I used this as my guide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka2kpzTAL8


AND I had to take apart frame of the hot plate so it would fit better

9/8/2011 11:58:53 AM

I was looking into building Alton's ceramic smoker a while back, I feel like Ace Hardware had a fair amount of the parts. As a few of the folks here have said though, for the price of component parts you get can a decent electric smoker that's not as tedious to work with. The big turnoff for me was having to disassemble everything to add more wood.

9/8/2011 12:35:36 PM

I'm thinking of trying to integrate a shute to allow me to add wood mid cook.

9/8/2011 1:23:52 PM

It would be great if you can figure it out... ceramic + modification does not generally go well.


What I have & highly recommend if you really want to rock some pork butt:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XJGEGY

9/8/2011 1:36:00 PM

ho crap $300

Im thinking about cutting the rack then jb welding a peice of AL pipe from the top of the rack to the pie tin,

9/8/2011 1:59:05 PM

Could prove to be a pain if you need to take the rack off during the cooking process... But I say go for it!!! It was a proud moment when I got mine going and the first pork butt was the best ever... then things started falling apart and temp control was sketchy.

Then you will realize you should have just ponied up the cash in the first place You get addicted to this stuff

9/8/2011 2:20:37 PM

How much are the budget electric smokers? Any recommendations?

9/8/2011 2:23:18 PM

I did a lot of reading up.... basically anything less than $200 either doesn't get hot enough, isn't consistent in heating, or has the heating element go bad after a few uses.

A propane one might be the better option for less money.

9/8/2011 2:47:49 PM

Possilby have a micrcontroller control the application of wood as well as power based on temperature probes?

9/8/2011 2:54:45 PM

I cook competitions as a hobby. I've got a weber water smoker and a green egg.

If you aren't looking to spend much, you can smoke anything on a weber kettle, just add water pans and maybe a smokenator for around $150 or less.

My buddy has an electric smoker; it's too easy! Half the fun is fucking around with the coals and wood.

9/8/2011 3:59:21 PM

I built the alton brown one a couple of years ago. The part I had the most difficulty finding was the top bowl-like terra cotta planter. I ended up finding a perfect one at Logan's over at Seaboard Station.

Got a cheap 1000 W burner from a pharmacy, and for the wood pan I ended up taking the handle off a cast-iron skillet and used that because I figured it retains heat better.

The first time I tried using it I couldn't get the wood chunks to smolder so I ended up throwing a few pieces of charcoal in with the wood (cold) and that seemed to help. I still haven't had great results, and I think it has to do with the airflow inside the smoker. I think next time I use it I'm going to take out the grill thermometer I had stuck in the hole in the top terra cotta bowl... it's blocking the airflow and it's useless anyways.

^ I've also always had great results doing indirect smoking with my weber kettle grill. I put 2-3 bricks in the center of the coal rack to both keep the coals on the perimeter of the grill and to retain heat. Then I put in a water pan (or a beer can), and just keep adding coals/wood chips as needed. It takes babysitting but it turns out great if you're careful with it.

9/8/2011 5:06:07 PM

9/8/2011 10:41:05 PM

has anyone tried a trash can smoker?
http://cruftbox.com/cruft/docs/elecsmoker.html

9/9/2011 9:25:42 AM

Here you go:

http://www.randyq.addr.com/ecb/ecbmods.html

Made some of my best stuff on a modified Brinkman 35 dollar smoker

9/9/2011 10:43:47 AM