My ECB Gourmet mods w/pics and a question

[natureman]

ok so here are the mods i made to my ECB Gourmet. I only made the charcoal pan mod and added a thermo from HD Char-Broil brand i think. only need a 3/8 hole. I have yet to see if i need to add a bottom vent and add a lide seal and top vent. i am basing my ideas on assuming that my ECB is a knock-off of a WSM, it seems it is alike in many areas except air control. well practice makes perfect! now here is a question for the ECB guru's:
is there a temp difference between the lower grate and the upper grate? it seems like the bottom grate would be hotter that the top, so ABT's would go on top and say ribs, etc on the bottom grate? and i like the third grate that walking dude added-nice!

here she is fresh out of the box
http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad145/tomvitti/bbq/?action=view&current=IMG_0318.jpg

charcoal grate mod: a weber charcoal grate and 4-1/2" 2" long carriage bolts with nuts and washers and "legs" different approach same result...




and temp gauge installed
http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad145/tomvitti/bbq/IMG_0319.jpg

ready to cook something!
http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad145/tomvitti/bbq/IMG_0320.jpg

 

[bigsteve]

I like your charcoal grate mod better than what I did, drilling holes in the coal pan. I live in Florida. Over the winter and spring I learned how much coal to light to get a nice even burn. But since the summer heat hit, it burns way too hot, and I had to damper the intake.

Keep an eye on that HD thermo. I put one on my Gourmet, it reads 5* high, but otherwise works great. So I bought a second one and put it on my Weber Kettle. Same thermo, but the second one works awful, and was causing me to correct for things that were not really happening. It would drift high, and stay there, and get stuck on certain temps. I discovered this after I bought a digital thermo and checked it against the thermo.

 

[bigsteve]

Oh, I called Brinkman and ordered 2 more handles. I installed them on the bottom pan that hold the charcoal pan. They were really cheap, and it makes shaking the hot pan of coals much easier when you're trying to knock the ash into the outter pan. I was grilling with it for awhile too, makes it much easier to handle. Now when it's cold, I can put bungee cords between the top and bottom handles and just carry the whole unit around by the upper handles.

 

[earache_my_eye]

I've noticed there is a temp difference between the upper and lower grates, but, only until the temp gets settled in and stable. The bottom one on mine tends to be warmer at first.

I put lava rock in my water pan and just cover it with foil for easy clean up.

Like Big Steve said, you may want a damper on the bottom or it might run hot on you. Only reason you should need a lid seal and top vent is if you can't get it to run at stable temps.

L8r,
Eric

 

[natureman]

thanks for the replies, i am going to experiment a little and see how things go, i like the idea of the handles bigsteve...

 

[bigsteve]

You can just barely see the handles in this pic. It was brand new, and I wanted the handles to match, that's why I bought them from Brinkman. But any old handle should work.

 

[bigsteve]

LOL, actually, the ECBs have been around much longer than the WSM. I assume Weber looked at the basic idea, and made it much better.

 

[rld]

Nice pic Steve...I can see you designed your house around your ECB with a perfect corner for a wind block.