Need a little help from the experts

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tgil

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jan 30, 2010
67
11
Burleson, Tx
I bought a "coke box" conversion. Long story short, bought through son of guy that used the thing and he knew absolutely nothing about it other than he liked the sausage that came out of it. So I'm looking for any tips that any of you can give to get my first smoke done in this thing.
This is how she looks.

With door open:

Control box on side:

Element on the inside:

With this pan next to the element:

This is obviously the temp probe from control box:

Followed by the smoke chamber:

It utilizes this hot plate:

With skillet and wood:

Piped through aluminum drier duct to the side of the box:

I've got the 220v wired and plugged her in. I've cranked the box all of the way up (250) and it's steadily climbing. At about 215 since I started this thread.
The wood plated is 110v, so I'm guessing I plug everything in, put a chunk of desired wood in skillet and set temp on box? What is that pan for? I'm guessing water, but does it sit next to inside burner as is? Any other tips? If anyone recognizes this unit and can put me in touch with the previous owner that would be great too!
 
The pan can be a water pan and/or a drip pan so you don't get any flair ups from dripping grease.  First thing I would do is get a reliable thermometer so you can keep an eye on the smoke chamber temps.  Once you get an idea of how accurate everything is you can adjust your heat source with some confidence.

As far as the wood pan,  larger chunks of wood will work but I believe most people will use chips or even dust.  If they start catching fire and burning fast cover the pan with aluminum foil and punch a few holes in it.  There is too much air getting to the wood.

I guess there is a larger element that runs on 220v in the smoker and the small "hot plate" element is 110v.  This small element is the smoke generator

Hope this helps.

Al
 
What should I look for as far as a reliable thermometer goes? The one in the door is like what I'm used to on any other smoker I've had.
Thanks, btw!
 
It looks like the separate smoke thing is for cold smoking, possibly and the element in the box may work to hot smoke, the S hooks may have been used to hang jerky with the rods across the top.

The tray above the hot plate in the box looks to be sloped toward the pan on the bottom, is there a hole in the tray for the drippings to run into the bottom pan?

It looks like you have something interesting to play with and learn about, hope you got a good deal.
 
There are many opinions about thermometers on this site. I use a cheap old oven thermometer from WallMart but many people will recommend a wireless Maverick or any number of different wired thermometers.  Maybe someone will make a suggestion or you can look at some of the equipment reviews on the forum.

The thermo in your door may be just fine so maybe an inexpensive thermometer will be enough just to check it.  You still need a good thermo for the food.  For that I just use those quick read dial thermometers but I have to open the door and let out the heat to check food temp.  If you can remove the door thermo remember what temp water boils at and what temp ice water freezes.
 
Alblancher, that sounds easy enough for check the thermo that is already in the door. I'll take a look at it and see if it comes out easily.
Thanks all, for the input.
 
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