Tired of my ecb want NEW

[fordman]

Well I am trying to do my first butt but not going so well. I have had it with my ecb. Got the wifesa ok to buy a new one I don't do a lot of smokin but would kind of like to do more than I have been. Maybe with a different smoker I might get more enjoyment out of it. So in your opion id propane or elec. better. Thanks in advance. If this has to be moved to a different area sorry.

 

[williamzanzinger]

Man, ive just recently fell in love AGAIN with my ECB. My first was an ECB but hen I bought a 4 shelf digital bradley, and believe me it rocks, did a lot of low maintenance smoking with it. Then I bought a couple of silver smokers for work and it was my first experience with offsets, they also rock, better for larger smokes as Id planned to use them(and still do) but..
walmart recently had some ECBs on sale for like 30 bucks, so I bought another. The only mods I made were to put some air holes in the charcoal pan although there are a couple more you can make. The two shelves give me enough room to do a main meat and a few side dishes. Knowing how to control the burn of my charcoal to meat my needs(which I learned here of course) is pivitol to the great results im getting off of her.
On the flip side , buy another smoker yes, but do it cause its great to branch out but not out of frustration. Trust me those little bastards can rock.
My next smokers gonna have to be a GOSM style propane cabinet smoker, havent had one of those yet. Ifn I dont break down and impulse buy me a lang or another trailer type smoker. Dammit I ll have to have em all before I die.

 

[daboys]

Saw that the other day. Might just pick one up for camping and other things.

 

[walking dude]

this is what i have been telling him...........if its a ecb gourmet..........do the mods i did to mine........and get a GOOD smoker temp gauge..........no matter WHAT you get, don't trust the gauge that comes with the smoker......

 

[flash]

I've got a Charcoal ECB thats 30+ years old now. Still does a wonderful job. What exactly was your problem with it?

 

[alra195]

"Better" is such a relative thing. Both work and both make great Q. I faced the same decision earlier this year but I just didn't have much interest in going the electric route and was pretty much on the road to propane as the next step without any really tangible reason other than I like to see a little "fire" in the process. That might just be the pyro in me coming out. Since switching from by ECB to a GOSM I've been pretty happy with the end result. Pretty darn good smoked meat products with a lot less time spent tending to and managing a charcoal fire.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my ECB and it's the engine that got me started in this passion that's become smoked meat. I really have enjoyed using by GOSM Big Block this summer. For me it was a great choice.

Some of the things you might consider in the process could be; do you have a dedicated area you do your smoking? If so, is an electrical outlet handy or will the portability of a gas bottle work better for that location. Is the q-spot sufficiantly protected from the weather to make using electric an option or will you be faced with potential electric shock from standing in puddles? Will the heat generated from a propane unit (while minimal) cause damage to anything you can't live without?

Check you're proposed q-spot and see if thinking about any of these things help in the decision. I'm sure others on the site will have ideas, thoughts and opinions to share as well.

Aint' choices grand!

 

[walking dude]

first Flash........he's still relying on the orig. warm, ideal, hot gauge......and thats not good..........

 

[walking dude]

what alra sez is true.........but i LIKE tending charcoal/wood smokers........thats part of the fun for me.........specially a stick burner.....we sit around it, drinking beers, shooting the sh*t, and such.........i am not much of a set it and forget it type of dude........i am not QUITE the cave man, but i think you have to/need to, work abit for your meat...........just m2cw

 

[fordman]

Well my trouble is not enough heat I don't know if I don't build my fire right or what. Started a 7:30 this morning. Like walking dude said I still have the crap stock temp gauge. Thought I could get by for now. The meat gauge is one that wally world had on clearence in the grill isle. It don't start to show a reading untill 120. Meat was up to 120 once around 1:00 pm or so I went to town to get more lighter fluid to use to start my coals in a little weber before I put them in the smoker. Then like a dump a** added more water to the pan dropped temps in smoker and the meat. Got temps higher no not reading meat temp again so must be below 120. I just got done taking it off the smoker temp was again 120 foiled it and stuck it in a 250 oven to see if I can salvage something out of it at all. This is why gas or elec came in to an idea set it and walk away.

 

[walking dude]

is this a reg. ecb, or the gourmet ford?

 

[fordman]

the gourmet with the slider setup over the bottom hole and larger holes in the pan along with some new ones.

 

[walking dude]

so you did my mods.........i am NOT understanding why you can't get temps up........tho they MITE be, you just don't know it, without a good temp probe.........with the mods i did, i fight temps TOO high....................

 

[fordman]

yea I know I need a new gauge but 5 hours to get to 120 I know I am to low. So I think.

 

[fordman]

Maybe I should see if daboys would let me sit in on one of his smokes so I can see first had what your suppose to do and be doing.

 

[walking dude]

there you go...........too bad you missed the gathering.........heck, if you are close to me, check out one of my smokes

 

[flash]

My ECB had a temp gauge that was 65º too LOW. I thought for the longest time that smoking in the 180º was the best temp to use. Instead it was smoking at 250 +/- which is a good temp.
Get one of those cheap oven gauges from Wal-mart and put it on the grate for a double check.

 

[flash]

Yep, thats the one I have. I would never get it up to Ideal, that was too hot....off course I was off by 65º

 

[guvna]

you might want to consider a propane conversion kit. they literally drop right in, they're cheap, and the ecb is already an extremely efficient design.

 

[gorillagrilla]

Lighter fluid ???

 

[walking dude]

fordman.............you need one of these.........lighter fluid makes the meat taste like crap dude.....


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_starter