# Alton Brown's Smoker?



## dasmoker (May 20, 2009)

I know he probably didn't invent it, lol, but I am referring to the smoker he made out of the ceramic flower pots.

If not familar, he took I think a 16 or 18" ceramic (or clay, I forget which) flower pot, put a hotplate in the bottom (there was a hole in the bottom ro run the power cord out of, put a 16 or 18" grill grate in it, which was held in place by the narrowing of the flower pot, and used the flower pot's base, as a lid.  Put a thermostat in the hole in the lid.  (The base/lids at home depot in my area do not have holes. Can I drill through the ceramic (or clay or whatever they are made of), or will it crack it?

Has anyone made one?  Does a hotplate plus wood chunks really generate enough consistent heat to smoke with?  Does the ceramic, or clay really hold the heat in much better than the metals used in smokers?

Basically, would that really make a good smoker?


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## smokingd (May 20, 2009)

Basically yes it works not great in the long run but it is effective.  And tyes you can drill ceramic or clay as long as you have the right bit


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## richoso1 (May 20, 2009)

There's a member who was in the Navy at the time he joined SMF, and within a month from when I joined. I don't really know what happened to him, or where he might be. Brennan used the ceramic pots. Here's his link http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=55073


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## sea_munky (May 20, 2009)

That flowerpot smoker was what got me into smoking in the first place.  I saw that and thought "I could do that!"  Instead of the flowerpot base as a lid, I got another pot and inverted it.  

From my experience, hotplates vary - my first one did not get hot enough to keep the chips smoking (I used hickory chips).  OK.  this is an old hot plate.  The second one did better but there's some auto-off switch.  When the chamber heated up, the burner switched off and the smoking stopped.  When you remove the top pot to adjust your burner, ALL the heat escapes.  There were times I came back and there was no smoke but the system was too hot for my cooking (well in the 350 range).  Overall, I found the system hard to manage.  

So I said, screw this!  I'll use the same pots and grates and just put some lump in the bottom of the pot.  I propped the pot on some bricks for air flow.  Now THAT system worked great!  Kinda like a cross between a UDS and a BGE.  I did a pork butt, ribs, and chickens that way.  

It's always fun to try new things.


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## dasmoker (May 21, 2009)

How did you manage your temps with the lump, with no vents?


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## desertlites (May 21, 2009)

as far as hot plates I use a 1100 watt to do bacon in the ECB-works great.


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## sea_munky (May 21, 2009)

There's a drainage hold on the bottom of the pot.  I found this to be just the right amount of air.  But if I had to close the vent, duct tape my friend.  If it burned too hot, I partially covered it with duct tape.  I also opened the lid to release some of the heat to help it stabilize more quickly.  Overall, with all the thermal mass of the two pots (I used two thick earthen ones, not the unbaked terra cotta ones - I've had those crack from the heat) the whole system is really stable and holds temps for a long time.


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## the dude abides (May 21, 2009)

I've never made or used one, but I was doing some research a while back thinking I might, and I remember a lot of people complaining that the hot plates would crap out from being turned on for such a long period of time.  Most of them are built to only be on for an hour or so.  Guess to many of the internal parts would overheat.

Just my $0.02


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## weconway (May 26, 2009)

I've made one.  You can read about it here:

http://www.ntscblog.com/2005/07/litt...i-condo-q.html

I guess I got lucky on the hot plate, or it's a by-product of relocating the control mechanism outside of the smoker.  In any case, I got really good results for simple stuff, and it was great for when I was living in my condo.

In the end, it cost me about $70 to make, and for that kind of dough you can get a pretty good electric brinkman.


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## teacup13 (May 26, 2009)

very good idea... but IMHO why spend $70 to make one when you can pick one up that has been commercially made, tested and needs very little mods to work and has more capacity than a one rack flower pot smoker?

now dont get me wrong i am a frugel kind of guy and would rather make my own stuff.but  you can buy a ECB for $30 at walmart, a hot plate for $10....now you have a smoker that can be used with charcoal or electric...


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## weconway (May 26, 2009)

That was absolutely my point.  I build the flower pot simply for the challenge of it, and because it took up less room and looked nicer on my condo back porch.

Faced with a little more space and similar restrictions on allowable equipment (fire codes prohibited open flames in multi-family dwellings), I'd go the commercial route.

It was fun to play around with, though.


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## kheper (May 26, 2009)

My experiences with the terra cotta smoker have been unfortunately mixed. 

The dimensions of the body and lid of my smoker are as follows: 

Body:
15 1/2" height

Outer Diameter (top) = 18 1/4" 

Inner Diameter (top) =  17" 

(There is a ledge around the inside running at about 16" in diameter.)

Lid:
12 1/4" height

O.D. (top) = 17"

I use a grate from an ecb to ride near the 16" ledge. The hotplates I have used were 750W and 1000W.  They vary considerably in heat generation. Some 1000W plates do not produce enough heat, even though they are rated at the same wattage!

A whole chicken takes about 7 hours. Ribs take about 7 hours. Pork butt and shoulder do not pull, even after 14 hours in the smoker!

Boneless chicken thighs wrapped in bacon have produced the best results. 

I need a consistent, higher wattage hot plate, but I can find none.


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## reents (Sep 25, 2011)

question Could you use a iron as a hot plate or is the hot plate the only way to go


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