# My ECB + Q



## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

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Weber vents













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Oven gasket on lid













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__ hardwater
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Raised the grill up an inch, I ditched the charcoal pans, I'm running the snake method with lump coal now













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__ hardwater
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Supco Type K therm... Still waiting on the meat probe, but it works well for the smoker temp.

Holds temps well.  Didn't take long to keep it steady, still fluctuates from 220-235 pretty heavily.  top vent nearly wide open most of the time, bottom two about 1/8 open.  I think it's partially due to me going with the flat oven gasket and riveting it on, it doesn't fit to well and needs to be forced on so there's some leakage going on.  Another reason may be, the tower isn't actually round, the lid didn't even fit with out a gasket when I opened it up.  I had to do a little flexing on it to get it somewhat round.

I got it 3 weeks ago, cooked a spatch cocked brined bird on it un modded, doh.  It wasn't bad though.  Finally finished my mods and am running my first real smoke now.

Cooking for one tonight, woman is helping her mom through surgery.  Friends all seem to be busy.













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## bobank03 (Aug 9, 2013)

looks good. Welcome to the group! I'm using the more primitive Smoke N Grill Brinkmann and I'm working on a slick propane mod for mine right now. I have a thread going, check it out when you get a sec. 

What are those little devils wrapped in bacon? ABT's? How about some qview of the food after you smoked it? We all love lots of pics! 

Almost forgot- Most everyone keeps the top vent wide open while cooking and controls the temps with the bottom vents.


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## mike65 (Aug 9, 2013)

Welcome to the ECB group.  I like them pics. Keep'em coming.


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

Those are ABT's.  I haven't opened it since I started.  I will be opening in about 20 minutes and I'll snatch a couple pics quick.

Temps have been good, dipped down to 218 a little but that's okay over all I think.  

I would think the top should be full open normally, but my lid is leaking a little, so I attempted to compensate.  

Pics here shortly.

Oh yeah, a buddy showed up with on his dirt bike with some greens and beans, so I guess I'm making this for two now, no problem though, should have plenty.


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## bobank03 (Aug 9, 2013)

Id say there's enough for two. No need for pics till the food is done!!


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

Two hours in.  ABT's are done, ribs are at 145













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__ hardwater
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ABT's were straight up amazing.  I wish I would of left some seeds, not quite hot enough for me.  I did the little smokey version, I could do with out those too.  They seemed a little out of place.  Mixed a little of Jeffs rub in the cream cheese with sharp cheddar, that part was perfect.  A little tweeking and they'll be spot on for my personal preference.


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## bobank03 (Aug 9, 2013)

Good job. Are you doing 321 on ribs or no foil wrap?


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

No 3-2-1,  I am not looking for fall off, I personally prefer pull off.  Here in the next half hour I'm going to caramelize in sauce.


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## ron eb (Aug 9, 2013)

Looks great. Doing same mods this weekend. You getting good results?


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

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They were good, but not the smoke ring I was after.  Pull off was there, more wood next time.


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

It's a fine smoker with these mods.  Temp hold is right on snaking with my mods.  My only complaints are my cooking


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## ron eb (Aug 9, 2013)

Any tips for mods. I put on a real gauge and raised the charcoal pan. I'm adding three dampers on the bottom and one on the top. Did you have to flatten the bottom dampers a little bit? I also have a gasket for the lid with glue. Are you using the minion method. I have the same smoker as yours. I have had some good results but I'm hoping with these mods it will get a lot better. I have been smoking for about six months so far.


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

I have been rolling with the snake method for charcoal.  Im sure the minion in fine if you keep on top on the temps and vents.. As far  as lower dampeners,  I hammered them flat on the bottom and that seemed to work quite well.


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

And with your mods you'll have a fine smoker.


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## hardwater (Aug 9, 2013)

Plug that hole in the bottom!


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## bobank03 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hey guys, if you are gonna do some mods, start a thread for them and take a lot of pics of what you are doing. I think there is more than one way to do everything and I think I have almost as much fun doing the mods as I do the actual food... Let me rephrase that... I like how much better the food is thanks to the mods.


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

Round two today.  

I'm going to do some chicken and ribs.  Hopefully I do better this time on the ribs this time.  Maybe I'll break down and try to 3-2-1.

I'm sticking with Jeffs rub on the ribs.  Definitely going to mop this time.  I'm still reading up on mops, probably going to do some sort of cidar, vinegar and olive oil blend.

Temps were great.  I'll be sticking with the snake method and upping the wood.  I guess I'd better starting weighing it until figure out how much I want to use.

I'm still trying to come up with how I'm doing the chicken, but it's sitting in brine for now.


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## bobank03 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hardwater said:


> I have been rolling with the snake method for charcoal. Im sure the minion in fine if you keep on top on the temps and vents.. As far as lower dampeners, I hammered them flat on the bottom and that seemed to work quite well.


Hardwater, when you get a second can you explain the snake method?


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## bobank03 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hardwater;

How long did you cook the ribs yesterday and to what temp? They looked to me like they could have cooked just a tad more? Smoke ring looks ok, how were they eating wise? Keep making them, you'll get em the way you like 'em soon enough.


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

I think you are exactly right.  I think I should of kept cooking, they were edible by internal temp, real juicy, but not quite pull off the bone, real close, but did have a little meat sticking to the bone in certain areas.  I cooked them 215-230... mostly holding 228 for about 5 hours.  

The snake method is real simple... I line the outside of the charcoal pan 3/4's of the way around.  I fill to the top of the pan and taper down towards the center, there's probably a 8" hole in the center charcoal free.  I only fill 1/4 of my chimney and get it all white and set in on one end of the circle.   Here's a pic of what's going on in mine now.













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__ hardwater
__ Aug 10, 2013






This really may seem chaotic, but I put a lot of thought into the lay of the lump.  I don't like a lot of air gaps with bigger chunks, I don't mind a few bigger chunks if I can fill in around them, but if they are too big I smack them with a hammer to make them smaller. 













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__ hardwater
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This really holds temps well.  I do get some variance between 220-240, but it really hangs in 225-230 for the most part. 

Today, things seem to be coming along quite nicely 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   There's a rack below, hope the chicken drippings don't mess anything up.













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## flash (Aug 10, 2013)

3-2-1 if fine for "fall off the bone". Wrapping them will help. Usually you never go by temps for ribs, except maybe those Beef Dino bones.


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

Not really after fall off the bone, I'd prefer a bit of snap.  But I totally hear you on temps, I'm just learning.  

I think I'm going to stop probing the meat.  I see it's edible and I fear it's drying out beyond that.  

I'll just wait for the bend test to pass.


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

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ABT's are great


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

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## bobank03 (Aug 10, 2013)

yep, the bend test is the key. Those are some really good looking wings. How were they? ABT's looking good too!


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

I have never had better wings and drummies and my company totally agreed, they were awesome.  I brined them with 4 tbls of vinegar, 2 tbls of salt, 1 tbls of garlic and onion powder for five hours and them soaked them in franks and coated them in Alpine Spice.  I only basted them in franks once more and then served them.


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

Ribs much better tonight













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## bobank03 (Aug 10, 2013)

Were you able to keep the temps around 230 and how long were the ribs on for? The look really good tonight!


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

230 is easy with the snake method,  I had them on about 6 hours tonight.


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## hardwater (Aug 10, 2013)

accidental post


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## hardwater (Aug 14, 2013)

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__ hardwater
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Good dinner tonight!  Brined the chicken, raw sugar/sea salt 2:1, 5 hours.  Spatch Cocked. My favorite + my favorite rub.


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## hardwater (Aug 17, 2013)

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Nailed the ribs tonight!


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## ron eb (Aug 17, 2013)

Way to go. Those ribs look great. Good job on the mods. They really do make all the difference.


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## hardwater (Aug 18, 2013)

They do make it nice, I really cooked at 240 most of tonight and they were baby backs, I had em on 6 hours before I was happy.


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## bobank03 (Aug 18, 2013)

Good Smoke on those. Looks like all the way to the bone. I'm about due for some ribs next weekend I think. So what did you do differently?


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## hardwater (Aug 18, 2013)

I seen no reason my ribs were taking so long, so I raised up the temp to 240.


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## jrbab (Aug 20, 2013)

bobank03,

Here's a good pic of the snake method - this post covered it:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/144558/ecb-gasket-question/20#post_1034879

I found that pic on another site but you don't need words with that pic!

Good luck. I've found that snake method works great for me...although I am

a noob. Seems to be more constant than the regular minion method for me.

john


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## hardwater (Sep 11, 2013)

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__ hardwater
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Pork but success, I should of taken a pic of it pulled, but I didn't.  It just fell all over the place when I pulled it off, used a nice finishing sauce and it didn't last long!


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## bobank03 (Sep 11, 2013)

Looks great! How long to what IT and what temps on the ECB? What's that butt weigh? Looks really good, lol!


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## hardwater (Sep 11, 2013)

4.5lb picnic roast at 250 for 7 hours, pulled it off at 205 and wrapped in foil, then a towel and tossed in the cooler for 30 minutes, fell right apart.


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## bobank03 (Sep 11, 2013)

Pretty sweet. Nice cook!


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## hardwater (Sep 14, 2013)

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Did another one, 6lb.  Had the stall hit had at 170, bounced 160-170 for two hours.  Had to be ready for dinner, so I wrapped it in foil and cranked open the vents and let her rip.  Took about 5 hours at 250 before I wrapped it and cranked it up to 300 for the final 4 hours.  Used Soflaquer's finishing sauce.  Fed 8 and had rave reviews.  I thought the smoke ring was weak, but the flavor of the smoke was spot on to my tastes.  I used pecan, cherry and apple.


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## hardwater (Oct 25, 2013)

Scarbelly time
2:1 franks to creole butter


Light coat of mix 



Dusted with my own blend of creole seasoning


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## hardwater (Oct 25, 2013)

Not too bad, could of been better, not sure what was wrong.


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## bobank03 (Oct 26, 2013)

what was wrong with them? They look good. You reminded me to go out and buy some more chicken thighs to smoke.


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## hardwater (Oct 26, 2013)

Smoked @250 for two hours. Only laid a real light smoke on them.  They didn't have a great flavor.  I'm not sure if I did a poor/incorrect job of injecting or what.  I cooked them with in an hour of injecting, maybe I should of done it earlier?  I'm not sure where I went wrong but I need to tweak these.


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## bobank03 (Oct 27, 2013)

I have never injected. I like to flavor mine up with cajun spices, a couple dashes of chili powder, some garlic powder and salt and pepper... If i do skin on Chicken, I throw everything under the broiler or on the grill on high for a few minutes to crisp up the skin... The chicken thighs are better skinless IMO


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## hardwater (Nov 2, 2013)

That was my first injection. Maybe I just expected too much.  I don't know, I know a lot of hard cores are against it, maybe for good reason.

Spare rib night!


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## mike65 (Nov 3, 2013)

I have learned the hard way with chicken and the ECB.  In order to get good tasting chicken with the ECB using charcoal, you will need to get the temp high. 275-300 at least.  The ECB I'm starting to realize is great for doing Pork Butts,Ribs and Tenderloin. Until you mod your ECB like Bob did, those of us that are still using charcoal will continue to have temp issues. IMHO.


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## hardwater (Nov 7, 2013)

I guess I disagree.  I don't have temp control issues, very minor ones at the worst  I can let it alone for 2 hours with minimal change in temps.  I've held 300 for a two hours before too, charcoal eating sucker, so it would be labor some any longer than that, but it could be done. 

In the past I've no issues doing drummies, thighs and whole birds on my ECB @ 250.  I usually crank it wide open for the last half hour to crisp-en things up.   

The skin was okay on those wings, it was far from perfect, but it bit right off.  The meat was tender and juicy.  I just didn't think much of the injection everyone was raving about, the wings weren't terrible, they just weren't that great.


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## bobank03 (Nov 13, 2013)

I am still cooking with charcoal. I use the propane only when I need or can use higher temps than 300. Like if i was doing a butt for PP and I don't want to cook my weekend away, lol. 

I made some killer thighs a couple of weeks ago. When they get up to temp I just toss them in the oven on broil for about 5-7 minutes and the skin crisps up nice.


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