Electric smoker
Sunday February 23, 2003
STANLEYR3 Writes:
"I have just received an electric Char-Broil smoker for Christmas. Everything that I read about operations is for a Charcoal smoker which says to place the wood chips on top of the coals. When putting wood chips into the electic smoker, I must presume that they are placed directly on the heating element since there is no pan or tray for the wood chips, only a water pan and 2 racks. I can find nothing that tells me this."
Comments
I had the same problem, no directions on use. I even tried to contact Char-Broil but got no response. I still haven’t been able to use the damn thing. What a waste of money.
You’re right. I had the same problem. I got a smokepistol at http://www.hawgeyesbbq.com or http://www.smokepistol.com and now the whole thing works great. If you don’t want to spring for a smokepistol then throw the chips right onto the electric element but they don’t last long and it is a pain in the but.
What I do with mine is to use a heavy duty pie tin to hold the wet wood chips. I cover it with tin foil and put a few punctures into the foil. I did have some old steel angle brackets laying around so I use those on the bottom plate to keep the pie tin raised slightly from the heating element. It works great.
Recently bought an electric smoker and I love it. If you put the chips ON the element they will catch on fire you dont want fire. I scatter them around below the element and let them smoke. the manufacturer says not to wet them ( probably because its electric) but i have found if i wet them, scatter them, then fire it up it smokes real well. The pan that the smoker came equipped with to hold the chips is too high up to get hot enough to make the chips smolder.
The pan the smoker came with is supposed to hold the water that keeps the humidity level high so the meat doesn’t dry out. Feel free to soak the chips for about 30 mins and place them around and directly on top of the element. Wet chips directly on the element will reduce the life expectancy, but will also create a little more smoke and flavor. I recently bought a newer version of the same smoker and it came with a small bag of lava rock about the size of pea gravel. The element sits on top of the lava rock and it works great
If there is enough space use wood chunks instead of chips. The chunks last longer adn placing chips (or chunks) directly on the heating element can cause a fire.