What am I doing wrong?

[hikerman]

Grillin, mine did not come with the pan you are talking about. The water pan very nearly sat on element. Which makes sense. The water must get HOT! It is a smoker/steamer, or as it's called a water smoker. Before adjusting bracket hangers, I'd see if the element gets hot on it's own. My old unit still lives. It's at a friend's cabin. I hope we are talking about the same unit.

Can you take a pic of the bottom piece with the element?

[GrillinBWCA]

I thought about it after I posted if I moved the pan up, it might not get hot enough.  Although since it won't get hot enough now, that wouldn't be that much of a change. 

Here's the conversion kit we have.  The little flat pan for the chips won't fit under the water bowl.  I see a lot of the reviews have complaints that the thing does not get hot enough to actually cook the food, so at least I'm not alone.

[hikerman]

So this is a conversion kit!  Still you need to plug in element and get a temp. read. If that seems OK then you have two options.  I would get some lava rock for under the element and put wood chips around but not on element, or it looks to me that that little pan will fit UNDER the element. Put your chips in that and let 'er rip. I'm sorry I don't remember the temp. that my unit ran at, but it was low. Opening lid set you back....

[muebe]

That heating element is rated at 1500W and should get the job done. 1500W is a strong element.

Using the calculation for resistance (120vX120v)/1500W=9.6 ohms

So when testing it with a ohm meter you should get 9.6

[GrillinBWCA]

I checked and the little pan does fit under the element.  I'll try to get a temp sometime.

I don't think lava rocks would fit under the element.   In fact I'm sure they wouldn't unless they're less than a half inch tall.

I made a point not to open the lid more than a couple times, and held it over the body of the smoker when I did so as not to let more heat escape than I had to.  I'm sure some did, but I did my best to resist checking on things.

I confess I don't know how to use an ohm meter.  Sorry for my ignorance.

[hikerman]

OK, well then plug it in and see what kind of temp you get after say 5-10 min.

[Saber 4]

Is there any way to use foil covered bricks to help with heat retention like some use in their Bradley's? Just a thought as I haven't any experience with this model but looking at the conversion kit and reading the suggestions to use lava rock got me thinking about the bricks. Seems like someone could weld a raised rack onto the element plate.

[GrillinBWCA]

Bricks are a good idea, but there's no space above the element for anything.

I've been thinking about the lava rocks, bricks, etc idea, but it seems like the water pan would serve the same purpose in that once the water was heated, it would help maintain the temp like bricks or lava, with the added benefit of helping keep the food moist.  It would be easier to jump-start the heating process by pouring a tea kettle of boiling water into the water pan, too, instead of heating rocks from cold to hot.

I put hot water into the water pan, but it wasn't boiling.  Maybe that's part of the problem.  I'm also wondering if the factory water bowl is too big and blocks the heat, although since the bottom is rounded, the heat should be directed up the sides so that's probably not a huge factor.  Or maybe I put too much water into the pan.

The more I think about what I don't know, the more things I think of that I don't know.

[hikerman]

Grillin, my two cents is if element seems to work on it's own, then I would put little wood chip pan under element, invest a few bucks in a bag of lava rock,(these will help retain heat) and put the rock around wood chip pan. My unit was electric, my element had no disc under it, it simply nestled on the rock.
Use hot water, and try it out on an inexpensive cut of meat. We used to load mine up with a small turkey, go whitewater canoeing for the day and come home to dinner. This is a LOW and SLOW cooker remember. Oh your pan cannot be too big if it fits into unit. The idea is it kinda steams with smoke rising giving the smoked flavor, and any fats fall into water pan. I'm guessing if you have the electric kit, then your unit was originally a charcoal burner. So you could always try that to. Is there a door to add charcoal on yours?

[GrillinBWCA]

Yes, there's a door, and yes, it started life as a charcoal smoker.  I might try using it like that.

I had burgers on the bottom and brats on the top shelf.  The burgers were cooking a lot better than the brats, so maybe it would make sense to move the top rack down about halfway to the bottom rack.  Most of the time, we'd be doing thin foods like burgers, and we could still move the rack up higher again or take it out completely if need be.

[aliengriller]

Try Jeff Phillips web site--smoking-meat.com.   He has some mods for those El Cheapo Brinkmann's.   I can call them that cause I've had two--charcoal and electric.    Read about his mods long after BOTH of them were relegated to a non-profit garage sale!   They are VERY hard to get to temp and keep that way, IMHO.   

[hikerman]

Yes, there's a door, and yes, it started life as a charcoal smoker.  I might try using it like that.

I had burgers on the bottom and brats on the top shelf.  The burgers were cooking a lot better than the brats, so maybe it would make sense to move the top rack down about halfway to the bottom rack.  Most of the time, we'd be doing thin foods like burgers, and we could still move the rack up higher again or take it out completely if need be.

Charcoal would solve your low-temp. issues. But there would be a learning curve on how much lit coal to use etc.

[GrillinBWCA]

I'm sure that varies a little depending on weather conditions, too.  But I'm sure a little variation would be okay.