Thanksgiving turkey, a practice run.

[Cerpin Taxt]

Text

Brined it last night, applied rub this morning. Smoking it over hickory.

I'll take a pic of it again when I replenish the wood in a few hours.

1st refresh of wood & basting

Pic of the smoker

 

[AnyMal]

I've been thinking about building a flower pot smoker ever since I've seen one on Alton Brown's show. However, every review I can find of it on the webz points out to one obvious weakness, the hot plate. They just don't seem to do a good job of maintaining consistent temperatures over long periods of time and fail often before you're even done smoking. Is this a new set up for you?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I've been thinking about building a flower pot smoker ever since I've seen one on Alton Brown's show. However, every review I can find of it on the webz points out to one obvious weakness, the hot plate. They just don't seem to do a good job of maintaining consistent temperatures over long periods of time and fail often before you're even done smoking. Is this a new set up for you?

Not that new. I've had it for a few months. I've probably done a half dozen pork butts on this thing since I built it. This is my first turkey though. It did take me a little while to learn what to expect out of my hot plate, especially after I cut out it's thermal fuse, but I can maintain pretty consistent temperatures now.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: Cerpin Taxt

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I've been thinking about building a flower pot smoker ever since I've seen one on Alton Brown's show. However, every review I can find of it on the webz points out to one obvious weakness, the hot plate. They just don't seem to do a good job of maintaining consistent temperatures over long periods of time and fail often before you're even done smoking. Is this a new set up for you?

Not that new. I've had it for a few months. I've probably done a half dozen pork butts on this thing since I built it. This is my first turkey though. It did take me a little while to learn what to expect out of my hot plate, especially after I cut out it's thermal fuse, but I can maintain pretty consistent temperatures now.

Which plate are you using and how safe (or not) is to cut the thermal fuze out of that thing?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: Cerpin Taxt

Originally posted by: AnyMal
I've been thinking about building a flower pot smoker ever since I've seen one on Alton Brown's show. However, every review I can find of it on the webz points out to one obvious weakness, the hot plate. They just don't seem to do a good job of maintaining consistent temperatures over long periods of time and fail often before you're even done smoking. Is this a new set up for you?

Not that new. I've had it for a few months. I've probably done a half dozen pork butts on this thing since I built it. This is my first turkey though. It did take me a little while to learn what to expect out of my hot plate, especially after I cut out it's thermal fuse, but I can maintain pretty consistent temperatures now.

Which plate are you using and how safe (or not) is to cut the thermal fuze out of that thing?

As best as I can figure, the exact plate I'm using has been discontinued by Aroma. I can't find a product listing page for it anywhere on the internet. It most closely resembles this one. Mine had a square housing like that, at it is 1000W. I took all the guts out of the housing, though, so I could fit it better in the bottom of my pot. The burner element just sits on a couple of ordinary bricks that I placed at the bottom of the pot. The dial control I ran out the bottom hole of the pot.

Cutting the thermal fuse out was simple. Snip, snip. Probably wanna terminate the lines going to it, though, to keep them from touching after its gone.

 

[danzigrules]

... How did it turn out?

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: danzigrules
... How did it turn out?

Sadly, the OP was electrocuted in what turned out to be yet another fatal domestic food preparation incident. What a turkey!

 

[xSauronx]

ohhhh i bought what i intend to use as a top for a floewr pot smoker the other day. hopefully i can get the rest this week and make me some bbq

 

[Fritzo]

I smoke a turkey every year. One tip- CARVE IT OUTSIDE. The skin holds a lot smoke in it, and it'll stink up the whole house if you carve it indoors.

Also, cut the legs away from the body (you don't have to remove them completely, just seperate them from the body). Also, I like to fill the body cavity with a can with 1/2 water/ 1/2 dry white wine. This steams it from the inside and adds a nice flavor to the meat.

 

[h8red]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I smoke a turkey every year. One tip- CARVE IT OUTSIDE. The skin holds a lot smoke in it, and it'll stink up the whole house if you carve it indoors.

Also, cut the legs away from the body (you don't have to remove them completely, just seperate them from the body). Also, I like to fill the body cavity with a can with 1/2 water/ 1/2 dry white wine. This steams it from the inside and adds a nice flavor to the meat.

nice tips!

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: danzigrules
... How did it turn out?

Heh. The initial thread didn't seem to capture much interest so I didn't bother to take any more pics or update it.

The bird turned out delicious, however. I have TONS of meat now, all wrapped up in tinfoil packages. I'm looking forward to a week's worth of turkey sandwiches and turkey dinners.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Cerpin Taxt

Originally posted by: danzigrules
... How did it turn out?

Heh. The initial thread didn't seem to capture much interest so I didn't bother to take any more pics or update it.

The bird turned out delicious, however. I have TONS of meat now, all wrapped up in tinfoil packages. I'm looking forward to a week's worth of turkey sandwiches and turkey dinners.

w00t

my dad made a brisket a couple of weeks ago, and bitched a couple days later about it "i already had brisket, i want something else"

the second best part of cooking a huge hunk of meat is so you can enjoy sammiches off it for the next week

 

[sjwaste]

I wonder if it'd be effective to modify the flower pot so that the element of the hot plate went inside, but the rest of the hotplate sat below the flower pot. That would probably help keep the housing from overheating and throwing the thermal protection.

I might give it a shot this fall. An electric element sounds like a good way to maintain temps while using it in the (cooler) fall weather.

 

[danzigrules]

http://picasaweb.google.com/danzigrules/Smoker# That's how I did mine and it works great. The hotplate fits perfectly in the bottom the pot, I believe I used 18 inch flower pots.

The limit switch shuts the power off at 220 degrees and turns it back on 200-210. I never have to mess adjusting the temp.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
I wonder if it'd be effective to modify the flower pot so that the element of the hot plate went inside, but the rest of the hotplate sat below the flower pot. That would probably help keep the housing from overheating and throwing the thermal protection.

That's essentially what I did in order to get the control dial outside the pot. The failure on my part was that by the time I decided to completely remove the electronics from the housing, I had already cut out the thermal fuse. I suppose I could probably re-connect it, but that would probably make all the experience I currently have with the responsiveness of the hotplate useless.

I have a limit switch like danzigrules. I'm still considering wiring it in. I'm a little more wishy-washy now that I've become comfortable with the performance of my hotplate. I bought the limit switch while I was still learning how my hotplate would respond to different tweaks to the control dial. Also, whereas danzigrules has two idental pots clamshelled together, I have a bowl top -- which I like -- but it doesn't offer a lot of clearance for that long probe to descend into the cooking chamber. It would certainly hit the top of the meat, with the possible exception of ribs.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: danzigrules
http://picasaweb.google.com/danzigrules/Smoker# That's how I did mine and it works great. The hotplate fits perfectly in the bottom the pot, I believe I used 18 inch flower pots.

The limit switch shuts the power off at 220 degrees and turns it back on 200-210. I never have to mess adjusting the temp.

That's awesome. I really gotta try this.

 

[sjwaste]

Very interesting. Where does one obtain said limit switch? Seems like that's a good alternative, especially since you can control based on the air temp around the meat.

As far as not having a lot of clearance, you could always drill a hole and put it in the side, close to the cooking area, right?

 

[danzigrules]

Originally posted by: sjwaste
Very interesting. Where does one obtain said limit switch? Seems like that's a good alternative, especially since you can control based on the air temp around the meat.

As far as not having a lot of clearance, you could always drill a hole and put it in the side, close to the cooking area, right?

My limit switch I got from my father, he had it from his old fuel oil furnace. i believe that I gave a link to Cerpin Taxt in one of threads, or maybe via PM, I will look after this.

The reason I used to "pots", was because finding a "bowl" around here was damn near impossible.

They make shorter limit switches than the one I have but I believe they rather expensive, not saying that $50-70 bucks is cheap for the type I have, but I can also start the smoking and damn near forget about it.



Edit: Limit Switch

Edit 2: If you know any heating and A/C people, you may be able to get one from them from a unit they have removed from a older home.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: danzigrules
http://picasaweb.google.com/danzigrules/Smoker# That's how I did mine and it works great. The hotplate fits perfectly in the bottom the pot, I believe I used 18 inch flower pots.

The limit switch shuts the power off at 220 degrees and turns it back on 200-210. I never have to mess adjusting the temp.

That's awesome. I really gotta try this.

i bought the first big bowl for mine this week, but now i cant find a large pot for the base so i gotta go outta town again (not too far) to get another piece and a hotplate, and im good to go

/cant wait, want some bbq

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Heck, if anybody wants to buy my limit switch from me, I'll make you a deal. PM me.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Pic of smoker, with bowl top.

 

[danzigrules]

now all we need is how long you smoked it, and at what temp

I am ready to smoke a turkey, though I am not sure if it will be as good as deep fried turkey, but I am willing to give it a shot.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: danzigrules
now all we need is how long you smoked it, and at what temp

I am ready to smoke a turkey, though I am not sure if it will be as good as deep fried turkey, but I am willing to give it a shot.

I went by what I could find on the internet with some googling: 40 minutes per pound at around 230, and 165 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh when its finally done.

 

[Grunt03]

I've seen a few of these around, great idea to save money.......

 

[Eli]

Sweet! That's a good idea! We haven't used our Alton Brown smoker in a while, this would be a very good excuse to break it out again.

pic of our smoker