First of all thanks to those who replied to my post(a couple of weeks back)
regarding getting the temperature up on my ECB style H2O smoker and
optimizing lump usage, a lot of great suggestions(MLM's ECBx2 is quite the
beast). Prior to putting some of those suggestions into practice, I tried
another experiment. I purchased a low profile Coleman propane camp
burner(7500 BTU), placed it in elevated position under the smoker and topped
off with a pie plate, to which I added 1 cup of Mesquite chips at the start
and another cup halfway through cooking. It seemed to smoke quite well,
albeit for a abbreviated period of time, compared to lump charcoal,
maintaining 210-260 F. The finished side ribs and beef roast seemed to
lack the full smokey flavour achieved using lump, I would say very similar
to using the gas grill offset with wood chips and foiling part way through
to prevent drying out. Questions: Is this typical? Why? Is there a way to
extend the length of smoking time from the added chips, to increase the
flavour intensity without adding more chips?
Thanks Ron .