The Alton Brown Flower Pot Smoker
Friends built the Alton Brown flower pot smoker a few months back and then visited this weekend and convinced me to build one for the Fourth.
Getting the parts
While the actual construction of the smoker is trivial, I found that gathering all of the needed items was challenging. Many of the items were hard to source. If you live in Seattle, the guide below should help tremendously. Generally speaking, I would recommend that you try ordering everything but the Pot, Bowl and bricks online.
Pot size selection
The two hardest to source parts drive pot size selection. The terra cotta bowl is hard to find. The 17” bowl is the largest I was able to find anywhere. It is also really heavy so it is impractical to order online.
However, if you can find an 18” bowl, I would be pretty tempted to get an 18” pot. You can definitely fit the Weber 22.5” replacement charcoal grate in the pot (it is actually about 17”) or possibly even the 18.5” grill grate (it is slightly less than 18” in actual diameter). Not only would you get more cooking surface, but you’d also have a much easier to source grate.
Parts List
| Item | Price | Source | Comments |
| 17” Terra Cotta Pot | $19 | Home Depot | They had these at City Peoples, but I didn’t stop there until later. |
| 17” Terra Cotta Bowl | $22 | City Peoples Garden Store | Hard to find. Try garden / nursery stores. I think it is also called an azalea bowl. Some people use saucers that they drill into. |
| Heat Element | $10 | Walgreens | There are reports of insufficiently sized heat elements. This is a 1000W element that others have had success with. |
| 16” Grill grate | $20 | Sutter Hearth & Home in Ballard | The standard Weber sizes 14”, 18” and 22” are available everywhere. Unfortunately, they don’t fit. Order a 16” grate online well in advance. I ended up using a more expensive ‘grill topper’ |
| Grill Thermometer | $14 | Sutter Home & Hearth | Shockingly hard to find. Try ordering online. |
| Pan (for wood chips) | unk | our kitchen | Should be easy to find. Get as heavy a pan as possible. |
| Ceramic Pot feet | $6 | Stoneway Hardware | These are pretty easy to find elsewhere. |
| 3 Bricks | $1.50 | Home Depot | Could be 2×4s or anything else to get the smoker above the base. |
| 5 lb Pecan Wood Chunks | $15 | Sutter Hearth & Home | Plan ahead and consider ordering online. I later found Apple and Cherry chunks at Stoneway hardware for much less. We used about 2/3 of the wood. |
Getting the Heat Element controls out of the smoker
I wanted to get the controls for the heat element outside of the smoker so that I could adjust the heat without opening the smoker. This approach had the added advantage of getting the plastic base (and overheat sensor) out of the hot pot. This was shockingly easy to do. These instructions are for the Walgreens hot plate which seems to be pretty commonly used (I’m assuming that you’re smart enough not to plug in the hot plate):
- Remove the screw that connects the burner to the plastic base. There is just one screw and its in the middle of the burner at the top.
- Disconnect the wires from the heat element. They are meant to be easily disconnected and reconnected. All you need to do is press the tab and pull the wire and connector off of the pin.
- Place some foil (or preferably a non-conductor) over the exposed base to catch any drippings that may fall out of the pot (we had none escape). Keep the foil clear of the control element.
- Center the hot plate base amongst the bricks (see photo) and run the wires up the hole in the bottom. Reconnect them to the heat element. I don’t think it matters, but the fat wire was originally connected to the prong that runs to the center of the heat element.
I used both bricks and the pot holder feet so that I could raise the smoker up off the base plate and allow air to flow up through the hole in the pot. I then placed a brick in bottom of the smoker to support the heat element and keep the electrical prongs off the base of the pot. I had to chip the corners of the brick so that it could sit to the side of the hole for air flow.
Obviously, the wiring is much more exposed than it was in the sealed hot plate. It is actually very hard to touch the wires during operation, but be careful. Also, I’d highly recommend you ensure that you’re plugged into a GFCI protected outlet (all outdoor outlets in buildings built after the mid-eighties are required to be GFCI protected).
Temperature management and monitoring
The temp at the top of the grill does a good job telling the temp inside the smoker. We kept wireless temp probes in the meat throughout the process.
Metal smokers vs. the Flower Pot vs. the Big Green Egg
You can buy a metal smoker from Wal-mart or other sources for less than you’ll spend assembling the flower pot smoker. I’ve never cooked with a metallic smoker, but based on other comments I’ve read the inexpensive ones are thin and shed heat tremendously quickly.
When we were finished smoking the internal temp was about 210. Two hours later it was 140. Four hours later it was still warm to the touch. The Terra Cotta simply holds the heat really well. The ambient air was in the sixties with a strong wind on our roof deck.
However, the flower pot is no match for the Big Green Eggs. These ceramic smokers are massive. The equivalent size to the flower pot is probably the Large Egg, which has an 18” diameter cooking area, weighs 140 lbs and retails for $700. Plus I can’t imagine I’d have had as much fun as I did figuring the flower pot smoker out.
Recipe
We cooked two 4.5lb Boston Butts on the 4th using Alton Brown’s recipe for the brine and rub. It turned out fantastically well.
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- The Base
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- Reconnected wires inside the pot
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- Flower Pot Smoker Controls
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- Pork on the Flower Pot smoker
Enjoy!
Update
Hamilton posted a series of really good questions alongside one of the photos, and I wanted to include the questions and my responses here as I think they’ll help other people:
I was wondering if you think it would be feasible to run a second Walgreen’s burner through that bottom hole and into the pot. This may give me the potential for more heat and heat control in the winter months when the weather is a little cooler here in South Carolina. Maybe stagger them in the pot (one above the other.) Or even side by side standing up.
I don’t think you’ll need to do this. We had trouble keeping the heat down in the target 220 range and never had the dial anywhere near the halfway point. By the end of the session, I don’t think the dial would go any lower.
Also, these are 1000W burners (9 Amps). Many household circuits are 15 Amps (some are 20), so you’d run the risk of blowing a fuse if you plugged them into the same circuit.
However, if you did do it, I don’t think you’d want to stagger them as the heat from the lower one may melt the solder on the higher one. Side by side would work, but you’d need something else to set the grate on.
Also, when you disconnect the burner from the base, do you have enough length in the wire to connect the burner back to the burner once you’ve run it through the hole with the original connections or do I need to buy some extension wires?
It is tight, but there is enough wire. If you do need to get wire, make sure it is thermally insulated.
What was the highest temp you were able to see in your cooker?
We accidentally let it rise to around 240 (220 is the target). At some point I’ll do a controlled test, but it could definitely go much higher.
Do you soak your wood chips as well as leave water in the bottom of the pan? When do you like to put the chips in the cooker - When the cooker comes up to temp?
We used chunks instead of chips as they are less likely to actually catch fire. I’ve read that you don’t need to soak them, but a friend advised to soak half. This way, the dry ones start smoking early and the wet ones start smoking later. So, you don’t need to lift the top until later in the cooking process (lifting the top lets out the smoke and cools everything slightly).
Do you end up adding more chips to the pan throughout the cooking process? If so, what is your advice for removing the grill surface and the meat?
We added wood once (and only opened the top twice). The second time we lifted the top was to rotate the butts. The meat can be easily removed using foil and oven mitts. We had a plate with foil on the side to set them on.
If you look carefully at the picture of the butts you’ll see two screws sticking up through the cooking surface. We gripped the screws with oven mitts and lifted it directly out (it did take a bit of effort as it was kind of jammed down there).
To remove the upper pot/lid, have you come up with a good “handle” or do you have an alternative method? As your graph shows, I guess it’s a little hot and awkward to fooling around with when it’s that hot.
It shockingly isn’t too hot to touch. The lid measurements are from the interior. The exterior of the terra cotta is definitely cooler. Some people claim that they can use their bare hands, I just used oven mitts, but used my hands to make minor adjustments.
Would it be beneficial to drill more holes in the bottom of the pot to let in more fresh air or do you think that would let too much heat out?
I don’t think you want to do this. You don’t want the wood to burn (heavy air flow), you want it to combust enough to smoke. We had absolutely no problems with air flow.
sigh. brings a tear to my eye ;)
Thank so much for your timely responce!
I was able to find most of my materials today at Lowe’s (terra cotta pots 2 @ $24.97), True Value Hardware (grill surfaces, cast iron smoker box for the wood chips, and the meat thermometer = total $42), and Walgreen’s (single eye burner $9.99.)
Tomorrow I start!
I couldn’t find a terra cotta bowl, so I’m gonna start with a second pot of equal/exact size to use as my lid.
I also bought some 4-5 inch tall terra cotta pots to flip upside down and use as the legs for my cooker. This should give ample space for the burner base.
The grill surfaces I bought were the ones that actually go in the bottom of a standard, circular shaped (kettle-style) Weber grill. The ones I bought are designed to hold the charcol not the meat. Therefore they are built of steel as opposed to aluminim of whatever cheap material they always use.
As soon as I can find the time to start on all of this, I will.
Awesome. I can’t wait to hear how it turns out.
I tried using the charcoal grate, but it didn’t fit in my smoker. I spoke with a guy at the BBQ store and he told me that both the charcoal grate and cooking grate are made of steel, but the cooking grate has been chromed. The chrome will eventually fleck off over time (and end up in your food), so the charcoal grate would be just fine.
Cooked a 6 pound Boston Butt for 1.5 hours per pound = 9 hours plus allowed another hour to make up for the time and temperature i lost while adding new chips. turned out great!
Some things i altered:
I bought some weber roasting/drip pans from my local hardware store. 8.5 x 11 inch pans. I used one on my bottom charcol grate by as a drip pan to keep anything from dripping on my burner. I filled this pan with half of an inch of water.
I cut out a section of another roasting pan exactly the size of my burner and placed it directly on the burner. I then put my cast iron smoker box directly on the cut out roasting pan. I found that if I didn’t do this, the cast iron smoker box put out a foul smelling odor as whatever it was coated with during production was burning off when it was directly on the burner without the cut out foil to seperate them.
I bought 4 stainless U bolts to use as handles when removing the grill grates during the process of adding chips.
Something i would like to change………..
Adding chips during the cooking process is a pain in my ass. In the time needed to disassemble the cooker to get to the bottom, my temp drops to 170 or so by the time I get it put back together. Need to find a way to pull out my smoker box through the side of the pot. Any suggestions? Can I cut the pot? i iwould need to find a way to do that so I could slide my smoke box out, do the exchange, and slide it back in quickly. I would want it to seal back up tight so as to not lose too much heat.
That sounds awesome.
Nice thinking on putting something between the cast iron smoking box and the burner. What did you use to cut the pan?
I’ve also read a few posts that suggested using a water pan as it helps to serves as a heat reservoir, reducing temperature fluctuations. I was surprised by how little fat dripped off the two butts that I cooked.
What temp did you cook at?
How often did you have to replace the chips? Is it possible that they caught on fire and burned up quicker? I only had to replace the chunks I used once and still had plenty of wood left to burn when I stopped smoking.
I’ve been reluctant to cut into the pot. About 80% of the pots at Home Depot of this size had cracks in them so I presume that they are more fragile than they seem.
[...] some more pulled pork. I was inspired a couple blogs when I was figuring this out, but especially Dave Naffziger’s instructions for getting the heating element controls out of the [...]
Nice site. I thought about using clay pots for a smoker since the green egg is soooo expensive. Then I figured that I wasn’t the only one and did a youtube search. Sure enough, we have a cult.
I’m off to our second annual J&K Rib cookoff classic tomorrow. It’s just a few highschool soccer buddies finding a way to hang out. Last year, I took my New Braunfels smoker up in the back of my truck and smoked up some very tasty ribs. It was only my second run at them and they turned out great. Unfortunatly, the judges did not like to spice that we like down here in south (central) Texas. Most were from Dallas.
This year I have to either leave the cayanne behind or take a large box of tampons for the judges.
Anyway, I got started on this clay pot smoker about 2 weeks ago. I have had trouble finding a hot plate that would do the trick. I ended up with a fryer since it went to 1500 Watts and could hold the wook nicely. The non coil style hot plates at 1200 Watts would only get me up to 160F. The fryer only gets it to about 170-175. I am planning on converting to the Walgreens special. Walmart was out of hot plates at the time due to hurricane Ike. Funny thing is, I could walk to a Walgreens but never gave it a shot. I’m checking in tomorrow before I leave.
I’m going to have to wing it a little and use the new hot plate on competition day. I can’t wait to see my friends faces when I put my pot together to start the competition. They are going to crack up and give me hell. The conversation alone will be priceless.
I’ll let ya’ll know how it goes.
Justin
Justin, that sounds great.
Many of the hot plates have some fail-safe that triggers if the base gets too hot. That’s probably why you’re seeing your temp up to 160-175. Two solutions to the problem are to: 1. get your base out of the pots, or 2. figure out the heat sensing mechanism and disable it. The Walgreens plate is super easy to take apart plus you get the benefit of controls outside the pot.
Happy smoking!
While I haven’t gotten around to building my Tera Cotta Smoker yet, I was wondering if anyone has tried cutting the handle off an old cast iron skillet to use for holding the chunks of wood. I have read that thin pie pans don’t work, but would an old skillet be “overkill”. If anyone has tried one, let me know how it worked…
I think this is a great idea. The tin I used was definitely on the thin side and I’ve had a few flareups to deal with. I’d think that a cast iron skillet would work be excellent.
I just built one of these 2 weeks ago and couldn’t be happier. Found just about everything at Home Depot. I ended up going with a slightly oversized top to help reduce the smoke leakage. Alton gives specifics in his Essential Kitchen Tools book, but for me it came down to finding the right size pot, lid and grill. I think I’ve got a 16″ bottom base with a 18″ top pot, but it looks essentially the same as the ones pictured.
After experimenting, I found that it helps for consistent temperature if you pre-heat the flowerpot for about 20 minutes prior to popping in the wood chips. Once the pottery is warm the temperature stays consistent.
PS: Thanks for the tip on getting the controls outside of the smoker. That’s a great idea – I kept trying to adjust from the top with a stick – didn’t work.
Great idea on pre-heating the flowerpot! I’ll have to do that next time I use it. Once I’ve put the meat in I’m generally reluctant to open it and preheating definitely would allow me to make sure its at the right temp.
I’ve got a question about drippings. I smoked a beautiful boston butt (ala Alton’s recepie) and it was amazing. Problem was that there were a lot of drippings – well, that’s kind of a good thing, but 1) it kept dousing some of the wood chunks, acutally soaking some to the point of their going out. and 2) I believe that the smoke from the fat drips is supposed to be carsonegenic – pretty bad for you. The design of the flowerpot smoker makes it impossible to avoid the drippings, so I’m wondering if anyone has ever experimented with a drip pan or something to keep the drips off of the coals? I’ve been thinking of hanging a small catch tray from my Webber under the grill, but would like to hear if anyone else has any thoughts, ideas or solutions.
I haven’t had a similar problem.
Hanging the catch tray sounds like a pretty good idea, but you’ll need to be careful when removing the grate to add wood chunks. Alternatively, you could also place a smaller grate in the pot that sits above the wood chunks and rest your dripping pan on that.
Let us know how it works out!
I put foil under the the flat side of the ham and make a little bowl out of it by crimping up the side around the the bottom of the ham about 2 – 3 inches deep. It catches most of the drippings and protects the ham from drying out on the flat side that is facing the element. I put my wood chips right on the hot plate burner with no pan. I found that a pan setting on the hot plate will bring the temprature down too low, as it makes the hot plate cycle prematurely. Otherwise I let the jucies from what ever I am cooking just drip right down on the buner and the bottom of the pot and drain onto a pan underneath the pot. I have done this now for 4 years and never had a short. After I finish smoking and it all cools down, I unplug and pull the hot plate out and scrape the residue build up off the plate and under the coils with a screwdriver. I have smoked hundreds of hours before the hot plate had to be replaced because of rusting of the metal base under the coil fo the hot plate. I get my hotplates at Walgreens $9.95. Replacing once every year or two.
Just wanted to post my smoker trip report. I followed Alton's episode to the T minus the teracotta bowl (simply couldn't find a well-stocked garden center in January) and made pulled pork for the superbowl. I also decided to cook on a bone-piercing cold day: -3 with the windchill, 15 degree air temp. I did it in an empty garage w/ventillation. I could get the smoker empty up to 230 degrees. Once the pork went in, though, it never got above 200. It coasted at 185-190 most of the time and I had to finish in the oven because my cook time was going to push me to about 2 in the morning at that rate. The outside temperature was simply too cold and the plate could not keep up. Some exterior parts of the pot were barely warm to the touch, others out of the path of the heat was even cold. The garage was barely a shelter, just for the wind. Changed the wood once during the smoking.
If I had the time (and woken up at 4 am) I could have done the whole thing in the smoker, but I can't wait for a warmer day to give this a go. Knowing that it will perform in the dead of winter, I will be able to start working with this thing when it gets back to 35-40 degrees instead of -3.
Oh and the pork was amazing. It was gone before the first quarter was over, and it was a pretty small party.
Here's a potential upgrade: plug your hotplate into a temperature controller who's probe goes into the top hole of the bowl where the thermometer is now. You could probably fit both, but since the temperature controller will show the probe temp, you won't need the thermometer anymore. It's good to keep the meat probe, though.
Wow, I like that a lot!
I have been using the Alton Brown smoker for 2 seasons now. I use a old heavy pie pan for wood chips.
I would not cut or drill the flower pots. My first pot i drilled a hole for a thermometer and the pot cracked during smoking.
I now use the set it and forget it method. I will put my butt in at night and just let it go all night and the next day.
About 16 hours total. It seems you cant overcook the meat. My next experiment is a digital temperture controller attached to the burner. Thanks for the nice site Dave
Mike, thanks for the note. I would tend to agree about drilling into
the pot – these things are fragile enough as it is and I can only see
the holes weakening the pot.
Do you guys cook steaks or any other meals on this cooker or is it just pretty much slow cook BBQ? Just wondering if temp would be high enough?
The temp would not be high enough for steaks. It could get easily as
high as 300+ degrees, but I think typical surface temperatures of a
grill are much higher.
Do you think using another terra cotta plate as the holder of the wood chips wood get hot enough to bring the wood to a smoke point? Seems like it would smoke it a little slower and more evenly.
Great site -
That's a good thought. I honestly don't know, but would love to hear
how it goes if you try it.
I have the possibilit of getting the terra cotta pieces in 20". Do you think I would need to make any temp adjusments or other adjustments?
Probably not. I would think it would work just fine.
Thanks, you saved my bacon with the tip of breaking the walgreen's hot plate apart. So simple!
Has anyone had any luch finding the pot for the lid?
Home Depot and Lowes dont carry them and neither do any of the local plant shops.
I ordered a Terra Cotta Bowl online and just received a plastic pot, what a scam.
Any Help, would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
This was by far the hardest part for me to find. I wasn't able to
find it online, but I didn't look too hard. I have seen people use a
large terra cotta saucer quite successfully (that would normally go
under the pot).
i also had a problem finding that too
the saucers i find dont have the hole
I've done the store-bought frozen turkey breasts on the bone with astounding results! I put the frozen breasts in the standard brine overnight, which thaws and brines in one step, then smoke at ~ 200 degrees for ~ 7 hours (depending on size). This will be the best smoked turkey you have ever had!
brilliant. That sounds awesome – I think I'll give it a try.
Just built my Smoky Pot last week. I used a diamond blade in a 4" angle grinder to cut a circle through the base of the bottom pot.. It cut easily, and I haven't had any problems with cracking. I mounted the lower pot on a frame, and the electric burner is held such that the base is outside the pot but the element is inside. This allows me to lower the burner and wood pan out of the smoker to add wood. I also mounted a woven fireplace gasket strip to the lip of the top pot. This gives a pretty good seal, and it minimized the chances of chipping either pot when removing or replacing the top.
Awesome. You've got a great set of photos on your blog. How about a
few photos!?
I like the idea of the fireplace gasket strip.
Thanks for this page. I used my flower pot smoker for the first time last weekend. The pork shoulder came out great!
A couple of things. I had to rewire the heat element for the wires to be long enough for the element to sit on two bricks. I need to get some better heat-resistant wire, though. I used a combination of applewood chips and apricotwood chips…delicious! but I had to add chips every 1 – 1.5 hours. I will get wood chunks next time. I ended up smoking a 6 lb. Boston butt for 11 hours.
Also, I found an 18" pot at Lowes and an 18" "lid" pot at Swanson's in Seattle. With these, there is a Weber charcoal grill grate that fits perfectly on the lip of the pot, so it's always level.
Anyway…thanks again!
Not sure where you are, but I was able to find an 18" pot/bowl for a lid at Swanson's in Seattle. I had to hunt around, though. I thought I would never find it.
Has anybody tried replacing the electric burner with gas burner? I would think that you could control the temperature alot easier
ok so i found all the pieces
tried this today and it came out like shit
i thought at first it was the brine so i put some ribs on the grill without being brined and they tasted just as bad
i think it may be the wood
i used hickory chunks, can anyone tell me if that was the problem?
I've read that too much Hickory smoke can turn meat bitter. Not sure
if that is what happened here.
I've had great success with both apple and pecan chunks
Great descriptions. I built mine using a 20inch pot from Home Depot and a 20inch bowl from City People's in Seattle. The burner I found from walgreens was a square base so I got a Toastmaster 6420 from Ace Hardware and it's been working great for the past 5 sessions. The learning curve with getting the thermals correct is a little tricky but worth the effort.
Daniel: I wouldn't recommend brining ribs since the lean/fat ratio is pretty high in the first place. Second, smoke from hickory chips/chunks can be pretty bitter if overzealously applied. What did you do for the rub on the ribs? Also, how long did you smoke them for?
Thanks Jeff.
The hickory did make the food very bitter.
When i tried the plain un-brined rub free meet it was not only bitter but salty too. And no salt was added.
Which wood would you reccomend for next time, i refuse to five up?
It did take me a while to get the temp right. It took like 2 hours to get over 150 degrees
The pie pan i bought also partially disintegrated.
So i cooked the ribs for about 1.5 hours and they were dredful. tender yes but overcooked and tasted like charcoal
the pork shouldder cooked for about 6 hours, keep in mind i used haldf a shoulder, cause since i could not find a bouwl a bought a saucer and it seemed to fit with half a shoulder.
The shoulder after 7 hours was very darken, on the outside and it also tasted like charcoal but when i went to cut it it was tough and the hickory taste made it uneatable.
Ill post some pics a bit later to show u how it came out .
Wow great posts I'm from Michigan and having a lot of trouble finding (the bowl) the top.Can't find two pots that sit into each other either. Please give me some suggestions / tips. Thanks in advance
I've seen some people use a saucer and it worked out fine for them -
they just needed to get a smaller diameter grate so the smoked goods
sit lower in the pot.
Would this not be big enough to fit a turkey on? I mainly see people smoking pork shoulders and such but I haven't really seen anything about whole turkeys.
Yup, I've smoked a turkey – 15lbs I think. It could have been larger
if I recall correctly.
Too much fun! Never even heard of these until yesterday, and now I have one heating up in my yard. So here's my take:
I also could not find a bowl, so used a saucer. Spoke to the Home depot guy, who said I didn't need a masonry bit to drill terra cotta–just go slow and keep it wet. (I poured 1/2" water in the bottom of the saucer and drilled through it.) One center hole, two side holes, through which I placed screws to attach drawer pulls. They run a little loose in the holes, but since I pick up that slack when I pick up the lid, I'm not worried about it. Used some of the shaped wire handles rather than solid block–look nice, and may dissipate heat better. Also that slack space would leave room for a thermal break if I wanted to drill a small block of wood and put that between handle and lid. Another thought–threaded rod instead of a screw would have allowed me to put a set of handles on top and bottom–right side up when less room/more heat retention desirable; inverted when I want more hight over my meat. Also, big washers would be a smart thing to have under the screw heads to distribute the weight. I didn't say I *had* them, just that it would be smart . . .
No Walgreens around, bought a ceramic-topped, metal-sided GE cookplate (w/two-year warranty included) at Walmart. Trying it first w/the whole unit inside the flowerpot. If that doesn't work, I'll either dissemble it or cut the pot and lower it over the unit as described by Peter above.
So the base is in the pot, cord run out through bottom hole. On top of cookplate is a single-layer-cake round pan–a little stouter than the pie plate, and straight sides to impede air flow less, hold more chips. Layer above that is a thrift-store find–a round "stove-top grill", the two-piece kind consisting of a chrome ring w/a drip tray, and a round cooking surface that is slotted around the outside, and fits on top of the chrome ring. The slots go over the drip tray, so nothing goes on the burner or into the chip pan below. I had to arrange the chip pan off to the side a bit, to allow for free flow of air from below, or that drip ring would have impeded it. Not only does this catch drips, it serves as a water reservoir, and the cooking surface could in theory be used for searing, holding potatoes for baking, etc. Who knows?
Then above that is my steel charcoal grate, which I plan on using for a cooking surface, obviously. Above that is an adjustable rectangular grate section, which I expanded to fit on the inner lip about four inches down from the top of the pot. Could be used to hold things for warming, cook on, removed if not needed, etc.
Wah lah. (I hope.) The whole arrangement looks pretty spif, anyway. Just checked it, and the grills are hot, warm, and warm-ish respectively, from bottom up. No smoke yet. Also occurs to me that when the winter winds are howling, there would be no reason not to use this as a slow-cooker in my sunroom (sans chips). Taking that warranty out for a test-drive . . .
Work in progress, but I'm liking my set up so far.
Regarding replenishing chips, I've read that you don't need to have smoke throughout the whole cooking process, and that too much (esp. hickory) can make the meat bitter. So if the temp is good, there really shouldn't be much need to get in there and fiddle. Will probably try the u-bolts in the grate and the cooking surface on the stove-top grill just 'cuz, but a step at a time.
Wow. I love your setup.
The handles on the top are a great idea – I've definitely found the
hot lid to be awkward to handle.
I also think that the drip pan is a nice add. It should reduce the
flareups that we have from time to time.
Thanks for the informative tutorial. Put together the smoker yesterday and gave it a spin. Two small issues to throw out there:
I was not being able to find the top portion, the terra cotta bowl. I purchased a saucer since they were readily available and used 3/8" masonry bit to drill a hole for the thermometer. The saucer works fine but it leaks a lot of smoke. Does the bowl keep a much better seal? My project today is trying to come up with some type of seal. I'm sure some duct tape along the outside would work fine, but not very practical if you want to open it every hour or two.
The other difference was the hotplate. It's still $9.99 at Walgreen's but the base now is a rectangle, not a circle. It made fitting the base underneath the pot more of a challenge. I also had to remove a rubber piece from the base that stops the plug wire from moving. I needed to slide more cord up through the base to make the connection to the heating element.
Thanks again!
I have mine mostly assembled now sans finding a pan I want to use for the chips and getting the bowl top (still have a few more stores to check). The previous poster is right about Walgreens changing the hotplate to square. Mine fit without any extra work, but it's very tight. The interesting part is it almost seems sturdy enough to support the whole unit by itself, but I think that might create airflow problems.
I will also say I was extremely frustrated trying to find non hickory/mesquite wood chunks in Las Vegas, but I finally found a place way out in the boonies. The author isn't kidding about checking online well in advance!
What approximate temperature should the meat thermometer read when the pork is "done?" The full 210-220?
I've made a couple of changes to mine. First, I put a fireplace woven gasket around the rim of the cover, mostly to cushion it a bit when I put the lid on. Don't use the gasket adhesive, as it's too thin for this application. Use regular silicone adhesive. I also put an aluminum drip pan under the grill. This catches most of the liquid from a shoulder. I hang it from the grill using some thick copper wire. My second hot plate died. This is a weak point of the design. I took the coil out and mounted it on a terracotta plate by drilling two holes through the plate. I connected a 1000 watt rheostat to the hot line and pluged the cord into a gcfi outlet. This allows constant heat instead of the on/off heating cycle of the regular hotplate. This has been working really well, but please don't do this if you don't know what you're doing.
Just made mine. I purchased an 18" pot for the bottom and another for the top. i got the square burner from Walgreens and the 22.5 Weber replacement grill. The square burner fits in the bottom or nearly fits. It touches on the corners and is suspended about an inch of the bottom.
Put the pork in and off I went. I could not get enough heat in the pots. With the hot plate on high I could only squeeze out a consistent 160 degrees. Do I have to much volume to heat? The burner is 1000 watts. a bit mystified.
If the burner is anything like the one I have, there is a mechanical
temp sensor inside the burner that turns it off if it gets too high
(and back on when once the temp drops). One of the advantages for
separating the heating element from the controls is that it obviates
the need to disable the sensor.
The hotplates have a temp cut off switch. That's probably the issue.
Sears has a pretty good smoker for $19.
Yeah, the thin metal smokers can be found pretty inexpensively.
However, the primary advantage of the flower pot smoker is that the
ceramic pots holds the heat far, far better.
Just in time for football season and just big enough for my apartment's tiny deck! thanks a lot!
Since so many people report lifespan problems with the hot plate I wonder if cannibalizing the heating element from one of these cheap smokers might be a good option. I haven't really looked at how they function so this might not be possible, but just throwing it out there.
The new Walgreens design also solders the internal wires to the heating element, making it impossible to remove/reassemble the element without soldering tools (which I do not have).
if you can get your hands on pecan it is like GOLD!! Also Hackberry wood is really good to use. It is plentiful in the mid-west, in the Kansas area.
Per Alton's show… propane gas produces water vapor when it burns, so you'd end up with a moist smoke rather than a dry one.
2:30 am and I'm still trying to get mine going. With everyone's temp complaints I started mine on high and it preheated to just shy of 300!! After turning down I still got 2 wood fires and am still trying to figure out the sweet spot. This is a mess. :(
This sounds like a neat idea that I may try., I have one of the box smokers that I am reasonaby happy with, although I doubt it will last all that long.
Two ideas for this (one of which I have actually used…)
To reduce the need to add chips, I use several containers of chips and water, with different amounts of water in each container. If you get it right, as one container is used up, the next one boils away and dries enough to start smoking.
As for sourcing cooking grates–Would pizza screens work? (no connection with the link, just the first relevant result I could find on Google) Bigger restaurant supply places have them in 1 inch increments, and most have all the even sizes, up to 18 inches.
Stein Garden & Gifts has them in the Milwaukee, WI area. 16" bowl has the same top diameter as a 17" standard pot. A gardening store is your best bet (rather than a gardening section of a big box hardware store) – and the 50% off end of summer clearance sales don't hurt right now either!
I use a coffee can filled with applewood saw dust, and a long barrel wood burning iron. Punch a hole in the can, insert the wood burning awl, add sawdust and presto … instant smoke. A lot of smoke.
I roast my meat in a temperature controlled oven in damp conditions, low temp, long time, a turkey roaster with the top on. Then move to the Weber with my coffee can smoker to lay down the finished smoke, then sear the crust on.
Beautiful. But I am tempted to try Alton's method, though in 2009, big flower pots cost A LOT more than $50 out here.
The round Walgreens burners can still be found — I picked up the last one (behind the new square ones) in our store yesterday. Also bought an 18" pot at Lowes. For the top, I'm going to use a 21" bowl from a local (Baltimore) garden store — it will fit over the 18" pot and reduce smoke/heat loss. Unfortunately the bowl isn't available until Feb/Mar. Maybe I'll be able to find another at a different garden store.
Hi all. I just sourced the parts for Alton's terracotta smoker and did a first run temperature test. Here are some observations:
For those having trouble sourcing the tops, try pottery wholesale outfits. I had the same trouble finding an 18-inch bowl for the top. I stumbled into a wholesale supplier listing on the web that pointed me to the Washington Pottery Company in Kent, WA. Some of these wholesale places sell to the public, but don't advertise this fact.
As for temperatures, be careful with the thermometer. I had an older oven thermometer lying around and used it at first. I decided to use an instant-read probe thermometer to calibrate the oven thermometer. It turns out the oven thermometer was consistently reading about 50 °F lower than the digital probe thermometer. I had previously calibrated the digital unit with both ice water and boiling water (I am at sea level or very near so, so I did not correct for altitude). I got a new grill thermometer from Lowe's that rests directly on the grill. After some control knob tweaking on the hotplate, I eventually got pretty good agreement between the digital probe sticking in the hole of the lid and the grill thermometer. I used the oven thermometer to plug the hole on the top bowl and to secure the probe.
One last comment. I read previous posts from people using water in their smokers to catch drips. I think we are seeking dry heat in these units. If too much steam is generated (depending on water volume and oven temp), it may interfere with the smoking process. Either way, the meat will cook just fine. I think only the smoking efficiency will be affected by adding water to the process.
Interesting, I just picked up the new square based Kitchen Gourmet burner from Walgreens and did not find the wires soldered to the coil. There was just a slip-on connection. I also had to remove the rubber gasket from the base so the wires would reach.
I just did this smoker the past weekend with a terra cotta plate instead of a bowl, I was worried that the grate I bought would sit the meat too low and be too close to the heating element, but everything turned out fine. I had a 8lb pork shoulder cut in half and smoked both pieces in about 6 hrs. Internal temp was around 170, ideally I would have liked to have smoked the butt for 9 hrs and waited for the internal temp to get to 190 but people were getting ansy and it was already 9:30P…:). I prepared the rub and the brine just like Alton brown did and it turned out great. I also used applewood chips soaked in water since I couldn’t find any chunks.
My biggest problem was getting the temperature steady around 210, I tried using a wet towl to create a seal around the plate/pot, that helped a little bit.
Thanks for all the info on the site. I’ll probably try this again this upcoming weekend.
That's great to hear. The slip on connection is great and convenient
- it allows for super-easy assembly.
Peter,
I've burned up 2-3 hot plates and am getting ready to go the burner-only route. I already have the 1,000watt rheostat. How did you mount the burner to the plate (is there a spacer) and how do you allow for air flow. Would you be willing to post some photos to help others who are struggling to solve the hot plate issue?
My plan in the future is to smoke the Boston Butt with a couple of pans-worth of chunks, then move the butt to an oven indoors to finish the process to keep the fat and collagen from dripping into the smoker base.
Thanks,
Gary
I built this years ago. I had a lot of trouble with the burners…For some reason, I fried three of them. They would last for 1 or 2 smokes and stop working. I tried a couple different brands, all around $10 from walmart.
Okay, guys, I have all the peices for this EXCEPT the hot plate.
I live on the east coast, and I can't find this 1000W hot plate. Kmart and Target had plates, but either solid, construction or screwed together in a way that made the disassembly impossible.
Any help on the walgreens one? A brnad name that I could search for? The origianl link is no longer good.
Help? I really want to make this thing!
Never mind! I saw the second page of comments, found the product name, and found it!
Here is the valid link:
http://www.walgreens.com/store/store/product/prod...
never mind, never mind. Grrrrrrr….my wife offered to look at Walgreens for me, and they are the new model.
Back to square one. I am looking at the Continental Electric Single Burner at Wal*Mart. It LOOKS very similar, but it is only available on-line in my area.
15+ shipping makes it double the Walgreens burner, but at this point I just want to FINISH this project.
Link: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product...
Where did you find the rheostat? Do they cost much? Need one to control my Brinkmann 1500watt hot plate element.
I have all the "stuff" to do this type of smoking, but I found that either the wood was too large, and/or the hot plate maybe not be hot enough. I waitied a good 1 hour for the smoke to appear – alas, it did not happen. I reckon I did something wrong. The wood chunks were pecan – soaked some, & added dry as well. Anyone, hopefully, be willing to tell me what I may have done wrong – still think it is a great idea, & not all that expensive. I finally decided to use my Weber grill to smoke the brisket – it seems to be doing such; but I'd like to use the flower pots now that I have them. Help! Please" Hal Kildahl
Most likely your hot plate has an internal heat sensor that turns it
off if it gets too hot (which happens when it is entirely in the
pots). Most likely you'll need to open it up and disable the sensor
(it is usually mechanical) or separate the base from the burner so the
base is outside the pot.
I have all the pieces as well except the grill grate and thermometer. I bought an 18" pot as well as and 18" bowl for the top. Where can I get an appropriate grill? The grill i have is the standard 18.5" grill replacement, and does not work. Any suggestions for the thermometer? Help please?
Someone asked this earlier, but I didn't see any response. Has anyone tried to replace the electric burner with a gas burner, preferably using the small Coleman canisters? It would make this smoker great for car camping. There are portable smokers for around $235 that feed wood disks into the burner and divert the smoke to racks of meat under a foil cover. I would think the heat retention in the terra cotta pots would work much better, as long as you could heat it up and then control the temp with a low-enough burn. Anyone try this or otherwise rule it out?
Where can I find a good thermometer, and a grill grate for an 18 in pot?
It works! I used chunks of pecan wood to smoke a chicken breast for my initial test and then the whole bird after that. I think I over smoked it; the outside skin had a very bitter… almost acrid aftertaste (yet the inside meat was very tasty). After doing a little research at The Smoke Ring it seems like a lack of exhaust caused the bitter aftertaste. I know that drilling holes in the lid would allow for better exhaust, but do you think that would affect the smoker's ability to maintain a constant temperature?
This may seem like a dumb question, but…..why do this? Wouldn't it be cheaper, easier to just buy a weber grill or BBQ or gas grill, etc?
It doesn't appear to be a great $$ saver or time saver.
Is this supposed to cook or taste better?
D P,
Please watch the video from Alton brown here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ka2kpzTAL8
this should explain everything. If you still have questions, please post 'em here.
The Weber 7441 replacement charcoal great fits a 18' pot perfect. Just bought one at Lowes. I'm using a 12" turkey frier thermometer
Hi! I noticed some people asking, so… The purpose of this is NOT to grill, but to SMOKE. You only want enough heat to "Smolder" the wood chips. The smoke flavors and slowly cooks the meat. YES IT TASTES WAY BETTER!!!
I'm in Denver and I just made one of these today. Total cost, about $70.
$10 for the hotplate at Walgreens.
I got the 18.5" pot for $14.99 on sale at Lowes. I couldn't find the azalea bowl anywhere, nor a pot plate, so I went with a hose bowl that was on sale for $20.
Also got the 18" grill for $11 and temperature gauge for $9 at Home Depot.
Three bricks were $1.50, three ceramic feet were $1.99.
There is a hole in the bowl for the hose to come out and connect to a spigot. I'm not sure if that will be a problem or not. If so, I'll have to cover it with something. At some point I'll find the correct bowl top, and a 16" grill that sits lower in the pot.
I'm pretty sure the hotplate is different from the ones you guys have been using. There wasn't enough cable to keep the base outside and the element inside. Also, there are ceramic tabs that hang down under the element about one inch, without the base these would break. However, I was able to disconnect the temperature control and run this on the outside under the pot. It doesn't stick all the way out, but it's not too difficult to reach. At some point I'll extend the wiring and maybe make a control box for it.
I also picked up a bag of hickory chunks. The only other thing I could find this time of year was mesquite chips and I wanted the chunks. I can't wait to try it out.
I just made my ceramic smoker as well.
17 bucks each for 18 inch pots, 3 bucks for the thermometer, 10 bucks for the burner, 3 bucks for bricks and 10 dollars for the replacement stelel grill from weber (supposed to hold charcoal like an earlier poster used)
http://www.prismtex.com/food/bacon3,jpg
Part 1:
First of all let me thank Dave Naffziger for having the best reference (by far) on the web for the flower pot smoker. I referred to Dave’s information many times when setting up my smoker, and to the on-going discussion to which I am happy to now contribute.
I’ve just about got this flower pot smoker thing perfected, finally. Below are my notes to myself about how I did it. These are not instructions and I accept no responsibility for any injury or damages that may result from anyone else doing what I did.
To cure the problem of destroying hot plates, I mounted a hot plate burner to a terra cotta saucer using wires gutted from the Walgreen’s 1000Watt hotplate. The spacers I used to raise the burner off the saucer are 6/32 washers. This raises the contacts of the burner off the floor of the flower pot. I made three “cookies” ¼”, or so, thick using silicon caulk and placed them on the inside bottom of the base flower pot to set the saucer on to allow air flow. This setup provides a constant flow of cool air passing by the wires. I have had no hot plate problems since coming up with this arrangement.
Part 2: I cut the handle off a seven inch cast iron fry pan to put the wood chunks in instead of a metal pie plate. I used a masonry blade in my skill saw to cut the handle. I feel the cast iron skillet heats more evenly than the steel pie plate and provides a more complete use of wood chunks.
Using three inverted wood shims about an inch wide, I suspend a grill about six inches below where the meat grill will go. On this grill I place a disposable rectangular aluminum cake pan wrapped with aluminum foil to catch meat drippings. Not using a drip pan is a major flaw in the original flower pot smoker concept IMO. If meat drippings fall onto the hot pie plate they impart a burned flavor to the meat and can extinguish the wood chunks as well as making the inside of the base flower pot nasty.
Next I place the grill and the meat to be smoked on the tops of the inverted wood shims. The wood shim method is a bit tricky until you get used to it, but I didn’t want to drill the base flower pot to place bolts to support the grills as I though that might weaken the base flower pot.
Part 3:
The cherished terra cotta cover that is so hard to find is available from Patapsco Valley Sales (email: admin@patval.com) ask for Jack or George Marshall @ 410-525-2325. The catalog number is 027-20 for a 20” bowl which is what I used. My local garden shop ordered two for me. They are not cheap at $50 each, but they are a special order and shipping is expensive. The shape of the top is important for proper smoke circulation IMO.
I use a 2” terra cotta saucer as a damper over the hole in the cover pot. ALAWYS allow a good flow of smoke through the smoker when using a gasket or the smoke will flash over and blow the cover off the smoker.
In AB’s book “I’m Just Here For the Food V2.0” he states that he uses a 1000watt dimmer to control the hotplate temperature in his flower pot smoker. The 1000watt dimmer I use is available at: http://www.lightsonretail.com . The model # is: 1K-DIMMER. It is a Leviton 1K Dimmer. It cost $105 including shipping.
Part 4 (last part):
I used a terry cloth towel for a gasket between the flower pots to keep the heat and smoke in the smoker. I purchased a silicone sponge gasket for next season (I live in the north and there is no smoking going on in these winter temps). My silicon gasket was purchased on eBay from:
Kim Schulze
Assistant Director of Internet Sales
N State Packaging Equipment & Supply Co.
8833 J Street, Bays 1W & 2
Omaha, NE 68127
kim@nstatepackaging.com
(402) 573-1500 Phone
(888) 573-1500 Toll free
(402) 573-7751 Fax
I didn’t get a photo of the cherished terra cotta cover in action, but detailed photos of my smoker with my first cover are viewable at: http://picasaweb.google.com/grobbins1950/GarySVer...
I decided to use this concept but make it bigger. I bought a metal barrel for about $11 at Rural King and then got 50 lb of clay at an art supply store for $25, I lined the barrel with the clay and it is curing right know. I will burn charcoal inside to fire the clay, and then I will try to get a Walgreens heating element to Make the heat and smoke. Is that powerful enough?
Gary.
This is simply awesome. Truly, truly helpful.
Thanks a ton for contributing this. I feel that you've taken it to
another level!
Dave
You can use a woven fiberglass gasket for fireplaces as a gasket on your smoker. I bought mine at Fleet Farm for very little. Use high temp black silicone as the adhesive. Don't use the gasket cement sold right next to the gasket. I used that first. It's too runny, and it didn't last long. The regular thick silicone is going strong.
Thanks Dave. Your blog was such a big help to me when I started, I wanted to post my info on your site. I also spent coutless hours tracking down the parts, as well as lots of trial and error with the smoker. I enjoy this smoker a lot and if I can help someone else enjoy theirs, I'm happy to do it.
[...] Obviously, there are others who have wondered the same thing and a search on the Interwebs finds THIS and THIS and THIS. Building the actual clay pot smoker/grill will be the easy part. I’d like [...]
maked my smoker found the bowl at swansons as others have wrote.For the grill I made it from heavy one inch mesh and 1/4 square stock around the edges and handels that rise above the adges to keep the lid on and for the pan I cut the bottom off of a 6 inch pressur tank its 1/4 inch thick !
works great thanks 4 the page
I also bought a fiberglass fireplace gasket, but decided against installing it because I didn't like the possibility of microscopic fibers getting on the food items in the smoker. I'm going with a gasket made from a roll of inert silicone foam adhered with high-temp silicone adhesive (if it ever warms up here).
Wow. Clever idea. I'd like to see some photos of that project! The problem I have found is that you want a slow smolder for proper smoking. But with my 20" bottom pot, when I set the dimmer high enough to get the cooking temp up to 220* the wood smoke billows out of the smoker. What you want is a thin line of smoke coming out of the smoker. So I have to smoke at 170-180 until I have applied enough smoke to the meat, then raise the temp to 220 to finish cooking. If you live in warm climate the Walgreen's 1000watt may be sufficient.
Wow! What an interesting project. I don’t know how big your smoker will be, but the problem with the heat source will be this: when you smoke meat/poultry/fish you want a thin line of smoke. Just a smolder. If you turn the heat up on the hotplate high enough to get the heat up in the pot up to, say, 220 degrees, the smoke is going to billow out of the smoker. What I do is apply smoke to the meat/poultry/fish at 170 degrees, then finish the cooking at 220 degrees. Usually I only apply one pan’s worth of smoke for poultry or fish, and as many as three for pork butts. In AB’s “Gear For Your Kitchen” he lists the dimensions for the flower pot smoker as: a 16 ½ inch base (outside diameter at the top), with a 19 inch cover (outside diameter at the top). My pots are 20” OD. Good luck and let’s see some photos of the finished project!
I bought a fiberglass fireplace gasket for my flower pot smoker, but I never installed it. I was concerned about microscopic fiberglass particles getting on the food. What I bought for gasket material is a 6' length of 3/8 x 3/4 closed cell silicone foam that I will install with high-temp silicone caulk. Silicone is inert and have excellent thermal transfer properties.
For the coming BBQ season I have purchased a PID controller from Auber Instruments: http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=produ...
With up to six time/temp programs, this will allow me to "set it, and forget it". I can load up the smoker and go play golf then come home to a properly cooked BBQ meal. Gotta love technology!
I tried the flower pot smoker. I too had trouble maintaining a hot enough temperature.I think the hot plate unit has a temperature shut off mechanism. So after a few trials I found that if i put a (600 W) dimmer switch in the electrical cord and wired directly to the poles of the element..I now have an adjustable heat source for control and plenty of heat .
Going to add an Auber PID temperature controller tonight. I'm hoping to keep the temp swings under 5 degrees. I added some reflective bubble wrap insulation on the top and bottom. This has helped quite a bit.
Great page, I look to this page many times for reference! Well I've got a quick, and probably dumb question. I have a drip pan hanging from the grate. Without the direct smoke hitting the meat will this slow or doing anything to the smoking process?