I have used my bullet smoker. I modified it by drilling a few holes in it near the bottom and removing the charcoal pan and placing that on a few bricks. I did this because the first night I opened it up and put it together, I noticed there was no way for any air to get in and keep the fire going. Once I added a hole, it continued to burn for a while.
Using charcoal sucked as it requires me to keep adding hot coals every 2 hours or so. Not to mention that it takes at least a dozen briquettes to actually get them burning to get red, but then I only needed 3 or 4 to actually keep my smoker up to 200 deg. Once at 200 deg it stayed there for 1 hour then slowly went back down to 150 or less. A real pain in the butt. I really gave up and began to use my gas grill. I have a really nice GE Monogram 36" SS grill and I turn on the left side to low with a pan of wood on the grill. I place a pork butt or ribs on the right and I can keep the internal temps to 200 for days. I can smoke a pig butt in 10 hours and it has an amazing flavor of hickory throughout.
But I have always wanted to smoke sausages and luncheon meats. I learned that I need to cure them per recipes I read here and also over at Len Poli's site. So I am taking inspiration from your structure but on a smaller scale. I'll try and check out the hot plate method and I may be able to keep it inside and see how hot it gets in there. I was planning on keeping it outside underneath to keep the temperature as cold as possible. Perhaps it may serve me two ways. Who knows.
Thanks again for chatting! I''l update this thread with my plans, pics. Cheers!
dan
