Smoker pot from MSR stowaway pot

[jeffshoaf]

I made a smoker pot using the stainless 1.6 liter Stowaway pot from MSR and used it on a sirloin tip roast cook yesterday. I cheated and drove a nail through the bottom instead of drilling the holes but it worked well. Since the lid clamps on, i didn't have to make a flour paste seal - the lack of desire to deal with the flour paste is actually why i hadn't made a smoker pot before.

I got the pot from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBWSRW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[tony b]

Looks like it works great! More than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes!

[Tyrus]

The smaller .475 liter/16.1 fl oz must have been the choice. Did you lay it on the bottom and cover it with lump and proceed from there or did you place it on top of the coals?   Anyhow, well done and well thought. Size of pot is relative to size of KK and what size KK did you perform your experiment on, please. Good for low and slow I would imagine, however the hotter temps might try the integrity of that pot thickness over time. It works, it's lighter and it snaps in place, very nice. So it worked well, any mods as your muddling through the results of your cook as far as taste, smokiness. I'm comfortable with placing chunks on now, once it is proven a good alternative, this could save me/you/others time..sounds very interesting. TY

Edited March 4, 2021 by Tyrus

[Syzygies]

9 hours ago, jeffshoaf said:

I made a smoker pot using the stainless 1.6 liter Stowaway pot from MSR

I've had my eye on that pot for years. Thank you!

I don't really mind the flour paste thing. It's actually a bit romantic, like using flour paste to help pots that don't quite fit right in Morocco. For my steamed dumpling experiments, I much prefer a bamboo steamer to metal, it's a live drawing reflecting the hands we have in common with primates. And my earliest, never-reported experiments with alternatives to a cast iron Dutch Oven ended in culinary disaster: They came apart, caught fire, and infused my food with creosote.

Still, that pot looked promising. I have other interests and a psychotic number of branches open to explore, and a cast iron smoke pot works. Sometimes I actually find the maturity to leave well enough alone, so I never tried it.

Early on, there was a "smoke bomb" branch of this research. People would commission a stainless steel tube, threaded at both ends, and stainless steel caps. Think "pipe bomb". They'd drill the requisite three 1/8" holes in the middle somewhere (I feel like this is some Monty Python movie). These were expensive. I suppose once one had found one and paid for it, it was easier than flour paste. I like rustic.

Of course, Dennis reacted by building a professional device. If I were to make any change, it would probably be to buy his smoke generator.

[tony b]

11 hours ago, Syzygies said:

Of course, Dennis reacted by building a professional device. If I were to make any change, it would probably be to buy his smoke generator.

Unfortunately, the challenge to those of us with older KKs is that you can't run Dennis' smoker and the Guru fan at the same time - it's a shared port. Of course, Dennis solved this problem with the later models with separate ports. He's willing to ship the parts to folks with older KKs to drill that separate smoker port, but I'm waaaay too nervous about doing something like that to my KK. Others have done it successfully - I just won't be one of them. 

[jeffshoaf]

19 hours ago, Tyrus said:

The smaller .475 liter/16.1 fl oz must have been the choice. Did you lay it on the bottom and cover it with lump and proceed from there or did you place it on top of the coals?   Anyhow, well done and well thought. Size of pot is relative to size of KK and what size KK did you perform your experiment on, please. Good for low and slow I would imagine, however the hotter temps might try the integrity of that pot thickness over time. It works, it's lighter and it snaps in place, very nice. So it worked well, any mods as your muddling through the results of your cook as far as taste, smokiness. I'm comfortable with placing chunks on now, once it is proven a good alternative, this could save me/you/others time..sounds very interesting. TY

I used the largest one - 1.6 liters - since that was the closest size to the 2 qt cast iron pot most folks seem to be using. I placed it on top of the charcoal just before loading the meat. I didn't put it on earlier since i didn't have a feel for how long the smoke would last and it started smoking almost immediately; the cook was about 1.25 hours and it was still smoking. Dome temp was around 300 degrees F.

I want really thinking about using this on a high temp cook, but now I'm thinking.... I wonder if the sear grate is closed enough to the charcoal to get the nasty stuff to burn off? If you're doing a reverse sear, you could put the smoke pot on the seer grate and slow roast/smoke the meat, then take off the pot, open up the air flow to get the temp up, then sear without exposing the pot to the sear temps.

My KK is a 23 inch ultimate, Terra blue tiles since they're the bestest.

[Syzygies]

7 hours ago, tony b said:

Unfortunately, the challenge to those of us with older KKs is that you can't run Dennis' smoker and the Guru fan at the same time - it's a shared port. Of course, Dennis solved this problem with the later models with separate ports. He's willing to ship the parts to folks with older KKs to drill that separate smoker port, but I'm waaaay too nervous about doing something like that to my KK. Others have done it successfully - I just won't be one of them. 

Wouldn't it be easy to make an adapter?

A better solution would be to mod the rear door using a Guru adapter: BBQ Guru Adaptors

I'm actually rather surprised that Dennis doesn't sell this as a smoke generator accessory.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Syzygies

[jeffshoaf]

On 3/3/2021 at 4:05 PM, tony b said:

Looks like it works great! More than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes!

I can't take credit for the idea - i got the idea from a much earlier post here on the forum: https://komodokamadoforum.com/topic/4607-emulating-wood-burning-pizza-ovens-with-kk/?do=findComment&comment=43766

I considered putting the holes in the lid but i was concerned that putting it in the KK lid down would either warp the lid and cause leaks or muck up the clamping mechanism faster.

[Forrest]

19 hours ago, Syzygies said:

Of course, Dennis reacted by building a professional device. If I were to make any change, it would probably be to buy his smoke generator.

Doesn't the hot/cold KK smoker operate in a completely different fashion? Doesn't Dennis's smoker have forced airflow as compared the restricted airflow in the Sygy smoke pot? I would assume they would produce different smoke profiles?

[Forrest]

2 hours ago, jeffshoaf said:

I used the largest one - 1.6 liters

I bought the very smallest of the four MSR pots (.475 Liter), I don't like the idea of a super large item in the firebox. When I get it I will make a post showing how much wood I can fit in it and what my results are.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Forrest

[tony b]

On 3/4/2021 at 5:24 PM, Forrest said:

Doesn't the hot/cold KK smoker operate in a completely different fashion? Doesn't Dennis's smoker have forced airflow as compared the restricted airflow in the Sygy smoke pot? I would assume they would produce different smoke profiles?

The Guru port injects the smoke into the firebox, so the cold smoker does force the smoke through the fire, similar to the DO smoker pot. I would say that they generate very similar smoke profiles. 

[tony b]

@Syzygies - caught that Easter Egg on the Guru fan drawing. Nice. 

[Forrest]

The Guru port injects the smoke into the firebox

I believe the new KK’s the smoke enters in from above the firebox so it isn’t stoking your fire much.


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[tony b]

Yes, it is up a tad higher on the newer grills that have the separate ports, but I seem to recall Dennis saying that it was still low enough down to the fire to help burn off the volatiles. 

[Forrest]

Got my 475 ML stainless MSR smoker pot. I think I am going to try pellets as I think they will produce a long run time and I should be able to put a lot of volume into this small pot. I love the size as I think it will provide plenty of smoke for most cooks (I like a light smoke profile) without trying to put the fire out our trap heat in the firebox.



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[tony b]

For that small of a pot, pellets are definitely the way to go. 

[jeffshoaf]

3 hours ago, Forrest said:

Got my 475 ML stainless MSR smoker pot. I think I am going to try pellets as I think they will produce a long run time and I should be able to put a lot of volume into this small pot. I love the size as I think it will provide plenty of smoke for most cooks (I like a light smoke profile) without trying to put the fire out our trap heat in the firebox.



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Any concern about pellets blocking the smoke holes? I guess if they did, they'd burn out at some point.

[Forrest]

Any concern about pellets blocking the smoke holes? I guess if they did, they'd burn out at some point.

I’m probably going to drill the holes in the center area of the smoke pot then cut an empty can to fit inside the center of the smoke pot around the holes then just fill all the pellets along the outside edge of the can preventing them from blocking the smoke pot holes.


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[Syzygies]

On 3/4/2021 at 7:48 AM, tony b said:

Unfortunately, the challenge to those of us with older KKs is that you can't run Dennis' smoker and the Guru fan at the same time - it's a shared port. Of course, Dennis solved this problem with the later models with separate ports. He's willing to ship the parts to folks with older KKs to drill that separate smoker port, but I'm waaaay too nervous about doing something like that to my KK. Others have done it successfully - I just won't be one of them. 

So... The thermometer cable port is 1/2" inner diameter. Any reason we're not using that with the KK Hot/Cold Smoke Generator?

I never run a thermometer through that hole anymore. I get better results sticking a probe into the mechanical thermometer hole in the lid. As a bonus, I can control high heats for bread without exposing the thermometer cables to excess heat.

There is this idea that it's better to run the smoke through the fire. I certainly considered this, designing the original smoke pot. There, I'd made experiments where at high enough temperatures the gas from the smoke pot would actually catch fire. So this seemed reasonable. But we're talking science here, and I don't know how important this issue is for cold smoking.

[tony b]

@Syzygies - interesting idea to run tubing through the temperature probe port from the cold smoker. Will need to find a reducer, as the cold smoker outlet is much larger than the probe port.