Time for some pot smoking...

[Forrest]

When I first landed on this forum I read a lot about the joys of “pot smokin” and a guy named Syzygies who had changed the way people looked at Kamado smoking, I was intrigued.

 

The “Smoke Pot” was something I’d never heard of. I began by testing this method out with a simple foil wrap with holes, I was impressed with the thin fragrant smoke and extended smoking times with this in contrast to simply throwing wood chunks on top of the coals.

 

I decided I wanted to make my own smoke pot. Because of my laziness I didn’t like the drawbacks of cast iron (rusts and requires a flour paste). I also don’t like the idea of a large item in the firebox, for the same reasons that many users here don’t use the KK heat deflectors (they trap heat in the firebox making the grill less efficient). This is why I ended up with the small 475 ML stainless MSR self-locking pot.

 

I drilled two 1/8” holes in the bottom of my MSR pot and I also picked up a stainless sink strainer from Home Depot to allow me to use pellet wood without potentially clogging the holes. I figure quality 100% wood pellets will give me way more wood volume in the small pot and increase run times, I can fit over 2 cups of pellets in the MSR pot with this method. I also can fit several smaller wood chunks without the strainer which I’m assuming will still give me 3+ hours of smoke. I don’t know how the pellets will work as I’ve never seen anyone use them in a smoke pot but I already have them stocked up for when I get my new KK and Dennis’s hot/cold smoker.

 

 

 

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[jonj]

Looking good! I’m intrigued. 

[tekobo]

Hi @Forrest.  I regularly use pellets in my smoke pot.   I also use apple chips, made by putting apple tree branches through a chipper.  As you will see from the photo below, I avoid the issue of blocking the holes by sprinkling the chips/pellets in to avoid the holes.  It will be interesting to know how much wood others use.  I only ever use the amount you see in the pot here and last time I thought I had over smoked the chicken that I cooked.

I know that you have expressed concern about the smoke pot blocking the fire.  I use it deliberately as a shield sometimes.  Here it is, sitting a little high because I didn't bother fiddling with the coals underneath for this photo, in my 16TT.   I put the grate over the top and it cooks just fine.  The advantage of an enamel exterior is that it is easy to clean when you get around to it.  Have fun experimenting!

 

[Forrest]

Hi [mention=3733]Forrest[/mention].  I regularly use pellets in my smoke pot.

Do you have a photo of what the pellets look like once the cook is over? Do they turn into little charcoal pellets?

Also, what has your experience been with run times while using pellets in a smoke pot?


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[Pequod]

I've used pellets, chips, chunks, even tea leaves and cinnamon sticks. It all turns into a charcoalized version of it's original self.

[Tyrus]

17 hours ago, Forrest said:

When I first landed on this forum I read a lot about the joys of “pot smokin”

I feel like a political hack grabbing a line out of a comment and pulling out my own definition, but it did strike me funny, you gotta admit or simply it was simply your intention to slide that in, no matter. I bought that pot also recently, and commented to Jeffshoaf earlier that I believed he'd chosen this one because of it's smaller size. He chose the 1.6 for his own reasoning. This size drew a smile immediately upon pulling it out of the box, it will sit easily buried in the coals and can sit on top of the coals without disrupting the fire and it doesn't occupy too much of the fire basket spatially.  Good choice for two holes as a beginning, you can always a add hole later, but the task in removing one is harder. If the pellets don't work out for any reason you can always buy the smaller wood chips at Bass Pro/Cabella's as an alternative, they should work well and the variety larger to choose from. I'll be watching with interest Forrest, mine will sit on the table till someone lights a fire under me....that could be you

Edited March 12, 2021 by Tyrus

[tekobo]

8 hours ago, Pequod said:

I've used pellets, chips, chunks, even tea leaves and cinnamon sticks. It all turns into a charcoalized version of it's original self.

What he said.  Now that you have the pot I would just use it.  See how you go.  I don't need the smoke to last very long, just enough to flavour the meat and I have no problem with that quantity of pellets.   I don't tend to hang around watching or timing and so I can't give you any more information.  Get smoking!

[Forrest]

Well, I’m pretty impressed with my little 475 ml MSR smoker pot on my first cook. I’ve heard one of the down sides to the traditional Dutch Oven smoke pot is it doesn’t handle hotter temperatures well. One of the advantages of the small size of the MSR is you can bury it in the charcoal. The temperature at the bottom of the fire basket is much cooler then the top, sometimes several hundred degrees cooler.

I cooked some chicken at 400 degrees. To start I placed the MSR at the bottom of the basket and then buried it in charcoal. I then lit some charcoal on top with my torch. I allowed the grill to come up to temp over the course of an hour. The bottom of the fire box basket takes awhile to heat up, I know this because I have run temp probes during cooks at the bottom of the basket for testing purposes. This works out perfect because the thicker white smoke that started coming from the smoker pot thinned out once I got the Kamado Joe up to 375 degrees. Placing the smoker pot underneath the coals requires a lot more heat and time to come up to temp, you just have to preheat the smoke pot from the beginning of firing the grill up. The smoke pot maintained a nice thin level of smoke through the entire cook at 400 degrees the pot was filled with 2 cups of B&B Competition blend pellets.

I think this method might be the best way to adapt the smoke pot to hotter cooking temperatures (bury it at the bottom of the charcoal). As a bonus it shoots the smoke way down to the lower vent ensuring the smoke has to go up through the burning charcoal purifying (in theory it burns off volatile organic compounds in the smoke before it reaches your food).






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[Wingman505]

On 3/12/2021 at 11:05 PM, Forrest said:

Well, I’m pretty impressed with my little 475 ml MSR smoker pot on my first cook. I’ve heard one of the down sides to the traditional Dutch Oven smoke pot is it doesn’t handle hotter temperatures well. One of the advantages of the small size of the MSR is you can bury it in the charcoal. The temperature at the bottom of the fire basket is much cooler then the top, sometimes several hundred degrees cooler.

I cooked some chicken at 400 degrees. To start I placed the MSR at the bottom of the basket and then buried it in charcoal. I then lit some charcoal on top with my torch. I allowed the grill to come up to temp over the course of an hour. The bottom of the fire box basket takes awhile to heat up, I know this because I have run temp probes during cooks at the bottom of the basket for testing purposes. This works out perfect because the thicker white smoke that started coming from the smoker pot thinned out once I got the Kamado Joe up to 375 degrees. Placing the smoker pot underneath the coals requires a lot more heat and time to come up to temp, you just have to preheat the smoke pot from the beginning of firing the grill up. The smoke pot maintained a nice thin level of smoke through the entire cook at 400 degrees the pot was filled with 2 cups of B&B Competition blend pellets.

I think this method might be the best way to adapt the smoke pot to hotter cooking temperatures (bury it at the bottom of the charcoal). As a bonus it shoots the smoke way down to the lower vent ensuring the smoke has to go up through the burning charcoal purifying (in theory it burns off volatile organic compounds in the smoke before it reaches your food).






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I love everything about this post.  Thank you buddy.  I bought two different sizes, one of them being the 1.6L as I use 3x3 chunks from Fruita Wood quite often. 😊👍

Edited March 20, 2021 by Wingman505

[Tyrus]

15 hours ago, Wingman505 said:

chunks from Fruita Wood quite often.

Split them to smaller pieces Wingman with a hatchet,  arrange a design that allows for more air space and combustion within the sealed compartment.

[Forrest]

I love everything about this post.  Thank you buddy.

Glad you found it useful! Also next time remove the pictures from the quoted text so we don’t have to see them twice, lol. I have made that mistake myself...


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[Forrest]

Some exciting new information I discovered about the 475 ml MSR Smoke Pot:

1-
I did a low N slow cook, beef plate ribs 225 F cooking temp at the grate. This cook was overnight and I could have sworn 8 hours later when I woke up I was still smelling smoke production.

2-
The fuel I used was B&B Comp pellets, I stuffed the whole smoke pot full of pellets and I placed the smoke pot directly on top of the hot glowing coals. 14 hours total cooking time and it appeared some of the pellets were still brown and not carbonized. Seems like this little pot really can put out long smokes with pellets at least. Still using the sink strainer.

3-
This excited me: When I went out to clean the grill the smoke pot lid was hard to remove, I had to use some force to get it off. Seems like the lid is getting an even better seal with use.




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