Setting up electric element in BBQ for full temp control

[ped]

I' m wanting to make some smoked sausages which will require far more control of temp than opening and closing vents can achieve, looking on a couple of US sites I see that you can use a hot plate or electric element and PID unit, has anyone done this and what did you use? I see that brinckmann do a US purpose built unit but I cannot see it for sale over here, any ideas guys?

Oh and a Happy New Year to you!

[robgunby]

I actually bought all the gubbins to make an electric element (ie all the electrics) but never got round to putting it together, and now I have a UDS I have no need for one. You can have the gubbins if you pay the postage or collect from Sheffield!

Alternative (if you don't fancy messing with the electrics, which is what put me off) is to buy an electric hotplate from CCC or ebay - should be in the region of £10-£15 - and use that.

Are you wanting to cold smoke? Or just hot smoking with fine grained control over temps? I did some guesswork and figured I would need about 2500 W to get my brinkmann up to temperature and hold it there in winter conditions with no wind. Most single hotplates are 750W or 1500W, which posed me a problem. I also figured that sort of rating would cost me a fortune in electricity, so I binned the idea for hot smoking - I still want to try it for cold smoking though.

[ped]

Thanks Rob, electricity bill already too high! May have to find an alternative

[robgunby]

Gas is a cheap and efficient alternative, and is nicely controllable, but I find charcoal is good enough for me. I pay £7 for a 12kg bag of restaurant lump and half a bag does a 20 hour cook easily. Considered an ATC unit?