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I've always wanted to try and smoke some chilis and dry them to make my own chili powder, so here goes. I used my Dad's WSM and did an full overnight smoke at 150 F it did fluctuate up and down with the wind and cold damp air but it was on for 16 hours... I did three chili pepper types... Cayenne, Habaneros and Jalapenos... the Cayenne dried right out but the habaneros and Jalapenos are still a bit soft... have them in the oven at 180F... will give it 4 or 5 more hours... see if that does it... probably won't it again given the costs... it is cheaper to buy at the store than make your own but we'll see how the final product turns out... hopefully I get some decent chili powder..

setup




results: Cayennes

Cool.

Given you planned to ground them up anyway, is there any reason you didn't slice up the larger peppers? I imagine it would have resulted in more surface area to smoke, and would have helped with the peppers still being soft.

I've dried Jalapenos before by cutting them up, sticking them in the over on low, and then taking them out after a few hours (generally, after a good night's sleep).

That's sound logic, I had an urge to cut the peppers in half and expose the pits but I found a book in my parents cook book collection "The hot book of Chillies" by David Floyd, he recommended not chopping them up but poking them with a skewer at the top and at the tip to let the juices drain out during the smoke. I also remember all the smoked dried poblanos i bought were always whole and not cut up so I left them whole...