• Fry onions and peppers in skillet until softened
• Add garlic and fry a little longer
• Add the rest of the chili ingredients and transfer to a metal tray for the smoker. Note: two beers might seem like a lot, but the alcohol will cook off and the extra liquid is needed to account for liquid evaporation inside the smoker.
• On a cutting board, liberally salt and pepper your ground beef, then form into a ball.
• Combine spicy mix ingredients and coat the exterior of the ground beef evenly, using as much of the powder as possible.
• Preheat your smoker to 230F (110C), fill your water tray, and start a smoke tube if using one.
• Place the ground beef ball directly onto a smoker grate, and set your chili tray directly beneath it. Your temperature probe should go right into the center of the meat ball.
• While smoking, keep your water tray filled. This will help control how fast the liquid from your chili evaporates off. Every couple hours, stir the chili.
• Smoke the meat and chili until the meat reaches around 140F, then increase your smoker temperature to 280F (137C).
• When the meat reaches 165F (74C), break it up into the chili. I was able to just push it down into the chili with a wooden spoon, but you can also bring it inside to break up. Stir the meat into the chili.
• Let the combined chili smoke for another half hour to meld the flavors together. Then serve and enjoy.

Alternate instructions for faster smoking

• These alternate instructions are to speed up the chili cook time. We will smoke the beef at a higher temperature to start, and it should finish a couple hours faster.
• Prepare the chili per the previous instructions, but only use 1 beer instead of 2.
• Preheat your smoker to 280 to start, and smoke the meat that temp the entire time.
• Follow all other instructions including managing your water tray, use a smoke tube, and break up the beef into the chili after its cooked.