Anyone made a meat smoker on here?

[mickeyd]

oh I see, the fire box doesnt just have an opening into the smoking area it travels under the baffle ! ingenious!
MD

 

[kennertree]

oh I see, the fire box doesnt just have an opening into the smoking area it travels under the baffle ! ingenious!
MD

I copied it from a smoker forum, there are all kinds of mods that can be done to these smokers to make them more efficient.

 

[redprospector]

I'm going to have to try some of those tricks on my little cheap offset smoker.
Offset is my prefered type of smoker, but I have grown to hate the cheap smoke-n-grill I have. I've got an 80 gallon pickup bed propane tank I'm going to cut up (hopefully this spring) for my next smoker.

Andy

 

[Ol' Brian]

Here's my homemade BBQ Pit:

Here's what it started out as:

Racks:

Inside the firebox:

Opening from the firebox into the smoke chamber:

Lately I've been using a lot of wild cherry to smoke with... LOVE IT!!!

 

[kennertree]

Nice smoker. I think I've seen that smoker before, did you post it on the bbq forum?

 

[Ol' Brian]

I don't remember posting it on the bbq forum, but I did post it while I was building it on the Hobart "Weld Talk" forum if you have ever hung out over there.

Whats the URL to the bbq forum?

 

[demographic]

xlr82v2
Now the one you built from an old compressor tank looks close (ish) to what I'm thinking of, me and a mate built a wood burning stove a while ago for his shed, problem is that very shortly after building it his compressor overloaded and caught fire and burnt his shed down so the wood burner isn't getting used.
Looking at yours, I notice it has a pipe with a valve on the underside of it, not wanting to ask a daft question but what's that for? Does it let fat and water drain out?
I was thinking about adding a removable cylinder so it lies along the top of the girder that we used for a hotplate. Here's the stove when we were just trying it out.
Looking at yours, I notice it has a pipe with a valve on the underside of it, not wanting to ask a daft question but what's that for? Does it let fat and water drain out?

Looking at it, I don't think it would be too hard to convert it to something like this...

Could make the top section so its dead easy to remove.
I'm kind of thinking that there's more than half of this already built if you see what I mean.

I love the way you guys have them mounted on a trailer so you can take them wherever you want.

 

[cityevader]

Here's a link to my homemade smoker out of a barrel. Most people think it's store bought when they see it.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32207&highlight=

 

[Ol' Brian]

xlr82v2
Looking at yours, I notice it has a pipe with a valve on the underside of it, not wanting to ask a daft question but what's that for? Does it let fat and water drain out?

Yep, that's exactly what it's for!

 

[redprospector]

Looking at it, I don't think it would be too hard to convert it to something like this...

Could make the top section so its dead easy to remove.
I'm kind of thinking that there's more than half of this already built if you see what I mean.

I love the way you guys have them mounted on a trailer so you can take them wherever you want.

That might make a neat "cooker", but for smoking meat it would be very hard to regulate the temperature in the meat chamber. I had a wood stove in my old shop that was built like that out of 55 gallon barrels. The top barrel would get really hot, way too hot for smoking. JMO, but I think you'd like it a lot better if you made it offset like the ones pictured.

Andy

 

[Richard_]

UDS

chicken thighs

 

[ryans4022]

Thanks for the pics guys, im in the process of building one right now. My main smoke chamber is (i guess) about a 120lb lp gas tank and my offset fire box is a 40 lb lp gas tank. Im in hack mode now cutting doors and the ends off the tanks (glad im done cutting the cylinders) Alot of different info and pics out there and all is just a bit different from the other, so im gonna do my own spin off and hope for the best. I just got a bunch of cherry and have some apple wood also.

So a question: does wood that you plan to smoke with need to be really dry (like years of drying?)

 

[Ol' Brian]

I just use seasoned firewood in my smoker... straight out of the woodshed. Oak, Hickory, Cherry. I cut up a nice cherry that washed out into the creek down in my woods 2 summers ago... set it aside for smoker use only. Cherry is good!

And, remember, when you're smoking meats, you don't want a smokey, smoldering fire. You should see very light smoke, to none at all coming from your chimney on your smoker. A small hot fire burning cleanly is much much much better than a large, cold, smokey smoldering fire...

 

[boostnut]

Kennertree, why the brick?

 

[jags]

You should see very light smoke....

People look at me goofy when I tell them this. Its pretty simple really. Light smoke for 11-12 hours adds up to alot of smoke.

 

[kennertree]

Kennertree, why the brick?

Helps to hold in heat and even out tempatures.

 

[kennertree]

I don't remember posting it on the bbq forum, but I did post it while I was building it on the Hobart "Weld Talk" forum if you have ever hung out over there.

Whats the URL to the bbq forum?

I don't remember which one it was, I go to bbq brethern forum every now and then. Might have seen it on weld talk when I was googling for smoker plans.

 

[kennertree]

Nice UDS Richard!

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

The gasket was put on with gasket cement and its on flat metal without a groove, you should be able to find it where they sell the gasket. Make sure you have a clean surface and it should bond really good. This type of smoker is a cheap made smoker and there are gaps everywhere. It still has a few gaps but they are small. As far as temps go I can get it pretty hot. I smoke chickens around 275, sometimes hotter. For ribs and pork I keep it 210-225. The thermometer I use is a taylor digital meat thermometer that I bought at lowes. I drilled a hole in a brick and used jb weld to hold the probe in. I put it on the grate right next to the meat to get the most accurate temp. The thermometer on the outside of the smoke box will have a 40-50 degree tempature difference.

Hey there kennertree, that's a neat design on the thermometer. But, dosn't the brick kind of insulate the probe from a real accurate reading, being that it's in the center of the brick. I use a small handheld thermometer some. You just point it close and it'll temp interior temps or meat temps. Also use a metal meat thermometer for checking temps on the inside of my meats.
So how are those chickens cooked at 275? I hardly ever get over 225 on anything, esp poultry since they tend to dry with the higher temps! Usually just go low and slow. How are your bricks working out i suggested for the bottom? I'm enjoying the brining you recommended. Hey, find you a decent deal on an egg, you'll have the most efficient smoker and you want have to keep experimenting, that costs money! lol Holler at ya later

 

[kennertree]

Hey there kennertree, that's a neat design on the thermometer. But, dosn't the brick kind of insulate the probe from a real accurate reading, being that it's in the center of the brick. I use a small handheld thermometer some. You just point it close and it'll temp interior temps or meat temps. Also use a metal meat thermometer for checking temps on the inside of my meats.
So how are those chickens cooked at 275? I hardly ever get over 225 on anything, esp poultry since they tend to dry with the higher temps! Usually just go low and slow. How are your bricks working out i suggested for the bottom? I'm enjoying the brining you recommended. Hey, find you a decent deal on an egg, you'll have the most efficient smoker and you want have to keep experimenting, that costs money! lol Holler at ya later

The thermometer reads on the end, just like a probe thermometer. Actually it is a probe thermo so the brick has no effect on it at all. The brick just holds it over the grate where the meat will be so the temp is accurate where the meat is cooking and not on the top of the smoker. I've only cooked chicken at 225 once. It took it 4 and a half hours and still wasnt up to temp. I took it off the smoker and wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the oven for ten minutes.