my new (to me) Sidefirebox smoker!

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flyweed

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jun 5, 2010
375
12
S.W. Wisconsin
Hey guys...well I bought this large sidefirebox smoker...and went up and picked it up last weekend.  Anyway, it was a little "rough around the edges", so I have been doing a little "restore" work and personal touches to it.

Here it is:

First two images are the way it looked when I picked it up

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Here it is now getting some TLC from me and a new coat of VHT paint on all surface...after sand blasting all the rust off

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Doing some cool looking flames on the fenders and firebox

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More flamin' firebox

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Next, I took the old metal table/shelf off the front and replaced it with a large slab of solid walnut, that I did some word art on, decoupaged it to the surface, then flooded the entire piece with Envirotex sealent

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Almost finished

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finished pics to be posted later.....

Dan
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys....appreciate the comments..yeah it's starting to look pretty sweet.  I have to mount the new shelf yet, and then I have ordered a new stainless steel handle that will replace the all black handle currently on the lid.  Once, I have it all finished up I'll post the final pics.

Dan
 
Looks great. It's going to be tough to get it all dirty now! Maybe it could just go in your living room as smoker art!
 
LOL..yeah, smoker art.  No way....It's gonna get down and dirty, and cook up some great Q!!

I do have one question...I fired it up yesterday to cure the High Temp paint, and the far side of the grill was reading 275F on the left side temp gauge, that is mounted in the side of the unit, and then the other side, closest to the firebox registered 248F.  I checked and adjusted both temp gauges in boiling water, and they are spot on with each other

So Just wondering how I can even the temp out from one side to the other

Dan
 
few more pics from last night...I threw on a dozen chicken legs for supper...cooked 275F for about 2.5 hours.

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  Flyweed.now don't go using that gas bottle to cheat-heat you cooker,
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,just get a samllHOT bed of embers and go from there,your temps. will be ever so easy to control at around 225*F.Remember;thin-blue-smoke,then add the goodies.

  Have fun and...
 
hey old school..thanks for the hints.  To be honest, I am a little scared of this thing...I've never used such a large smoker...I am use to my MES 30 and my UDS.

I did cheat last night, and fired it up with the gas, with a bowl of wood chips over it for the "smoke"...it did work great using that method.

Anyway...I like using lump charcoal..can I still use lump in this thing?  Should I make a charcoal basket for it, like you do for a UDS?  How much lump charcoal should I use to fire this thing up?  I plan on still throwing wood chips or chunks on top for the "smoke"......I don't want to do split wood.

Any help would be appreciated.

Dan
 
oh..one other question..... how high should the smoke stack on this unit be?  And, inside it doesn't extend down to the grate level..it comes into the side of the unit, and then make a 90 degree turn upward.

And...yesterday, when I was running it cooking the chicken on my test cook...I used the LP burner, but my temps really flucuated, where I had my temp probe, which was centered on the grate.  My ideal temp was 275....but my temp would swing up to 280.....and then slowly drop down to about 253F....stay there for a couple minutes....and then start climbing back up to to 275F again.

Any ideas????

Dan
 
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