First I'll say that coming from a brinkmann duo as my first smoker (if you can really call it that) I am super pleased with my first smoke on this unit. I followed pretty closely the build from popular mechanics a while back.
My first impressions are
- way to much money invested in this thing
- I know i could have gotten an equally good cook for half the price.
- shoulda found a barrel that didn't have the liner. That was a PITA
- found my food grade drums by googling and it led me back to SMF to someone 15 minutes from me.
- wife is not happy with the 3 foot circle in the lawn where i did the drum burnout.
- The fire basket was no fun to build. I'm still bleeding
- Some of the specced materials were NOT easy to come up with.
Next step is
Add a 2nd grate
Add a feeder door so i can easily add material if needed.
figure out a water pan option.
My questions are.
Anyone got a good idea for doing a water tray? How high above the fire? how far below the grates? I was thinking about building a basket to hang off the bottom of the cooking grate i could just add water to? Or does the water pan have to be low??? Haven't seen any write ups about water pan positioning and usage.
If I add a 10 inch door with fireplace seal on the side am i going to cause more problems than I solve for adding to the fire?
Are there any wireless oven//bbq thermometers designed for measuring the environmental temperature as opposed to using an over thermometer on the grate? So i don't have to take the lid off to get an accurate reading. The one i bought to mount on the side of the drum is about 20 degrees lower than the temp i get on 2 different oven thermos.
Test run was a quick brined whole chicken in salt water and apple juice with store brand prerubbed ribs and italian sausage. This smoke was about seeing how well it cooked more than how much work i had to to be ready to cook. sad story is i never checked the fridge for bbq sauce or sauce making chems. so the ribs were served sauceless and not shamefully bad.
went about 230 degrees and put a little crisp on em on the grill afterwards.
As always I get so excited with the finished product i don't have a money shot.
My first impressions are
- way to much money invested in this thing
- I know i could have gotten an equally good cook for half the price.
- shoulda found a barrel that didn't have the liner. That was a PITA
- found my food grade drums by googling and it led me back to SMF to someone 15 minutes from me.
- wife is not happy with the 3 foot circle in the lawn where i did the drum burnout.
- The fire basket was no fun to build. I'm still bleeding
- Some of the specced materials were NOT easy to come up with.
Next step is
Add a 2nd grate
Add a feeder door so i can easily add material if needed.
figure out a water pan option.
My questions are.
Anyone got a good idea for doing a water tray? How high above the fire? how far below the grates? I was thinking about building a basket to hang off the bottom of the cooking grate i could just add water to? Or does the water pan have to be low??? Haven't seen any write ups about water pan positioning and usage.
If I add a 10 inch door with fireplace seal on the side am i going to cause more problems than I solve for adding to the fire?
Are there any wireless oven//bbq thermometers designed for measuring the environmental temperature as opposed to using an over thermometer on the grate? So i don't have to take the lid off to get an accurate reading. The one i bought to mount on the side of the drum is about 20 degrees lower than the temp i get on 2 different oven thermos.
Test run was a quick brined whole chicken in salt water and apple juice with store brand prerubbed ribs and italian sausage. This smoke was about seeing how well it cooked more than how much work i had to to be ready to cook. sad story is i never checked the fridge for bbq sauce or sauce making chems. so the ribs were served sauceless and not shamefully bad.
went about 230 degrees and put a little crisp on em on the grill afterwards.
As always I get so excited with the finished product i don't have a money shot.
