A while back I responded to a Craigslist add for an upright working freezer for 40$. I needed a freezer because I was really getting into meat smoking. Had a Brinkman vertical gasser, and just bought an MES 40. So I thought a freezer was needed to take advantage of sales. Well when I got to see the freezer it was this old nasty looking thing. Nothing I would feel comfortable using in my house of storing meat in. But I also realized the potential that this item had if it were to be used as a smoker. Unfortuneatly I didn't think of taking a picture of it before I began working on it but trust me when I say it was "nasty".
It has an aluminum interior shell. That has been scrubbed clean. Pulled all the old wet and nasty insulation out. Scrapped the black rubbery adhesive that held the refrigerant coils to the inside of the cabinet (a real pita). Here it is already in my garage, painted and with new insulation (R13 fiberglass). I did alot of reading on this website and others, some say its ok others say it isn't. My cooking chamber is totally sealed. I havent had any problems as of yet.
I am pretty mechanically inclined and had a vision in my head of how things would look but the only thing that concern me was finishing the door. A couple of issue were getting a something large enough to line the inside. The dimensions are 52" by 27". I knew I couldn't use galvanized eventually I went to metal fabricating place and lucked out and got a scrap piece of stainless for 40 bucks. All I had to do was cut a 1/2 inch off with my air tool. I also replace the plastic roller on the door latch with a steel one.
I made my own air baffle from a piece of aluminum flashing. The pin is an old aluminum nail. The tube itself is aluminum but the outer portion is galvanized. No temp concerns on the outside so it not an issue.
Here is the inside of the chamber. The metal chamber was all on piece which made it easy to pull out when I replaced the insulation. I added the aluminum brackets. I added the small pieces on top of the bottom bracket to prevent a rack for tipping over
if it pulled out to far (got that idea from someone else on this forum).
I knew that some fridge and freezer rack have dangerous coatings and I was worried about the racks and thought I was going to need to get different ones but I wire brushed them with my wheel and spot ground them in a few places. They isn't any type of coating on them. I also put a torch to them and wait for a reaction, smoke or flaking of some sort but nothing. So I feel pretty safe using them.
I am using a 1500 watt electric element I ordered from Cabelas. It designed to change a grill into a smoker. It came with a steel bottom plate and also a chip holder. You can see it in the picture. I have the amnz smoker which I love but I put a few chunks of hardwood charcoal in the chip pan for added flavor.
Another idea I got from this forum was install an air diffuser in the top of the cabinet to even out the air flow . The idea is that a central hole will create hot and cold spots due to unequal airflow. I used an aluminum pizza pan I ordered for 8$ from Amazon. I used some of the extra stainless steel from the door to make brackets. Aluminum rivets hold the pan and the brackets to the cabinet. Ialso used aluminum flashing to seal the cooking chamber to the outer cabinet. It worked out great the flexibility of the flashing created a nice rounded curve that gives a nice finished look. Secured everything with aluminum rivets.
I used 1 inch stove rope to create a good seal the only place smoke comes out is where is should through the chimney. Which is an aluminum chimney I found at Lowes. Both inflow and outflow are 3inch.
I orginally had the 3.5 inch River Country thermometer that I install in the door. But when the smoker gets up to temp the stainless steel door interior bulges about an inch and the tip of the thermometer would actually be inside the door. So I got the 5 inch model so that is no longer a probem.
Here is the latest mod. I wanted a removeable shelf to place my Auberins pid so it wasn't just sitting on the ground. The bracket and the chain is easily removed when I roll the smoker back under the deck after a smoking session.
I am very happy with the way it came out and I can't imagine ever getting rid of it or needing anything else, I sold both of my other smokers and do all my smoking with this.
Thanks for looking.
