ok... so my wife's son has an empty beer keg and wanted to make it into a vertical smoker... We were hoping it would turn out kinda like the Mini WSM I built... the difference would be that you can't take the middle section off to tend to the coals....
being in a hurry for it, I started wacking on it.. cut the top off around the ring and then cut another 1/4" off the ring so the top would fit down inside so the grease would run back inside instead of down the outside... The problem here is.. the kegs been dropped or beat up and was out of round (oval shaped).. so when I set the top back on it didn't seal worth a crap (big gaps on opposite sides)... didn't get any pics of the gaps... but here's a couple to show where I cut the lid
SO now I'm thinking about the intake vent and how to go about it... I found a 1 1/4"m X 1"f reducer and thought.. hhmmm.. If I cut a hole for a 1" street elbow to go through and screw into the reducer (that will be welded on with the 1 1/4" part sticking up) It sticks up about an inch or so to act as an ash blocker (to stop the ashes from blocking the air vent).. my only problem was that the reducer was galvanized.. so off to the stores I go looking for this same reducer in black pipe... welp... nobody had it.. so now what.. I said dahell with it they have a 1 1/4 x 3/4... I'll try this since he's in a hurry for it... I'm thinking 3/4" should be enough... I mean hell.. when I use my Mini the intake vent is only about a 1/4 open.. so 3/4" pipe will be plenty of air... a few pics of that....
made a charcoal basket that stands about 2" above the pipe reducer that was welded in the bottom...
Then I made the heat sync/diffuser with 1/4" plate.. it has about a 1/2-3/4" gap around the edges....
and then the grates (2)
For the top vent (exhaust) I just used the existing hole for the tap... it's 2" in diameter.. made a cap for it to close it down when down cooking...
put a couple handles on it to carry it around...
OK.. so got it all done and fired it up for seasoning and test run.... let it get up to about 210` and started to close down the intake to get it to settle around 225`... temp kept going up so i kept closing it down... so now i have the intake fully closed and the temps are still going up... scratching my head I said "dahells going on here".. so I starting thinking the gaps in the lid is letting air in.. so I stuffed aluminum foil in the gaps all around the lid... waited and waited for temps to come down (using the Mav. ET 732)... so i started closing the top vent some... temps finally started to go down... by the time they got back down in a comfortable range (225`-240` for me)... the coals went out... since I was getting ready to go on vacation I went ahead and gave the smoker to it's owner (as I said earlier he was in a hurry for it).... he didn't really mess with it until I got back and got a chance to go over to his house and show him how to use it...
So we went over yesterday for a cookout and the inaugural smoke with the beer keg... It was a total failure.. could never get it up to temp/// well... let me rephrase that... it came up to 220` so we put some ribs on... it was all downhill from there.. temps would never recover (180` was the highest we could get....
luckily he has an MES 30.. we fired that up and transferred the ribs over to that... I let the beer keg keep going to play with it and see what would happen... when empty the temps finally came back up... so we put 2 half racks (had to cut 2 racks in half so they would fit) of ribs back on the keg.. instead of all 4 halves... to see if maybe it was to full and restricting air flow.... welp.... temps never came back up again... so by this time were an hour and a half or so into the cook... dinner was to be served at 7pm so we didn't have time to keep playing around... took them back off and back into the MES and we just finished them up there... I know.. no pics never happened... but in my defense I was to damn busy trying to get smokers working right and get food done by 7...
So final thoughts are ? Intake to small ? need to make bigger gap (1" or so) around the heat sync/diffuser (it's the same gap as what I have on the Mini) ? need exhaust stack to be taller ? or maybe.... D. All the above ?
The dimensions of the keg are 15"diameter by 16" tall.... If I didn't explain something very well or you are confused on some of my explanations please ask me to clarify for you so we can get this straightened out... he really wants to keep it pretty much like it is... for the COOL factor... LOL...
ok.. so I am open to suggestions to get this thing working right... I have faith in my SMF brethren's to stir me in the right directions....
being in a hurry for it, I started wacking on it.. cut the top off around the ring and then cut another 1/4" off the ring so the top would fit down inside so the grease would run back inside instead of down the outside... The problem here is.. the kegs been dropped or beat up and was out of round (oval shaped).. so when I set the top back on it didn't seal worth a crap (big gaps on opposite sides)... didn't get any pics of the gaps... but here's a couple to show where I cut the lid
SO now I'm thinking about the intake vent and how to go about it... I found a 1 1/4"m X 1"f reducer and thought.. hhmmm.. If I cut a hole for a 1" street elbow to go through and screw into the reducer (that will be welded on with the 1 1/4" part sticking up) It sticks up about an inch or so to act as an ash blocker (to stop the ashes from blocking the air vent).. my only problem was that the reducer was galvanized.. so off to the stores I go looking for this same reducer in black pipe... welp... nobody had it.. so now what.. I said dahell with it they have a 1 1/4 x 3/4... I'll try this since he's in a hurry for it... I'm thinking 3/4" should be enough... I mean hell.. when I use my Mini the intake vent is only about a 1/4 open.. so 3/4" pipe will be plenty of air... a few pics of that....
made a charcoal basket that stands about 2" above the pipe reducer that was welded in the bottom...
Then I made the heat sync/diffuser with 1/4" plate.. it has about a 1/2-3/4" gap around the edges....
and then the grates (2)
For the top vent (exhaust) I just used the existing hole for the tap... it's 2" in diameter.. made a cap for it to close it down when down cooking...
put a couple handles on it to carry it around...
OK.. so got it all done and fired it up for seasoning and test run.... let it get up to about 210` and started to close down the intake to get it to settle around 225`... temp kept going up so i kept closing it down... so now i have the intake fully closed and the temps are still going up... scratching my head I said "dahells going on here".. so I starting thinking the gaps in the lid is letting air in.. so I stuffed aluminum foil in the gaps all around the lid... waited and waited for temps to come down (using the Mav. ET 732)... so i started closing the top vent some... temps finally started to go down... by the time they got back down in a comfortable range (225`-240` for me)... the coals went out... since I was getting ready to go on vacation I went ahead and gave the smoker to it's owner (as I said earlier he was in a hurry for it).... he didn't really mess with it until I got back and got a chance to go over to his house and show him how to use it...
So we went over yesterday for a cookout and the inaugural smoke with the beer keg... It was a total failure.. could never get it up to temp/// well... let me rephrase that... it came up to 220` so we put some ribs on... it was all downhill from there.. temps would never recover (180` was the highest we could get....
luckily he has an MES 30.. we fired that up and transferred the ribs over to that... I let the beer keg keep going to play with it and see what would happen... when empty the temps finally came back up... so we put 2 half racks (had to cut 2 racks in half so they would fit) of ribs back on the keg.. instead of all 4 halves... to see if maybe it was to full and restricting air flow.... welp.... temps never came back up again... so by this time were an hour and a half or so into the cook... dinner was to be served at 7pm so we didn't have time to keep playing around... took them back off and back into the MES and we just finished them up there... I know.. no pics never happened... but in my defense I was to damn busy trying to get smokers working right and get food done by 7...
So final thoughts are ? Intake to small ? need to make bigger gap (1" or so) around the heat sync/diffuser (it's the same gap as what I have on the Mini) ? need exhaust stack to be taller ? or maybe.... D. All the above ?
The dimensions of the keg are 15"diameter by 16" tall.... If I didn't explain something very well or you are confused on some of my explanations please ask me to clarify for you so we can get this straightened out... he really wants to keep it pretty much like it is... for the COOL factor... LOL...
ok.. so I am open to suggestions to get this thing working right... I have faith in my SMF brethren's to stir me in the right directions....