Since I built my mini a couple of weeks ago I've been trying to think of a way to have a second level without drilling more holes and having more nuts and bolts inside.
Last week I did a brisket 'steak' ( brisket cut half inch thick) smoke and needed the second grate to hold all of the meat I was cooking. So I placed the grill on top of a aluminum pie tin and that worked okay.
Today I'm getting ready to do ribs, straight six hour smoke no foiling, and I see the leftover expanded steel from my build and think that if I make it curved, just like the charcoal basket, the would work great as support for the second level.
I go ahead and cut it three inches wide and forty inches long (12 inch diameter = ~ 37.5 inches plus some overlap to tie wire together). In ten minutes I had a removable grill support using leftovers from my build! I still had room to put a pie tin to help catch drippings.
The temp difference between the two levels was about 15 degrees. Three hours into the smoke I rotated the two grills so the top was on the bottom for the second half smoke and the ribs that started on the bottom finished on the top.
The ribs turned out fabulous!!! I did take pics. I'll have to borrow one of the kid's phone to upload.
Last week I did a brisket 'steak' ( brisket cut half inch thick) smoke and needed the second grate to hold all of the meat I was cooking. So I placed the grill on top of a aluminum pie tin and that worked okay.
Today I'm getting ready to do ribs, straight six hour smoke no foiling, and I see the leftover expanded steel from my build and think that if I make it curved, just like the charcoal basket, the would work great as support for the second level.
I go ahead and cut it three inches wide and forty inches long (12 inch diameter = ~ 37.5 inches plus some overlap to tie wire together). In ten minutes I had a removable grill support using leftovers from my build! I still had room to put a pie tin to help catch drippings.
The temp difference between the two levels was about 15 degrees. Three hours into the smoke I rotated the two grills so the top was on the bottom for the second half smoke and the ribs that started on the bottom finished on the top.
The ribs turned out fabulous!!! I did take pics. I'll have to borrow one of the kid's phone to upload.
