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I am planning on building a vertical brick smoker (on the side does that count as indirect heat) and i need a door for the firebox and cooking chamber. The probable dimensions of the smoker are 24 by 18 by 48
Hello. Welcome. I see this is your first post. Please take some time and swing over to Roll Call and introduce yourself so that we may give you a proper "Hello". All info you can provide us with such as smoker type, location and so on will help us answer any questions you may have, and pictures help a bunch. As for your question: It is gonna have to be 1/4"-3/8" steel unless you can source some old bread oven cast iron doors. I doubt they would be cheap. For that type build I would go with 3/8". Just my opinion. Keep Smokin!
Habitat for Humanity has ReStores that sell used furniture, appliances and building materials in many localities. This is a link to where they are located:
Occasionally wood stoves or parts of wood stoves are donated, some might have doors big enough for your purposes. Old wood stoves are often scrapped rather than resold because they are damaged or incomplete.
I just finished up my brick oker build this spring, I fabricated a steel insert and door for it. For the door I bought a tempered glass window out of an ovenon eBay, I think I payed $12 for it, then I made a steel
Frame out of 1/2"x2" bar stock and cut a 3/16 wide groove on a milling machine for the glass to sit in. Held the glass tight with heat proof silicone and held the frame together with stainless steel bolts. I also added a 1/4" wide groove around the inside of the window for a rope seal. I don't know if this setup would work for you but maybe something like it could be made.
Good luck with your build. I've been smoking food for years and find a brick smoker is the way to go. It takes about 3 hours to get mine up to temp because all those bricks take a while to get hot but once it is up to temp it doesn't move. I've smoked briskets for 20 hrs. and my smoker stayed exactly at 225 and never moved. I have my smoke pipe ( chimney flu ) coming in from the bottom right in the center, I also have a water pan directly above the flu . This works great to not only keep moisture in your smoker but to disperse the smoke more evenly. I recommend the water pan.. Keep me posted and good luck, it's a lot of work but the end result is well
Worth the effort.
Oh, and I cut the bottom out of an old woodburner for the firebox. Not only did it prove an ash pan , shaker grates, fire bricks but also a feed door and ash clean out door.