Beef Jerkey in a RFS

kc chiefs fan · Jun 1, 2015

I have a large 250 gallon fuel tank smoker. I've been looking at different ways of smoking jerkey but they all seem to be over direct heat. Does anyone have any advice on how to make jerkey in a RFS? I would like a decent start before I ruin a bunch of meat.

daveomak · Jun 1, 2015

Get the RF idling along at 160 deg F.... have the jerky on cooling racks and put them on the food racks... rotate racks.... does your jerky recipe have cure #1 in it.... does your firebox have upper air inlets like the picture to adjust the temp in the cook chamber..... they are really handy to cool down a cook chamber and adjust the temperature....

Smoker Exh and Intakes 2.jpg

daveomak
Jun 1, 2015

kc chiefs fan · Jun 2, 2015

I'm at work but I will try to post pictures of my smoker later. It's ancient and was not built by anyone who knew what they were doing. The tank is basically cut in half with a wall in the middle. Half is my food chamber the entire other half is fire box. It's what I learned to smoke on. Only controls I have as far as heat go is leaving wood box door open, opening cook chamber door slightly, and a 6 inch vent I can screw in and out at the bottom of fire box. It's actually quite impressive the stuff I manage to cook after seeing some of the awesome smokers on here.

daveomak · Jun 2, 2015

Sounds like a somewhat "Jambo" design...... They work well..... Some pics and we can help you get it smoking first class...

Check out smoking-aces build... He is very happy with it's performance..

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/133493/first-big-smoker-build-advice-welcomed

kc chiefs fan · Jun 4, 2015

Took a couple days but here's my 30 year old little smoker that could.

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

The foil to block the rust hole.

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

cooking chamber

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

bottom of cooking chamber

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

hard to see but top of cooking chamber where the smoke goes over

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

door that I shove a tin strip in the top of to help control air flow

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

dampener

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

Fire box

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kc chiefs fan
Jun 4, 2015

warming rack

daveomak · Jun 5, 2015

Looks as if the smoker has seen a good life... maybe time to retire it.... There could be lots of salvageable parts from it to reuse... Some of the steel may be rusted to the point, there's not much left to weld to... You have a tough call to make here... what to save, what to reuse....
If you are just wanting to make jerky, look at other smoker builds in the smoker section... many can be made pretty easy for darn near nothing but used stuff... Pallets for wooden smoke houses... 55 gallon barrels for Ugly Drum Smokers...

Dave

gary s · Jun 5, 2015

I make jerky on my RF, Like Dave said looks like it has seen better days, you got your money's worth 30 years

Gary

kc chiefs fan · Jun 5, 2015

It's definitely a battle every time I cook. That huge FB that takes up half the smoker and holes in it make it a constant battle to maintain 225 and it takes a bunch of wood every time. At the risk of damage to my man card I will say my wife just graduated from welding school and I have 2 more tanks like that. She's going to build one once we get her a mig welder (her tool of choice I know nothing about welding) and a better torch.

gary s · Jun 5, 2015

That's Cool Congrats to her "and you --- new smoker" My #2 son and I build a new smoker or two every year, his wife will do some of the weld out.

Gary

daveomak · Jun 5, 2015

PLASMA torch is the only way to go.... I've got a Hypertherm plasma... it's sweet, fast and very inexpensive to operate.... I also have Ox/Acetylene for heating and bending stuff...

Beef Jerkey in a RFS

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SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

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SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

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SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

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Gone but not forgotten. RIP

SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

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