They call it a Jimmy!

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hamrhead1971

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
661
59
Central Louisiana
I finally had some time to build my new toy, the jumbo mini. First, let me start by thanking jarjarchef jarjarchef for all his suggestions and advice, you were a huge help my man.
Started out with a jumbo joe. On jarjar's suggestion, instead of multiple smaller inlets, I installed a single 1 1/2" ball valve

Made the standard charcoal basket.

The worst part was cutting the bottom out of a brand new 80 quart stainless steel steamer pot.

The plasma made a nice cut.

Laid out where I wanted my rack brackets.

I wanted adjustable racks so I cut brackets out of some 3/4" aluminum angle.

Felt the temp drop a little so I looked out across the back of my place and saw this.
And this

Had to modify the new grates so they would fit past the angle brackets.
The grates go in flat edge against the brackets then spin to fit inside the slots cut in the brackets.

The jumbo Joe's rack sits on top of the brackets, which I left two inches below the top of the pot.

Now of course I can't be trying to deal with putting racks in or taking the out while the smoker is going so I gotta make something and what better to use than scrap that's laying around.

Came up with this.

Made two and they work great.
As you can tell, I thought about this while seasoning the Jimmy.
That huge 1 1/2" ball valve is handy for doing the side light method instead of using a chimney also.
Seasoning went well. Didn't get rock solid temp control, but got it to sit at 229 for thirty minutes. Went in to eat a bite came back an hour later and it was at 236. Not bad but ordered some lavalock gasket to seal top and bottom of the pot to help control air leaks better.
So here is the almost finished product.
Hope to do the virgin smoke this weekend for Father's day, stay tuned for que view.

Thanks for looking.
 
Looks great! After a few cooks you will find that there is no need for gasket material to seal it up. I can barely pull the lid off my mini's without picking up the pot too.
 
Looks great! I like the adjustable brackets and handles you made. That should make life very easy while things are hot. As said by dirtsailor2003 over time you will build up some residue and some of the gaps will seal themselves. Your temps will also get more stable as you cook more in it. Rain and wind will effect the temps, so have a plan for that.

Great job! Now get it dirty.....
 
Looks great! After a few cooks you will find that there is no need for gasket material to seal it up. I can barely pull the lid off my mini's without picking up the pot too.


Looks great! I like the adjustable brackets and handles you made. That should make life very easy while things are hot. As said by dirtsailor2003 over time you will build up some residue and some of the gaps will seal themselves. Your temps will also get more stable as you cook more in it. Rain and wind will effect the temps, so have a plan for that.

Great job! Now get it dirty.....

Thank you, gentlemen. I will still use the gasket material under the pot since I have to remove the pot to get to my charcoal basket.
One question, how do most of yall run your therm probes? Thru the top vent or a port in the side of the pot or just between the lid and pot?
 
I run my probes between the lid and pot.
That is how I ran mine while seasoning, but wasn't sure how the wires would hold up to the repeated bending at that angle.

Nice another Jimmy is born! Did you put on a sear handle?

If you don't know what i mean just scroll down to about the middle of my build thread.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/151317/jumbo-joe-build-into-a-jumbo-mini-introducing-the-jimmy
Haven't done one yet. Had the all thread but no washers and nuts to fit. That is also on my short to do list.
 
[quote name="hamrhead1971" url="/t/206636
Haven't done one yet. Had the all thread but no washers and nuts to fit. That is also on my short to do list.[/quote]

Don't know if it's too late or not since you already have your ball valve in but I lined up the vent handle that hitting a leg is 100% closed and lining up with the ball valve 100% open...in between 50% Its nice to know where the vent is in relation to those two things....although you can maybe do markings
 
Looking forward to the results. Exciting build...Hmmm I bet that smoke just filled the neighborhood up, Mmmmm
 
So I had planned on going all out on my first cook on the Jimmy but as they always do, my plans changed. Went ahead on Sat and put some beer can burgers and abts in the MES 40.

Decided to wait and start the brisket early Sun, thought twice about having the first smoke being an overnighter seeing as to how I am not familiar with the jumbo yet. Planned on having the smoker going and putting the brisket on by 7am, turned into 9am.
Filled the basket with Kingsford and apple chunks and put the torch to it at 8am. Temp hit 210, shut bottom vent closed side valve to 1/4 open. At 235 closed side valve completely. Closed the top vent at 275. At 290, removed the pot, placed the lid on the jumbo joe bottom. Removed all the racks, turned the pot over and ran a strip of lavalock gasket around bottom edge of the pot. Reassembled everything and replaced the maverick 733. By this time the fire had died down without the pot on, maverick read 160ish. At 215 shut ball valve to 1/4 open, temp settled at 228. Got impatient and put the brisket, 8.7 lbs, on at 9am. Fought temp control for a while before me and the smoker settled on 235.
At 12:30 temp stalled at 151. At 4 it finally hit 153. Bumped temp to 250. Bumped again to 275 at 8 when IT was still 167. Pulled it early as it was getting late at ten, IT 181. Flat wrapped and in ice chest to rest, point cubed, sauced, and back in the smoker along with Dutchs beans for 2 hours.

Fresh from the smoker

Flat sliced. Decent lil smoke ring

Burnt ends.

Dutchs beans

So here's the rundown.
As far as the jumbo mini, I was very pleased once I put the gasket on the pot bottom. It held steady temps with minimal adjusting. The first basket gave me almost 10 hours of burn at around 235 degrees so I am pretty happy with that.
The brisket was decent. Could have used more seasoning and the flat was on the dry side.
 
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