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jimmy8

jimmy8

Newbie
Original poster
May 31, 2015
14
10
Tonight I cut my whiskey barrel to create the lid .....

what an amazing smell!!!! and the whiskey at the bottom was great tasting!!!

jimmy
 
Hello Jimmy.  PICTURES!  We need PICTURES!! Scratch and sniff would be good.  
icon_biggrin.gif


Danny
 
Hi Jimmy.  Lookin good so far.  I like where you cut the lid.  Good division.  I am still curious as to how you will introduce hot coals into a wooden barrel.  I am SURE you have a plan and I also have ideas ( which might or might not work )  but interested in where you are going.  I'll bet that whiskey was GREAT!  Keep up the good work!

Danny
 
Hi Danny

I have decided to put in a 1500w single hot plate, I got one for £11 off Ebay.

I'm going to try this first and hopefully it works.

Waiting on my grills coming at the moment. My top grill will be about the same height as the top band on the barrel and the next grill will be about 8 inch below that.

What would you recommend for a thermometer???? there seems to be quite a few ways of going about it.

jimmy
 
Hello Jimmy.  Well the therm I would suggest is what the other member recommend and that would be to buy a Maverick 732-733 digital therm..  Dual probe so that you know the temp. in the smoker and the internal temp. (IT ) of the food you are smoking.  The IT is "CRITICAL".  Cook to IT and not time,

If I may offer my advice?  In that short squat barrel; 2 grill racks are the wrong way to go.  Looks to me as it is MAYBE knee high.  If you put 2 racks in that you will be constantly opening the top to shift food from one rack to the other.  The bottom rack will get too hot too fast.  Open the smoker and move the food top to bottom; lose heat and smoke; rinse and repeat!  OVER and OVER!  What's the plan for the fat drippings that will gather in the bottom of the barrel?  You will be ABSOLUTELY astounded at the amount of fat given off by smoking ONE chicken.  I don't mean to be abrupt.  I am just trying to help and offer my advice for what it is worth.  Just my thoughts.  Good luck.

Danny
 
Hi Jimmy - Welcome to the group

Danny is right about the fat. You may want to use your bottom grill rack to hold a roasting tray or even a sand tray. This will reduce your cooking area to just the one rack but, as Danny points out, you really don't want to keep opening and closing the smoker to rearrange the meat. The roasting tray will both act as a heat deflector and will help to keep the burner and the inside of the barrel clean.

Wade
 
Last edited:
Hi Danny

sorry for being a man of few words...not really got into this on-line thingy.lol

Yes its a 1500w electric hotplate. Waiting on my grills coming now .

The side door was a bit fiddly but the alu backing plate was a great help.

jimmy
 
Hello Jimmy.  I saw the electric cord but you take nothing for granted.  I hate to start rethinking at this stage but we didn't get much chance to offer advice beforehand.  Some ideas/thoughts are comfort, some are safety.  You say the barrel is 3ft. tall.  I assume you have a mental picture of where you want your top grill.  So, walk out to the barrel and stand in front of it.  Now consider you are just hot grilling 6 burgers, 6 sausages and 2 chicken legs ( cause there is always ONE! )  I don't know how tall you are but would you feel comfortable with flippin burgers or are some legs in order?  As we know heat rises.  Looks to me from the picture that the cord outlet is above the hotplate.  How hot that cord will get I guess you will just have to test.  Be careful!  I assume the door is there for you to control the heat on the hotplate?  I would have suggested legs on the smoker and take the cord out the bottom and no door.  Leave the hotplate on high, buy a cheap variable resistor type control and control the heat from the outside.  The aluminium on the door MAY be another issue.  Alu is a good heat conductor as we know.  It probably won't get hot enough in there but this will be another test.  If the wood starts smoking your smoker MAY be at risk so you will need to find some spacers so that the alu and the wood are not in direct contact.  Vents and exhaust.  What's the plan there?  Just some thoughts.  Trying to help.  Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
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