275 Gallon RF Build

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crakam

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2016
19
10
Hi everyone, new kid on the block so to speak. I've been loping around here for a month or so...learning. I have started a build, and i am so glad I found this sight. Any input of course is greatly appreciated. I have always enjoyed cooking, especially smoking (or what i thought was smoking). My first 10-15 years, I used a Brinkman sidebox unit like you would find in a dept store, it worked fine for what we were doing...then my wife bought me a green egg...I love my egg, and that lead me to whole new world of cooking. That has been several years now and last month i happened on a trailer and tank for cheap and thought this is definitely something I want to do and learn more about. I love building and I love cooking. 

So the progress begins...oh and..yes I started cutting before I had read enough, but I don't think I'm too far out of the ballpark yet.

Drew off what I thought I wanted to be doors....did not cut though


My dad talked me into something different....so i cut the WHOLE door out. 


It took until this point for me to get smart and find SMF. Then I read for a few days.er uh..a week or so...but I was excited to have a few days off for Thanksgiving, so I knocked out some cutting for the FB. Man, I went thru THREE 4.5" grinders..smoked'em..fire and everything. I mean they were the best Harbor Freight carries..go figure. And I hadn't even finished cutting up the FB at that point. 

Don't try to read my scribbles, those number changed anyway. You can see where I was already preparing to add another inch of height to FB/CC opening. And yep I cut from the existing single door, the center section and welded it back in place. It took some major cum-along action to get that gap back together. She aint jes right, but hey, the single door my dad wanted weighed about 150 lbs. and wanted multiple racks.


Made a trip to the metal supply warehouse...the tank and all other materials are 1/4" 


After my third grinder bit the dust, i broke down and took my remaining 1/4" FB material to a shop that has a big shear. that made easy work finishing the FB cuts. My little mig doesn't have much of a duty cycle, so I spent the better part of a day just welding.




FB is getting VERY heavy at this point. Had to put it on a dolly just to scoot it around. 


So this is all the pictures I have right now. I did make a door for hole you see above. I'll get some pictures this weekend and hopefully get far enough to see if the FB fits like it should against the CC. BTW the FB is 32x31x24. The ID of the CC is 30.5W x 91L. 

I would like to work the CC from the side of the this trailer, not inside/on it, but standing on the ground. I think the height will be fine, but a friend of mine seems to think with all the weight to one side that the trailer will suffer, or in his words, 'capsize'. thoughts on this? i was hoping to add maybe a warming box on the other side, and maybe a couple gas burners and wood storage. The trailer is 5x8. 
 
Finished up the FB this weekend...almost. still lack a door for the upper vent. 




Finally had a little help to sit it up on the trailer. upper vent totals 30 "sq and the bottom will total 50"sq. 





We were able to get the RFP inside the CC with only a few curse words and couple beers. it fit perfect before we started welding the inside of the CC to the FB, now its off a little bit. I will have more pics this week hopefully. 



on a side note...I brine'd and smoked some thick cut porkchops on the BGE yesterday and made some of Jeff's BBQ sauce. I impressed myself. the kids liked it too! 
sausage.gif
 
Nice build.  Makes life easy when you have a front end loader.   I guess your dad was planning on using that to open and close the CC door :)   

The smoker is going to be quite tall on the trailer. Are you going to be able to open the door fully?
 
the door does open a full 90 degrees and stops on the fender. I have considered height an issue, so nothing is permanently mounted to the trailer frame at this point. 
 
Looks good with the door seals welded internally.

I would add some bracing to the hinge, ( maybe some flat bar on edge) .  You have 6" or more of unsupported round bar.   Slam that heavy door a few times and it will bend out of alignment.

In my last post I was refferring to the cooking chamber doors to open them fully.
 
 
Looks good with the door seals welded internally.

I would add some bracing to the hinge, ( maybe some flat bar on edge) .  You have 6" or more of unsupported round bar.   Slam that heavy door a few times and it will bend out of alignment.

In my last post I was refferring to the cooking chamber doors to open them fully.
i havent considered reinforcing the round stock, do you have any design ideas? about the vent doors , yes, they both will open fully with the slide baffles. 
 
i need some help! I calculated my ESV to be 1414 cubic inches which would equate to a 7" ID pipe about 36 inches tall . my local supplier only keeps 6" in stock. can i use this and be okay, or do i need to order the 7" ? 
 
will a 50" long 6" pipe work okay or should i go bigger and shorter? 
 
test fire went very well. i need to add some braces to the door so it doesnt want to warp when it gets hot. temps stayed within 10degrees of each other. kept her going for about 3 hours. today is the real test. ribs going on in about 3 hours. 


 
i was referring to the FB door not the CC doors. 
 
last weekend we did 20 pork chops, 10lbs of chicken quarters, 3 racks of ribs and a 12lb brisket. All of that took up about 20% of the rack space. Everything was a huge hit! I used Jeffs rub on the brisket and ribs (2-2-1) If i can afford to feed it wood and buy the meat, I will be in business! 
 
Looking good.

Sense of achievement is a great feeling when you finish a job.

Expect to make los of "friends" when you start cooking. 
 
i used 3/4" angle and cut one side down to about 5/16. that left a little wiggle room for the 1/4" plate (door) to slide
 
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