What im working with. "Pic heavy"

deltadude · Feb 6, 2010

Take your tape measure, go to a Restaurant supply place that has lots of used equipment. See if you can find a heavy duty stainless mixing bowl. Cut the bottom out.

Or call around to sheetmetal shops ask if they have any stainless strips from previous projects, if you find a friendly shop the will cut it too size, fold a the two long edges in a brake so you won't cut your hands, and either spot or tack weld to form a circle, you might be surprised how little they would charge if you promise them a couple smoked butts.

rickw · Feb 6, 2010

That sure looks like a heck of a smoker for the $$$$. I would try some expanded metal and raise the sides. If you can get 12 hours out of one load you wouldn't need to refill with wood or fuel.

bronxbbq · Feb 6, 2010

Got some expanded metal today and pick up some SS hardware. Should work out really good. Now back to preping Fatties and ABTs.

cheech · Feb 6, 2010

I love the idea of the tv connectors thanks for the idea

ga.rick · Feb 7, 2010

i bought mine from brandsmart for $67 and some change that was in stockbridge ga. have not even fired it up yet, glad to see all the mods guys, thanks
good smok'n from griffin gawga.

wmarkw · Feb 10, 2010

Well mine arrived today w/ a big dent on the lip of the lower body and several deep paint removed scratches on the inside of the lid. So I called Bargain Outfitters, got a nice CSR and she is sending me out a new one tomorrow. And also a pre-paid shipping label send the damaged unit back. Sucks as I wanted to break this bad boy in but I have no problem playing w/ my smoke vault. Pain in the ass but realy good customer serive. Also, she said they have several of these in stock. I'm not sure how mine got banged up, the outside box looked fine so I don't think it happened during shipping but the tape job looked like crap and I had some missing hardware so I think I got a re-bagged unit.

Hopefully next weekend I'll be good to go.

dman1101 · Feb 18, 2010

Thanks BronxBBQ for the heads up on the price, got mine in the mail today. I am so stoked for this weekend I got a picnic roast waiting in wait for it's maiden voyage. Thanks again and post up some more of your mods and how they are working

wmarkw · Feb 21, 2010

Thanks Bronx for helping me out. Here are the mods I did this weekend. I fixed some heavy duty chicken wire on the charcoal basket to give me more room for coals. Works very well so far but I may snip the side by the door so I can access the basket easier. I also picked up an old smokey BT1 thermo from academy sports for $9 and adapted that as well. Calibrated just fine. I seasoned it up yesterday and did a pork butt and ABTs today. I'll post that in the pork forum. I've done a few weber kettle smokes but this would be my first live fire smoke w/ a true smoker. It was an interesting but very fun adventure. Had some issues stablizing temps and this was my first go with the minon method. Overall I had fun and eager to get something back on there next weekend.

Bronx maybe we should make this an official CB double chef thread?

I did bend down the tops

dman1101 · Feb 22, 2010

That looks great I need to make my charcoal basket bigger as well plus I need to drill some holes for my cable barrels(Thanks Bronx, I actually work at a large cable company and never even thought of using a barrel) but those will have to wait another day got a roast and a fatty tomorrow morning. I agree make it an official sticky on the char grill charcoal h20 smoker.

wmarkw · Feb 22, 2010

I agree on the cable barrels. That's my next mod. I was fighting my probe wires like crazy yesterday.

bronxbbq · Feb 22, 2010

Just remember to cut off one end of the threads. I use a ET-73. The curve of the meat thermo wouldnt thread though untill i did this. It also was easy to remove the inards. I used a Dremel cut off wheel.

dman1101 · Feb 22, 2010

Already did, just waiting till tomorrow to drill the holes cause I'm smoking now

chicagochris · Feb 24, 2010

Thanks for the info on this rig. Seriously thinking about adding one to the arsenal soon.

the big dawg · Feb 26, 2010

The metal valve stems used on car rims work good for temp probe access posts also.

Simply leave the internal parts out.

phrogs4ever · Feb 26, 2010

Got my Double Chef from UPS two days ago. Burned it in yesterday. I also took the opportunity to see how hot it would get initially and how long/steady it could hold temperature. I only used a single layer of Kingsford charcoal along the bottom and used fifteen briquettes in the starter chimney. I closed the first vent at 200 deg F and the second bottom vent at 250 deg F, and it still got up to 350. That tells me that I can get away with using maybe 10-12 briquettes to start and should get a solid 5-6 hours of 225-250 smoking out of a full basket. For those of you that use Kingsford, how much do you usually use to get started?

Oh, and I used a 12" thermometer through the top vent pushed through a cork adjusted to read the temps at the top rack. No water in the pan.

dman1101 · Feb 26, 2010

I used lump charcoal just filled the pan and kinda stacked it up on the sides then did 7 kingsford briquets to get everything up and running it stayed at 240 for almost 8 hours

dman1101 · Mar 9, 2010

Have any of you guys with this smoker run into the paint not holding up to the heat? I let my coals burn out last night and this morning I have two spots on outside where the paint is starting to peel, not sure if it was because a piece of coal fell off onto the outside of fire basket (haven't modded it so it has higher side walls next on list) or if it is just crappy paint.

thanks Derek

phrogs4ever · Mar 21, 2010

That sounds like you had some hot coal up against the side. I've had five smokes on mine so far this year and I just checked, no paint issues on the outside. I haven't mod'd mine yet either, so I'm careful not to get too much coal in there initially. Since I haven't needed the lower cooking grate, I set the water pan on top of the grate to fit more charcoal in. I still only get four hours burn off the initial load.

david4king · Mar 23, 2010

I got one because of this post. It is my first smoker!!! I have done all the mods I saw on this thread. I don't understand why you need the flower pot base? It does not do anything. Also I am have trouble fitting my new thermo in. The washers I put on the back don't make a tight seal. I got the same one as you guys, how did you do it? I mean the back of the new one is il 1/4 and the hole is 2". I put washeres in it, but the washers are flat and the smoker is round. What do I do?

jjw · May 1, 2010

what do you do about the lid sticking?

What im working with. "Pic heavy"

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