Aluminum fryer basket as a charcoal basket

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mattslot

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2016
2
10
I picked up a 55 gallon drum to build my first UDS, and was shopping around for components when I found this on Amazon:



It's an aluminum basket for a fryer: 10" diameter, 12" deep, with a sturdy handle built into it. It has plenty of holes in the sides and the bottom, but it's not mesh like most of the examples. More importantly, at $33, it's comparable to building my own from parts.

I'd still need to build legs and/or an ash catcher, but this looks like it might last longer than almost any other part of the smoker.

Thoughts?
 
The aluminum may melt in a hot charcoal fire..  then you'd be out the $33 and have to buy steel mesh to build a new basket...  and your food would be covered with aluminum oxide dust...
 
A 2' X 4' sheet of Expanded Metal, depending on gauge, is $10 to $20 and can be bent to any size you want. I agree with Dave, Aluminum melts just over 1200°F and red hot burning charcoal will get there...JJ
 
I tried one that I had laying around. It did okay, but when I used my weed burner to light it melted near the top.

Expanded metal some bolts for legs and a pizza pan as an ash catcher works great. Buy a 12" Weber grate for the bottom. If you don't weld you can wire it all together.
 
Thanks everyone. I picked up the materials to make my own basket... getting excited to try it out.
 
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