Building Charcoal smoker out of freezer

[davenh]

Continued again :).


I wanted the shelves easy to clean, plus I can't weld :). So I made the support brackets removable and a piece of expanded metal drops in on top. The removable cross pieces can also double as hangers if needed. The support bars drop into tab cutouts so they stay in place.

Mounted the heater and electronics. Made the pull out drip pan out of scrap aluminum and braised the corners with some Alumaloy rod. Added some drip deflectors to make sure everything ends up in the drip pan.

Adjustable damper on the stack.

 

[davenh]

Again :)



Made a platform out of PT 2x4's, dressed out in aluminum and added some wheels.

Ready to go.

First rib smoke on her.

Thanks for looking at my new toy :)).

 

[morkdach]

thanks for reposting this Dave its a great build whats in your bottle on top and where did you get your heating elem.

i think i'll repost the christene build since the weather is crap today wind chill i 9*

 

[billbo]

That is awsome Dave! Congrats and thanks for the great walk through. All that work finally paid off looks like! Points!!

 

[fire it up]

That is one fine looking smoker. Great job on it! I have to give you points, wish I could give you double points on it.
I have a question for you...
I am converting an old oven into a smoker and didn't think the insulation mattered. I removed the old insulation and was planning on just putting the unit back together once I was done without adding the insulation back. Is that not a good idea? Should I add insulating to the unit? I have the entire outside metal but wasn't even thinking about adding insulation between the skin and the actual smoker.
Thanks, anyone that can set me straight, I appreciate it...

 

[ronp]

That is a nice piece of work, thanks for all the pics. Nice ribs also.

 

[davenh]

Thanks guys, appreciate it :).

Terry...that's my apple juice spray bottle for the ribs

. Christene is a fine piece of equipment, please re-post it.



Fire it up...I would insulate all sides if you can. If you leave the wall cavity empty, you will still have hot air convection in the walls, hot air wants to move to cold. Insulation in the walls will slow that way down, reducing the thermal load and help the smoker maintain cooking temps and use less energy. Big help in colder or windy weather.

With my build, I can run hours at 330 and still leave my digital thermos on top, not much heat transfer to the outer shell.

 

[bacardi2001]

The gasket is a soft silicon rubber cord held on with Hi-Temp Permatex gasket adhesive

what does the cord look like and where did you get it? i want to try that for my silver smoker thanks.

 

[pineywoods]

Dave I don't know how I missed this thread but that is a work of art you did a fantastic job on it. You have talent

 

[heliboydoesbbq]

Well I always wanted to do this to a fridge.. I keep seeing likly canadates but as I still am a noob and like to fantasize about the build in my APT. The first one was an old bakealite scientific fridge thrown out by the Universtiy that I salvaged and turned into a dresser.. it had a really great door mechnism and the connection was a 45' bevel talk about sealing power !

THIS build is AWESOME!

I'm gonna do it eventually !!

 

[vegas_frak]

My brother and I want to build a fridge one day too - we are just trying to compile all the components now. Great pics - thanks for posting!!!

 

[badfrog]

Nice Nice Nice! any problems with the firebox being mounted directly to the aluminum? I know on my brinkman the firebox can get pretty hot...what is the "do not exceed" temp for aluminum? I have a old Traulsen commercial fridge I am thinking about converting; has aluminum inside and out - I would have assumed I would need to mount the firebox at least a few inches away and "pipe" it in.
Great job on yours...I am inspired!

 

[timmy7649]

does the type of insulation matter. im starting a old chest freezer conversion. also can you use the enameled insert that came with it. and can you leave the enamel on? any one please help.