Continental Freezer, worth the work?

[Ronyon]

Hi, I'm totally to smoking, as in the only regular smoking I've done is in a modified Big Easy Infrared Turkey Fryer, which I have been told isn't real smoking at all.
A few years ago I did a huge multi device cook with my sister, a chef, and her husband.
We muddled through and made some nice money out of it, but we were winging it,and it was exhausting.
With things opening back up I want to equip my family to do some catering the right way.

The file cabinet smokers appealed to me, but the potential toxins in the paint did not...I saw a nonfunctioning all stainless steel commercial freezer on an auction site and I won it , for 23 bucks.
Then I did enough reading to realize the insulation was gonna be a problem...

Since then I've read a lot of the threads about these kind of conversions, and I'm wondering if I should just keep this fridge and use it as a cold smoker, or preferably as a dehydrator.
I would then start my hot smoker quest over again with a sheet pan rack, or even build one from steel studs and line it with aluminum flashing.

So, what do yall think?

 

[slapaho_injun]

If it’s a fridge, you’ll need to figure out what type insulation is in it. If it’s the yellow foam, you’ll have to remove all of it. I’ve seen some nice projects made from warming cabinets and they already have the correct insulation in them. You still have to remove some wiring and other components.

check out the fridge build section here to see a variety of projects. Mine is an old 1950’s Crosley fridge smoker. It works fantastic as a straight stick burner. It’s got and independent fire box and roxul insulation. With steel prices up so high now, I’d hate to see what it would have cost to build it today.

 

[Ronyon]

I wish it were a warmer, I lost the bid on that!
So you got yours cheap,put in the work and got great results.
I'm still on fence about what to do, but I've already told the wife about it, so the hardest part is over!
Now to go get it and see how hard it is to take apart.

 

[slapaho_injun]

I wish it were a warmer, I lost the bid on that!
So you got yours cheap,put in the work and got great results.
I'm still on fence about what to do, but I've already told the wife about it, so the hardest part is over!
Now to go get it and see how hard it is to take apart.

I got my Crosley for $20 at an estate sale and it still had cold beer and pop in it. I was recently given a big stainless, double door commercial fridge. I had it out beside my shed for a few month, with intentions to rip all of the yellow foam insulation out of it and make it a bigger version of my stick burner fridge smoker. After much research, I gave it away. Figured if the Crosley took 4 month, about 14 cases of beer and a grand total of $629.......I wasn’t up for it. My fridge smoker works so good for what I need, there isn’t any point to taking on the expense and headache.

 

[crazzycajun]

Unless your highly motivated I would use it as a warmer or a cold smoker. It unlikely that once you rip that skin off to get to the insulation it will go back together without some serious sheet metal work

 

[Ronyon]

I hauled it home...
Its a nice box, and I am definitely gonna use it for a cold smoker, dehydrator or such.
If it were functional as a fridge, I suppose I could safely cold smoke meats before or after they were cooked, but without that functionality I think I still need a hot smoker.

To that end I am considering building a box from scratch, using steel studs for the framework,, rock wool for the insulation and aluminum flashing for the interior.
This seems strait forward and pretty darn simple, but I haven't seen any such builds, so I must be missing something.

 

[slapaho_injun]

Seems to me that I read somewhere to avoid any galvanized steel and also aluminum. Most people use stainless or regular carbon steel sheets. I used the latter. Just be sure to use mineral spirits on a rag to wipe them clean of any residual oil and be sure to burn off any excess with a really hot first burn. Then I used cooking spray to have a layer on before seasoning and also before every smoke I do the same cooking spray layer. Regular sheet steel is a lot cheaper and works fantastic once it’s seasoned.

 

[Ronyon]

Carbon steel sheets at Menards cost more one 2'x4' sheet than a 20"x 50 foot roll of flashing.
The off gassing temperatures for galvanized steel seems to be very high, up over 600 F.
The melting points seem to be much higher still.
I'm eager to avoid overbuilding...

 

[Ronyon]

So I was looking around the site and found this:
Smoker Finished and Smoking.
Wazoo used a layer of Hardie board under his aluminum lining, and a wood frame.
He also used thicker aluminum layer than what I proposed.
I think I will adopt the hardi board, it should really stiffen the structure and create a thermal break between the aluminum lining and steel studs.

 

[slapaho_injun]

I bought all the carbon steel from the scrap place/junkyard. They were new scrap, never used. Must have been cutoffs from full sheets but worked perfectly for my needs.