Danish smoker project

[Repscallion]

Hey guys,

I’ve been lurking and reading for a while now, but decided that it would be better and more fun if I contributed with something!

I work for a small brewery in Denmark and we have an idea about opening a brewpub/taphouse/smokehouse for our guests this spring. Right now everything is under lockdown, so no bars, restaurants etc are allowed to be open, but spring is around the corner and we, like everyone else can’t wait for some sun, a cold beer and some great food in friends company! In the beginning it will be mostly outside, maybe 100-150 guests and hopefully well expand.

Originally we were looking at an Oyler 1300, because we wanted to be ambitious, but reality was that lead time and price was a little too much. We found a (alot!) cheaper alternative in this used bad boy. It was rusty, berried in the bag of barn filled with junk, but we though the quality looked alright, size was good and price was realistic. Asking price 3200$ and we got it for 2200$.



Here is some more picture: casperjrgensen.imgur.com/all

Status right now is that I’ve hosed it down with a pressure cleaner to get the worst dirt/grease and rust out. And got a price for 900$ for sandblasting and painted! (great then I don’t have to spend a week achieving a shitty result! And then when I get it back ill season the inside and fire it up and I’m ready to start testing and getting to know it.

Tbh I dont have any experience bbq’ing/smoking other than backyard grilling, but I am a chef. So reading books, forums and watching youtube is my plan. Any recommendations?

I need to get some wood. I sense that oak is the most preferred, with some using apple, cherry, pecan, hickory etc. I need to look in to prices, we have alot of local beech and ash wood. What is the general consensus around wet vs dry wood?
Also, is it just me or is the firebox not designed in a way that makes it easy to scrape out ash?

I need to add heating isolated string on the doors.

I need to add a thermometer. What do people recommend? There is one hole in between the doors. But I feel I might need several probes to know the temperature close to the firebox, top of the barrel, close to the chimney etc and maybe a meat probe.

Can’t wait to start playing around with it, see how she handles or how much meat I can stick in it xD

 

[Winterrider]

Welcome to the Forum from North Dakota. Looks good. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[indaswamp]

Nice Smoker. Looks well built. Is it a reverse flow or just a horizontal flow? Link to more pictures is not working.

No wet wood. Creates more creosote and biter smoke. You want well seasoned wood (at least 6 mos. after cutting into logs or chunks) Beech and Ash are good mild woods. Oak is a dense wood, medium smoke, good for high BTUs and coals will last a good while. Great for heat when using flavor woods for smoke.

 

[Repscallion]

Winterrider Nice, I have a lot of family in Calgary, Alberta!

indaswamp It is not a reverse flow, as the smokestack and firebox is on either end.
try this link for the picture:

Good to know about 6 months for the wood, I'll get a bunch of different wood in and try it out. What is your fave wood?

 

[luvcatchingbass]

I spent a majority of a summer running just ash and oak that I cut and prepped myself here in North Dakota and had great results. As stated above by indaswamp correctly seasoned oak will give you better BTU and coal base with a little more stability and the ash (mine was especially dry) will not always hang on very long but it really did give a nice flavor, won't hurt to experiment a little with what you have accessible. As far as other woods my personal go to that seems to never fail is Pecan and Cherry with some of my white oak, depending how much I have I suppose I run 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 approximately. Good luck and let the learning and experiments begin

 

[Wurstmeister]

Welcome . Good looking smoker my friend. I like staying with the fruit tree woods for their even, mild flavor for meats. I'll use a small mix of mesquite for peppers and other meals when I want a stronger SW flavor. Since I use an MB electric smoker and offset wood grill unit, my wood is limited to chips (alder, beech, apple, peach, pecan, hickory, some mesquite) and some chunks/small pieces of local peach, oak, and pecan here in SC Looking forward to seeing your smoker in action!.

 

[indaswamp]

Good to know about 6 months for the wood, I'll get a bunch of different wood in and try it out. What is your fave wood?

I use what is available here in Louisiana. Red oak, White oak, Hickory, Pecan, Wild black cherry...a little bit of peach when I can get it from tree trimming at the orchard. Some fig tree wood on occasion. I like Pecan, but it depends on what I am smoking. I like sweet woods with pork...i.e pulled pork and ribs, etc...
Beef I prefer oak with either a little pecan or hickory. Rarely use mesquite.

 

[TuckersBarbeque]

That's a great looking smoker! Still can't see your pics, but raw and rusty it still looks gorgeous.

Definitely never wet wood. Oak is a great starting place for practice because it's cheap, but getting into cooks I'd always keep a mix of Mesquite, Hickory, and Pecan on hand.

Good luck!

 

[uncle eddie]

Nice looking smoker!

While I personally have not smoked on something of that size, it is similar to one used by a "now-closed" restaurant (he changed careers) that I spent a lot of time at. One thing he did to maintain the heat "just right" was to use a small squirrel cage fan. Depending on how hot or cold the fire was, he would move it off a distance or crowd the firebox with the fan...if it was even needed. On hot days the fan was aimed at him :-)

He typically smoked meats using oak with some hickory or pecan.

 

[Repscallion]

Thanks for all the replies.

I will visit the saw mill this week and see what they have available. For the wood, does it need to be logs or can I supplement with scraps, chips or sawdust?

Any tips on what to ask/look for at the sawmill, there is not a big tradition for wood fired smoking. We mostly just grill on webers with coal.

Any tips on thermometers? What is the best on the market?

/cheers

 

[joetee]

I like Thermoworks products. They are a great company and great products. Great service.
Thermopen.
Signals unit.

Also I don't think saw Mill scraps would be a good idea. You don't want any treated wood. Maybe someone else can chime in on this with more experience. No pine/fir sappy woods. Hard wood, fruit wood, and nut woods. There is a listing on here somewhere.

Log Splits burn best and longer. Moisture content 20% or less. Kiln dried is less desirable, to dry. I found a good supplier on Facebook who supplies restaurants. You can ask your local bbq joints where they get there wood.

 

[kmmamm]

Keep in mind, the saw mill is most likely processing green wood, as such, the moisture content is going to be too high to produce the results you want. If the saw mill has wood available, be picky. Scrap planks will most likely will have a lot of bark on them. Stay away from saw dust and chips...they will be a mix of different wet woods...and will not burn well at all. Some mills will trim ends off logs for various reasons (we call them “chunks” around here), if you can find hardwood chunks, you might have something to work with. Keep in mind the chunks will still need to be split and cured before using.
If the mill is doing a preservative/insecticide treatment, stay away from scraps of finished product, they most likely will be pine and the treatment can produce nasty byproducts in the smoke.
Try putting the word out to your customers that you are looking for certain hardwoods. There is an excellent chance someone knows of or has a source. Also a pretty good chance they might be willing to trade wood for brew and bbq.

 

[Repscallion]

The smoker is back from the sandblaster master (anyone else think Stevie wonder??)
And it looks beautiful! Wow, I'm really impressed by his job and thankful I didn't try to do that my self. See the attached pictures!

Next up, I seasoned the inside of the smoker with cooking oil (the chamber is big I had to crawl in..) and fired it up as hot as I could.. I had gotten some kiln dried beech wood from a local supplier, as it is proving difficult getting air dried wood (20%) right now - the wood burned nice and hot, and the smell was good. But I can see how it could be too dry and not produce enough smoke. I also have access to some old bourbon barrels and threw a piece in there and it smelled really nice.

Do you have any experience using barrel wood to add flavoured smoke? or even seasoning wood with 'other' liquids like e.g dark beer???

it also showed that alot of heat escapes through the door, the one door is a little bend and the isolation gasket is worn off, so I have to get som new.

I used a gas burner to get the smoker extra hot, and I can see that the bottom grate is showing a little rust again close to where the gas flame is. I think the air pressure might have removed some of the oil, so I might give that an extra oil for seasoning.

Do you think one time seasoning is good enough or should I give the whole smoker another go?

Next step is finding a good thermometer. Im looking for a digital one, so I can have several temperature probes and get a good feeling on the temperature difference in the cooking chamber.

I have been looking at Thermoworks smokeX4, but it is currently sold out - and plus shipping to Denmark might be an issue since I kinda need a thermometer soon.

Also I have been looking at Enzoo wireless thermometer , it also has 4 probes but is significantly cheaper compared to the thermoworks (45$ vs 169$). Which makes me little unsure, since I dont want to spend time with subpar equipment.

Do you have any experience with these or have any recommendations?


Cheers!

 

[kmmamm]

You are making progress. My experience with barrel staves is they smell good and make nice oak smoke, however, I can’t really tell that the booze actually “adds” anything to the finished product. You probably should wipe the grate down and re season the interior before doing your first cook. I have found the easiest way to get everything coated is to use spray cans of canola oil. Sometimes it takes two or three cycles to get them seasoned. Once you have it seasoned, a couple low and slow cooks of brisket or pork butts will seal the deal. Once you have the probe mounted, it might be prudent to load the grates with oiled baking potatoes (do not wrap them in foil) and do a three hour cook at your target temp. It will be tempting, but don’t open the lid before the time expires. Those sacrificial spuds will quickly tell you where the hot spots are. Some guys use biscuits, but I much prefer large russet potatoes because they will stand up to a longer cook with out becoming carbon.....the longer cook better captures the temp swings that result from adding fuel, changing inlet air settings, etc. Once I have identified the hot spots fully loaded, I will do a couple more potato bakes in configurations that mimic less than fully loaded cooks. Taters are cheap as compared to meat.
That 90 degree bend on the exhaust is a bit concerning, as it is adding a lot of resistance in the air flow....might be ok, but if you have trouble getting the cc up to your target temps, and seem to be burning a lot of wood, it might be something to investigate.

 

[Alphonse]

You asked earlier about books to read. I recommend you read these two:
1. Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto
2. Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

Franklin's book is a great read about his life, business, and BBQ. The Meathead book is not as exciting to read but is fantastic and most of it is based on sound science of BBQ. Both are worthwhile for anyone on an accelerated path to cooking BBQ.

Great looking smoker by the way!

 

[Repscallion]

You are making progress. My experience with barrel staves is they smell good and make nice oak smoke, however, I can’t really tell that the booze actually “adds” anything to the finished product. You probably should wipe the grate down and re season the interior before doing your first cook. I have found the easiest way to get everything coated is to use spray cans of canola oil. Sometimes it takes two or three cycles to get them seasoned. Once you have it seasoned, a couple low and slow cooks of brisket or pork butts will seal the deal. Once you have the probe mounted, it might be prudent to load the grates with oiled baking potatoes (do not wrap them in foil) and do a three hour cook at your target temp. It will be tempting, but don’t open the lid before the time expires. Those sacrificial spuds will quickly tell you where the hot spots are. Some guys use biscuits, but I much prefer large russet potatoes because they will stand up to a longer cook with out becoming carbon.....the longer cook better captures the temp swings that result from adding fuel, changing inlet air settings, etc. Once I have identified the hot spots fully loaded, I will do a couple more potato bakes in configurations that mimic less than fully loaded cooks. Taters are cheap as compared to meat.
That 90 degree bend on the exhaust is a bit concerning, as it is adding a lot of resistance in the air flow....might be ok, but if you have trouble getting the cc up to your target temps, and seem to be burning a lot of wood, it might be something to investigate.

Taters to test is a great idea, thx! - It felt so nice firing up the smoker, but also like fuck - there is still some way to go before I can start cooking meat.

Yeah, I think Ill need another go at seasoning. What temperature to you aim at for that?

You asked earlier about books to read. I recommend you read these two:
1. Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto
2. Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

Franklin's book is a great read about his life, business, and BBQ. The Meathead book is not as exciting to read but is fantastic and most of it is based on sound science of BBQ. Both are worthwhile for anyone on an accelerated path to cooking BBQ.

Great looking smoker by the way!

Thanks! I am really excited, but also getting scared, lol - I guess thats part of it.

I already Franklins, but I'll look into meathead!

 

[kmmamm]

I try to season holding around 350F for an hour and then let the fire die out naturally. I have had best luck by keeping the cc door closed throughout the cycle. 350F is the target temp, but it isn‘t an absolute. If your smoker can’t get there without supplemental heat, no worries, just do the best the fb can manage. If it is as cold up there as it is around here, a cheap welding blanket draped over the cc will help tremendously.