First attempt on offset smoker/grill (80 gallon air-compressor tank)

[Turftech]

Our air compressor needed replacing and I decided to build a smoker out of the old one. 80 gallon tank. Never done one before and the only smoking I've ever done were fish on my little electric smoker.

I
This is where I made my first mistake. Totally ignorant of the science behind a smoker build..I made my fire box way too small.

I made my charcoal grate for grilling.


At this point, I've watched quite a bit of youtube videos on smoker builds and decided to use 5/16 stainless steel rods for my cooking grate.

This is where I made another mistake. I was really proud of the precise I was cutting the rods for the grate, not realizing that heat will cause expansion and bow up my cooking grate.



Another mistake I made not realizing it until yesterday is how important the size of the smoke stack was.




I burned everything before I started my "seasoning" process.


I realized during the "burn" that I didn't have sufficient airflow in my firebox.


Decided to run her through a couple of test runs.





After the test runs I decided to enlarge the firebox.




I forgot to mention. Somewhere during the build, I realized that the wheels I had on really didn't match the whole look.


After a quick internet search...

Now back to the current situation. After building increasing the size of the firebox and firing it up, I now realize that I need a bigger smokestack. Another thing that I fail to mention is the fact that my young assistant helped me with a LOT of work on this thing. Halfway through the project, I was letting him do most of the welding and all of the cutting and grinding. I was looking for a specific science behind the smokestack and it led me to this page. Oh how I wish I found this page first. But once I put a bigger smokestack and try it out I will give you guys what I hope to be the final update....Until I get another tank and do it the right way from start to finish.

 

[JC in GB]

Nice metal working skills. Good luck on your build.

 

[Turftech]

Nice metal working skills. Good luck on your build.

Thanks, JC!

 

[Plinsc]

Looks great!