Found a burner for smokehouse

[pops6927]

I'm planning on building my own wooden smokehouse week after next, provided my vacation coverage allows me to go on vacation 2/13-19. I'm winging it on the design, modeling it after the smokehouses my dad used in his store (Koch) in a scaled down version. But, the one thing I've struggled with was to get the right burner and have exhaustively been searching for different ones; I've finally settled on what I believe is a good one; not too tall, right BTU, adjustable, moderate priced. Please take a look and tell me what you think or recommend something better; I'd appreciate it!

These are at Northern Tool:

Propane Burner:

heater & hose:

The heater has 3 adjustable burners on it so you can tailor your heat, and the reviews include one from someone who is using it for his own homemade smoker.

Check it out and let me know what you think? Also, may add a needle valve to it for even more control.

 

[pops6927]

Here's the link on the needle valve:

From Ace Hardware:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/...mxGXydrqF6SOoktsN2AZZWDaBAFFtLUUaAoYHEALw_wcB

 

[mballi3011]

Hey Pops check with Jerry he has the prints for a nice box. There are may of them here and some are really well built and trimmed too. But check out the new build section they have just put in this site.

 

[dick bullard]

Have you looked at this one......$10 cheaper....all cast iron.....30-35,000 BTU....self -igniter....two burners that can be operated seperatelly (small and large) and the controls are far enough away from the burner that as you can see from my pic they can be outside the smoker.....check out this link first to see the ad for the burner...!

http://www.savezoneusa.com/shop/step1.php?number=609





Well built and works like a charm....as you see in the ad, it comes with its' own hose and regulator.....

Thought you should at least take a look at this choice.....good luck !!!

Rick

*This link is no longer valid and should be ignored.*

 

[pops6927]

Looks like a good burner, but what about the square tube frame holding it? Is that available also? Have no means of fabricating one.

 

[beer-b-q]

The one from Northern should work fine Pops...

 

[pops6927]

Wanting to put some sort of gasket material on the inside of the door to seal it when closed; I did a search on the internet and came up with a company called "The Davlyn Group" that sells all sorts of high temp gasket material. What they recommended was a ¼" high temp (up to 1000°) fiberglass rope with stove gasket cement to afix. I had several correspondences with Kimberly, their sales rep who was very helpful. Their website: http://www.thedavlyngroup.com/
They offer a 25' roll with a 3 oz. stove gasket cement tube for $50. Is this reasonable or can you get this type of rope gasket elsewhere that's more reasonable and from where? Thanks for your help!

 

[pops6927]

Went to Northern Tool yesterday off I35 south of Sycamore School Rd. Started my vacation yesterday; still alot of snow on the ground. But, I got a great deal on my burner and parts!
Got the burner above, a 12' hose and regulator for $37.99 instead of the 5' (so I can keep the tank to the back of the porch away from the hot direct Texas sun) and a case of Forstner bits! I needed one to drill holes for dowel hangers and expected to pay $15 - $20 for one. Northern Tool had this complete set:



on sale for $23.99! They're super and all the reviews were great! I absolutely could not believe what a deal it was!

So, I'm going up to the counter and an employee tells me, "Hey, grab a bucket.. anything you can fit into it you get 15% off!" So.. I put the hose and the Forstners in the bucket, get up to the counter and balance a corner of the box the burner's in on the top and grin, "Hey, does this count?!" and she just smiles and said, "Hell yeah, I'll give you the 15% off just for originality!" lol! All told it was about $105 then the 15% off I walked out, including tax, for $97!
My older son's coming over today to go get the wood with me; I've already slid the snow out of the back of the truck (went to Walmart last night and got groceries and there was a foot of snow in the bed. I smiled and told my wife, "Uhhh wait a sec.." dropped the tailgate and carefully backed out of the parking space, then floored it! PLOP! All the snow slid right out onto the ground! lol!). The build is on!

 

[pops6927]

Also ordered the needle valve pictured above and ordered 100 36" ham netting bags and 12 hooks from Butcher Packer; 95% of product I'll do will be bagged and hung (like my dad's hams pictured below), or sausages and franks hung on dowels also.

 

[pops6927]

Started the build today; oldest son and I went and got most all needed for it; here's the hardware:

and the woods, shingles, drip edge, cinder blocks, etc.:

sides cut out:

base constructed, ready to be covered with the 1' waste from the sides (that's why there's two center studs), plus to support the weight of the cinder blocks and burner:

firring strips being glued onto one side, have to do the other tomorrow (out of clamps! lol!). Assembly will be front and back sides with furring strips, left and right sides glued and screwed into them, all 4 screwed to the base (firring strips stop at 2x4 mark at bottom). Roof attached with furring strips on left and right sides and an off-center stud to accommodate 2'x4' waste from the back and 1½'x4' waste from the front; will be a 2 pc roof, screwed and glued to the center stud plus to the outer edge firring strips, then drip edged and covered with shingles. It will be partially protected by the porch so not using felt underneath.

Burner ready to go! I've got cinder block to put under it (plywood pic), 4 -1 ft squares, then will stand up 4 around it as a fire shield:

This is the first project I've built since my stroke; hard handling the skilsaw, have made a few mistakes and miscuts, but it's getting better; please allow some errors to show!

 

[csmith2884]

great start..I will be watching this one, since I plan to do this myself this spring.

 

[timtimmay]

Thats gonna be great. You will have a ton of capacity!

 

[morkdach]

looken good Pops.
great to see ya geten this project up & going

keep us all updated

 

[davef63]

nice job pops, looks good so far, have fun, dont push it.
dave

 

[marty catka]

No apologies necessary. Looks like you are going to have yourself a great smoker! Looking forward to watching the progress. Keep up the good work.

 

[athabaskar]

Hey Pops, if you are still looking for high temp gasket material and adhesive you might try an Ace Hardware store. I got mine at Elliott's in Dallas where they sell it by the foot in different thicknesses. I don't know if every Ace does that, and that might be a bit of a drive for you. Try letting your fingers do the walking and call some nearby Ace stores. Good luck on your build!

 

[pops6927]

Ace has literally disappeared from southern Fort Worth area. Don't know why, there's not much left in a good hardware store. But, I'll look up the closest one and check it out; thanks for the tip!
I'm mounting my doors overlapping the plywood enough I am going to try just running a high temp silicone bead around and cover with plastic, then shut the doors and let it dry and conform. It won't be directly exposed to the heat; I'll see how that works first. If not, I"ll track down an Ace hardware store... like I can't get outta there without spending way too much.. but it's toys.. I love toys!

 

[pops6927]

Got quite a bit done today. Skinned the top of the base with the waste from the sides (36" out of 48", 12" strips), utilizing the scrap. Good solid base.

Attached firring strips to the tops of the sides to anchor roof.

Drilled out the dowel hangers with a 1 1/8" Forstner bit from the set I bought. It was a pleasure cutting them, the bit worked great! Dug out the old Hirst folding table saw w/mount for skilsaw underneath and ripped the dowel holder into two pieces; I've had that makeshift saw holder for almost 30 years; it's amazing what I can do with it! You can see some of it in the back on the last pic!

Attached dowel holders to the sides; two rows to hang meat with and one row to balance drip pans on. Glued and screwed them down, don't want any meat falling down!

Cut out the hole for the front low vent and installed the vent with the panes opening up downward to help keep direct air current from blowing out the flame. Then cut the lower and upper door holes; I'll cut and mount the doors tomorrow after I ask my wife to help me lift the 4x8 3/4" 5 ply plywood onto the sawhorses. It's heavier than what I can handle myself. But, my saw will cut it down to size real quick!

Also cut the tops of the front and back panels to 80° to accept the angle of the roof; you can just see the inward angle on the above picture on the furring strip. Had to do it free hand with the skilsaw and didn't do too bad.. caulk will definitely be needed however! lol!



Had to stop several times between my bad back and my left hand easily fatiguing on me, not being able to grip the saw sufficiently. But, that's all part of the effects from the stroke and exercise is good, so I will eventually benefit from this!

Thanks for looking in!

 

[pops6927]

Made good progress today; constructed the doors, had to finagle a bit a/c thicknesses and screw lengths, but was able to compensate and make it presentable:

I precut the divisions from tongue and hasp, leaving just a saw kerf away from going all the way through. After mounting the hinges and closers I sawed through the little bit left to release the doors. This way I was able to mount the hinges much more accurately.

Just a bit left to go through:

Gluing up horizontal support strips behind the face to keep it as straight as possible:

Took the base outside and mounted the back panel, using a little 45° shim to hold it steady while I screw it in:

Right side mounted:

Left side mounted:

Front mounted with doors:

Haven't found and gasket material locally (Ace Hardware can order it) so trying making my own gasket out of hi-temp fire sealer covered in plastic wrap until set:

top of smoker, preparing to put on roof, but will have to wait until tomorrow to do so, going to get too dark by the time the caulk is cured sufficiently.

Tomorrow I'll cut the dowels, install the burner after attaching and sealing the roof and try firing it up! Anxious to see if I'll need gasketing or not. The sides all fit very well.

Thanks for following this!

 

[hounds51]

Pops you might want to consider lining the lower inside 1/3 with some aluminum flashing. This way your covered for higher heat. That wood gets pretty flamable after some heavy smokes. You should see the inside of mine, it is completely black from hickory smoke.