Fridge Build Complete! w/ Pics

[desertloper]

1955 International Harvester Fridge.

www.gassmoker.com Propane Burner

Fully Insulated with RockWool

Electronic Thermometer Wired through body.

New expanded metal, and sheet metal.

Braided Rope Gasket

Louvered Heat/Smoke Diffuser

Cross-braced iron rods for hanging salami.

I have nearly 13 sq feet of racks and can hang probably 50lbs from the top.

I just finished this week, did a good 3 hour high heat (400F) heat soak this am, and I'm currently seasoning it.

It is going to take some practice to get used to the controls-I'm confident that I can maintain 200-250F no problem..I am a little nervous about 160* max for salami..but we'll have to see what it can do.

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks like you designed it well. When is the first smoke?

 

[justpassingthru]

Wow!!!

Good job on restoring that beauty, that's a class act, I like the heat baffle.

I read some posts where they did a conversion like yours and used a propane burner, to solve the high temps and maintain the lows they soldered up some of the holes in the burner and one even used hi-temp muffler glue without any adverse effects, can't wait to see you get it dirty.

Gene

 

[tyotrain]

Real nice job on the smoker

can't wait the Qview that comes off it

 

[boykjo]

Nice build. Mine is still sitting in the shed.... Good luck with it and dont forget the Qveiw

 

[virginiasmokesignal]

Desertloper, now that is one good looking smoker build!  I to like the heat baffle and all of the inside additions.  That is a beautiful old International Harvester Fridge and I'm glad that you were abler to breath life back in to it, maybe not as a fridge but as a beautiful smoker that will serve you well for many many years. Keep up the good work and don't forget to share the first smoke with us in a

Q-View and narration of what you did.  Good work, you sure can be proud!

Your SMF Friend,

Barry 

 

[iowa josh83]

Very nice build! My brother-in-law has a fridge smoker, same burner as you and he says he can maintain 140F in his smoker. I'm in the process of building a fridge smoker, I wish I had a cool IH like yours! Did you replace all the internal sheet metal? Is there any concern about trapping too much smoke below the diffuser and starving the burner of oxygen?? Nice Work! 

 

[mossymo]

Very nice fridge conversion, your work is nice and very clean looking. Looking forward to seeing and hearing how it performs for you!

I have a fridge conversion that I used a 12 volt igniter, ac/dc converter with it controlled by a thermostat down to 100º. This has been working well for me and if it is something your interested in feel free to ask questions.

 

[beer-b-q]

Nice Job.  That looks like it will do the trick .

 

[desertloper]

The timing of the build finish was terrible..I won't be able to break it in for a few weeks ;(

Thanks for the compliments..the fridge worked until I had to rib off the coils from the back of the fridge to get it out of the basement I found it in..they must have built the room around it.

Anyway, the interrior of the fridge was porcelean steel-I filled the holes with high-temp food grade silicone then painted with Silver BBQ paint to give it that Stainless look..I used sheetmetal on the trim and doors.

I debated long and hard on electricity as I know several who have thermostats and are able to smoke while they sleep and not worry about where their temps are..I didn't have 220v handy, wanted it mobile, and didn't want to deal with 2x 110v burners and extension cords.

It will take some playing and a lot of smoking-but that's the fun-but I will be a little bummed if I cant get it down to 130-160 as I plan on doing a lot of salamis in it.

The burner is open in the bottom and has a good supply of fresh air--there hasn't been a starvation issue yet--but then again not a lot of run time either.

 

[fishy]

Thats a good looking smoker Desertloper.  I'm the neighbor that stopped by today to check it out in your driveway.  After talking with ya today I thought I would check out the forum you where talking about and found this post and thought it looked awfully familiar.  Thanks for the advise and the renewed interest in getting one of these things going.  As I said, this has been something I have been wanting to do for about 2 years, I need to get going on this.  Hopefully we can smoke out the neighborhood some weekend!!  lol  

 

[SmokinAl]

This is way COOL that you guys met on here & are neighbors. I just live this place!

 

[gamequest444]

Nice build! I like the silver paint.Good luck.

 

[desertloper]

Hey! good to see that you found it...lots of info and tons of people to give insight...whether its a build or a recipe--its a pretty good resource.  I like the neighbor hood smoke out idea.

-pete