Ideas from evening brainstorming

[owlcreeksmoker4]

hello ive been trying to design a smoker out of 4 50 gallon barrels and i was wondering if you could have a fire box on each side with the smoke exiting through the roof of the smoker? 

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Why 2 fireboxes????????

and the third barrel,where is it???????

Not trying to be sarcastic , but we need more info. or a drawing of sorts..........

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

Okay I will try to explain my reasoning here and try not to sound like a complete fool 

well I have four 55 gallon barrels and I would like to make "smokeropolis" 

I want it to consist of two barrels cut and welded together to create a giant barrel (for roasting pig, but also with spots built in to hold an interchangeable grate and charcoal holder for mass grilling)

I also want the other two barrels mounted directly behind the others, one with several grates leveled for ribs and the other with one grate and rotisserie spits leveled about it. I plan on mounting this to a trailer and also onto a giant swivel bracket i have, so I can stand in one spot and spin to get to the next smoking area!). (hopefully not too confusing)

but see I also want to be able to shut off sections that are not being used and thats where my firebox problem comes into play. I need a decent sized firebox to fire up 220 gallons worth of space, but Im afraid a box big enough will prohibit the swivel i wish to achieve and also limits using one of the sections if i shut one off. so I was thinking maybe cut the firebox in half and have a small one on each side? with smoke stacks in the center of the smoker? lol hopefully it made some sense as Im a horrible artist i only wanna upload a drawing if all else fails :P

 

[solaryellow]

I think I understand. Have you thought about a central firebox under the 4 barrels with short sections of pipe to each barrel to move the heat and smoke? The swivel mechanism could be under the firebox and each section of pipe could have a damper in it so you could close off whichever of the 4 barrels you want. Like you said, your biggest challenge is going to be heating those barrels but not because of the volume so much as the thin material the drums are made of. You might want to consider insulating them.

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

how would i go about doing that? insulating them i mean

 

[alblancher]

This is a project I will need to keep up with.  Sounds like a pretty big undertaking.  It would seem to me that it would just be easier to weld two barrels end to end with a large firebox on the end.  You can put a plate in to make it reverse flow and help even out the heat.  Do one of these on each side of the trailer. 

If you want to do different meats particularly fowl, fish, sausage and meat you will want to be able to run different temps in the smokers.  The way I suggest will at least allow a hot smoke and a cool smoke. 

Good Luck, like I said I am looking forward to seeing the construction.

Al

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

See I like this idea, but the goal is to build it into one giant beast.  thats kinda where my idea of two smaller smoke boxes on either in came into mind. With that I could shut off chamber, and cook others at different temps. I do have the insulation concern to attack though and also placement so it can swivel. But thanks for the input and keep it comin i love have different viewpoints

 

[alblancher]

Members normally mention welder's blankets when talking about insulating smokers,  I don't know, never used one.  Another idea would be to line the fire boxes with firebrick.

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

yah the firebox will def be nice and thick so im not worried about it, but i will need to solve the insulation issue in the barrels. 

 

[bsmokin]

I want to see the drawing, this sounds intresting and complicated.

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

designing some sort of diagram and posting shortly (lol no judgement on the art though)

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

Well here is the diagram (not to scale obviously, and they are 55 gallon drums also, so keep this in mind

The issue is smoke box placement, and stack placement. The smoke box, or boxes, needs to be to where i can still utilize each one at the correct temps.

Any advice, or tips are welcome

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

lol any ideas?

 

[solaryellow]

I still think you could heat all four from a single firebox underneath with dampers to cut off the heat and smoke to the drum(s) you aren't using at the time.

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

would i still be okay smoking different types of meat? cause i know most chicken is cooked higher temp than say ribs

 

[solaryellow]

would i still be okay smoking different types of meat? cause i know most chicken is cooked higher temp than say ribs

You could control the heat with the damper. I am not a technical drawer so if this is confusing it is my fault. lol

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

very good makes sense. so with the damper i could smoke multiple meats at once at dif temps?. and also what about insulating the barrels? but I love the design im gonna work with this

 

[solaryellow]

Yup. I am sure it will take some time to figure out just how much it will need to be open to maintain a certain temp but I really think if done right that you could heat all 4 drums from a single firebox. Mount the swivel underneath the firebox (you will probably want a void between the bottom of the firebox and where it mounts to the swivel so not too much heat is transferred) and I think that would accomplish what you are trying to do. My choice for insulation would be KAO wool but it isn't cheap. You could also use welding blankets like Al mentioned.

 

[owlcreeksmoker4]

do you think i could get by with no insulation? is it a must?

 

[solaryellow]

Possibly. It will depend more on the conditions in which you are smoking. I have built more than a few UDS so I know how thin that metal is. A chilly day with some wind is going to require a lot of fuel to keep those drums up to temp. No harm in trying it without though.