Large commercial smoker build

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Sorry no photos today I was busy welding and gathering supplies.  I will post pics when I can. It should be finished by later next week as until now there was just a bunch of square tube on the ground.  

If it all works fine when built I will sell the CAD plans.

It is wood fired and uses the structural tubes to transfer the heat smoke as a reverse flow.

The lower center door is the firebox, with 2 warmer drawers on the bottom. 

I will also be adding an automatic water level and finishing it in stainless.

Also it will have the ability to use 1,2 or 3 chambers for smaller cooks.

Will easily be the biggest and most advanced in Latin America
 
Here you can see the frame also acts as the grease drains on the bottom and with access holes in the side of the smoker if it becomes blocked.

 8mm (5/16") plate for the firebox with reinforcing to stop it bending with the heat.

  The heat/smoke enters in the back and sides of the firebox then travels up through the 2 center verticals at the back. I will have a divert-er valve at the top of the vertical to direct the heat into which ever chamber I need. 

 upside down of the firebox

 I started with the interior panel which will have sliders in them to open/close between the 3 chambers to regulate or close off completely.


  3/16" plate between the outside cooking chambers and the warmer drawers on the bottom.

 The 3 main plates will drain into the chimney and I have cut holes for the smoke, so the grease goes down and the smoke goes up. I have all the sheetmetal panels formed, but want to wait till I mount the doors in this position before standing it upright.   That'sall for now.
 
Wow, you are not kidding around with this thing.  Can make a lot of Q in that.
 
Here you can see the 2 interior walls that divide the chambers. They have 4 openings with a slider door to open and close,so you can shut off the outside chambers and just use the center chamber. It will also serve when you need to run the chambers at different temperatures or help regulate temps.

 It welding the panel to the guides, so hopefully this does not distort much with the heat.

I will mount the doors and welding the hings in this position and try and complete as much as I can before standing it upright. Looks like I will have to borrow the forklift from next door to stand it up as the 1000kg chain block will blow it's nut. The chassis is 3/16" (4.75mm).  Each shelf is 650x725mm and the are 21 with 4 guides in the warmer draws on the bottom. There is going to be a mountain of welding on the sheetmetal.
 
You are going to need to make a youtube video on this thing.

Being so big, it's hard to see all the details that go into making one
 
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Sorry I have not had time to write a description yet.  There is not really too much to see apart from these photos at the moment until we stand it upright. I have been working 16 hour days trying to get this done and delivered by this weekend.  The lighting is terrible where it is located in the shop also. Will post more detailed pics soon

Thanks   It's 5:40am I need to get to work .
 
Sounds good. Keep up the great work.
I'll ask questions next week. Lol
 
Here is the flapper to direct the heat to each chamber at the top rear of the smoker

 The back side of the firebox before the rear is welded on where the heat enters the horizontal tubes then travels up the vertical to the flapper valves then is directed into each chamber via the horizontal tubes at the top.

 The center walls can be open or closed for different temps between chambers

 The X brace in the doors stops the #14 plate bowing with the heat

 8 mm (5/16") steel forthe firebox then lined it with fire brick to help contain the heat and retention.

 The center hinge had to be offset to open the center doors without hitting the other doors.

 2200kgs

 Ready to weld the back panels on.

 Simple chimney dampers

 Yeah the photo sucks but here's the adjuster for the flapper valve at the back of the smoker. The shitty silicone gets covered with stainless so you don't see it.   I just stitch welded then silicon-ed the panels on to save time and $ as we were against time to get this done.

  The flap valve at the back of smoker to divert the heat to different chambers.  There's another on on the other side.

That's all for today, I need to go spend time with my family. 
 
 We fired it up one day before we deliver it tomorrow. Half a bag of lump charcoal and some pecan


 It was slow to get started but once it got above 150F it jumped up fast. over 2 tons of steel takes some heating but once it got hot there was no slowing it down. I took it up to about 425F to check for any problems.   Found that the firebox door bowed with the heat even with 8mm (5/16") plate on the inside. I have reniforced on the inside with heavy c section we had lying around.


 The grease drain was puking out some condensation at the start

 We were hungry while we were working so threw on some pork ribs and a yard bird and cooked them at 350F as the temp didn't want to drop down. We needed to work on it, so I pulled the coals out and opened the doors. 40 mins later the water was still boiling in the temporary pan thanks to the 8mm firebox plate.


 Here's the auto filling water system i am installing and will finish it in the morning.

 I made 2 of these stainless water boxes with a lid to stop the grease getting in the water. They will sit on the box tube that carries the heat from the firebox to the back of the smoker and sits between the internal wall and guides. I need to make a tank with float level at the same height.
 
Looks good.

How much water is used.
I assume that it's only used for a short time during the cooking process. Or is the meat steamed the whole time
 
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