McGyver'ing My First Smoker - Suggestions? (Lots of Photos)

[mtbob]

For some time I've wanted to make an insulated electric smoker for use in Montana. Recently I found a set of 9, 3" thick metal commercial oven doors for sale on Craigslist for $20 total. The inside sheet metal is stainless (304/316? slightly magnetic) and the outsides are carbon steel.

The door insulation appears to be simple fiberglass, 3" thick.

So, I began fiddling around with various arrangements of the doors in an attempt to make a suitable smoker with wall interfaces that could be sealed, particularly at the front door. What I ended up with doors arranged as shown in the photo below resulting is an internal dimension of 27" high, 14" wide and 17" deep, or about 3.7 CF. The strap in the front is a temporary piece to hold the sides in place until the top & bottom are fitted. Eventually the door will be located where this temporary strap is.

I'm using 1/8" strap iron to act as a corner joint / cover for the gap in the door fit up. I'll weld the corner joint strap iron together (like at joint A & B in photo) to reinforce the joint. I may seal the internal overlap door panels with high temp silicone to seal the joints.

Here I'm cutting out a section of a panel tthat will fit on the top and bottom. I'll weld the two sections together.

So, that's where I am right now with this build. I'd like to make it bigger, but this is as big as it can be based on door sizes.
I plan on using a Auber Instruments WSD-1500H-W wifi enabled controller. I will likely end up cutting a hole in the rear panel to insert an electric heater and build some kind of wiring duct to run the Auber wires. Haven't figured out how I'll do that exactly yet.
This sucker is going to be heavy, probably around 75 lbs or more. I'll put it on wheeled cart with large casters.
Here are some specific questions:
1. Is this smoker big enough? We don't have a large family and will likely never smoke more than one brisket, a turkey, several racks of ribs, or a dozen fish at a time.
2. What kind of heating element should I use? The controller is rated for 1800 watts.
3. Do I need air vents both top and bottom? If so, where should they be placed and what size should they be?
4. Rather than having a bottom drain hole, I plan on using a pan in the lower rack (just over the heater / smoke box) to catch drippings and / or hold water for moisture. Do I need a drain hole in the bottom of the smoker?
As the project progresses, I'll follow up with additional photos.
Thanks in advance for any advice, insights or suggestions that you can give on a first time smoker build.
MT Bob

 

[rjob]

MT
Nice build. I am not an expert on builds. But have a CookShack SM160.
What the SM 160 has
Vents one top, one bottom, centered about 3/4" dia.
Bottom is sloped to center, drain pan external. Drain hole makes cleanup quick and easy.
Heating element 110v about 1500 watts. Element is covered to prevent drippings from burning also acts as heater for wood chunk box.
Water box you probably will not need it.
Rack size is about 17 x 17.
Controls if you might dry sausage consider one that will start at 100 degrees.
Mine lowest temp is 140.
Hope this helps.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Hmm.. You can buy the replacement elements for existing smokers. Or dishwasher heating element. My smoker has a 1650 watt element and I only paid $29 for the smoker brand new. (Masterbuilt Bullet)
Then you can build a control box with a PID control for under $100 I believe. Should be info in here on PID do it yourself .
That will definitely be good all year , seeing all that insulation. Look to using hooks for hanging long stuff from the top somehow.. Brisket and big ribs you could hang.
Take your time.. good luck.
Merry Christmas

 

[mtbob]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful.
I'm taking this smoker build one step at a time, not knowing whether I can assemble the doors correctly and whether this thing will work. Once I get past the holiday distractions, I need to weld the top and bottom sections together. It's thin wall material, so that will be a challenge to my TIG skills. Next questionable task is to figure out how to fit a heating element in the bottom of the smoker. I'll likely need to cut a hole through the rear panel - through the insulated section - and make some kind of heating element attachment "thing" to make a proper connection - perhaps with a plug-in fitting for the heating element.