Mini Side box Smoker

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smokin raf

Fire Starter
Original poster
Apr 23, 2011
30
10
Not sure if anyone tried this, I'm sure they have but I wanted a small smoker instead of firing up the bigger smoker. So I thought I would try using a sidebox/grill. When I got it there were big gaps in the door so I got some High temp gasket maker and sealed up the gaps. to stop it from sticking to the door I put some tissue for blowing your nose over the silicone and let the weight of the door make the seal. Anyway pictures attached of what it looks like so far, going to wait a week for the silicone to cure because it is kind of thick in places but not more than what was recommended on the label of the silicon. Got a small pan with holes in it for the Lump coal. and a cast iron griddle to redirect the heat to the other side. and an AMPS 6" for extra smoke if needed.
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You stole my idea! Lol...I've been eyeballing those at Walmart for 6 months now, 53 bucks and nice gauge metal.Perfect for small smokes.I stumbled across my 14.5 WSM so probably won't do one now.

Bill
 
Yea, I have an Acorn/Egg grill for smoking but I wanted something small and indirect heat. Plus the cast iron griddle I got for above the coals would be good for toasting buns or something. Next year I'm getting the reverse flow Oklahoma Joe's smoker for bigger stuff
 
So The little pan I had to put lump coal in was too small, I was adding often. So I made a box out of perforated steel. The Divider in the middle is movable so I can put more or less coal in it. Also I was thinking I can put smoking wood on one side closest to the middle and the lump coal on the other side. I didn't try it out yet I'm in Wisconsin and it's a wee bit windy and cold out. Hoping to try it tomorrow to burn the oil off the perforated steel. For thanksgiving I got some Turkey breast tenderloins that I'm going to put a rub on and wrap in bacon and try to smoke them in here.

If you want to try to make it here's what I did. So to make this I cut it 17" x 19.5" out of a 24" x 24" sheet, 16 gauge. The sides that are 90° to the bottom are about 4.5" high. The Sides that are at more of an angle are about 5" to 5.5", I had to trim some off because it was too tall. the bottom ends up being about 8" x 8.5". I did have to do some extra trimming to get it to fit right. I used a jig saw to cut it out. Bending it was tricky I used about 3 different things I had in the garage to get the bend where I wanted. I hope it was worth the work. I'll update after I try it out.

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If you make this make sure you were some heavy duty gloves. Using a jig saw it bounced around a lot mostly when I got to the edges. The sides can be sharp.
 
Cool! I'm interested in the results when you fire it.I would think lump would be too hot and briquettes would work better/last longer.Especially since its small and the exhaust is right above the meat.Weather has been crappy here too :(

Bill
 
I wouldn't light up the whole thing but like a third then let it work its way to the other end. However if it is too hot I'll try the briquettes. With the small pan It stayed around 250 degrees Fahrenheit. I used lump. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
I wouldn't light up the whole thing but like a third then let it work its way to the other end. However if it is too hot I'll try the briquettes. With the small pan It stayed around 250 degrees Fahrenheit. I used lump. Thanks for the suggestion.
I was thinking if it does get too hot you could put the cast iron griddle on the original charcoal grate above the coals and below the cast iron cooking grate then put the meat there-everything on the coal loading/intake side.Hard to explain.Does this make sense to you ?
 
I was thinking if it does get too hot you could put the cast iron griddle on the original charcoal grate above the coals and below the cast iron cooking grate then put the meat there-everything on the coal loading/intake side.Hard to explain.Does this make sense to you ?
Yep, i think so. Make like a cast iron griddle sandwich between two slices of cast iron grating. Then put the meat on top of that. All that above the coals on the loading side. Sounds good. The one piece of meat I cooked the meat closer to the coals did cook faster, that was before I made this coal box. Thanks for the suggestion, It will take a few test runs before I figure out what works best.
 
For thanksgiving I smoked some turkey tenderloins wrapped in bacon on this and they turned out great. I removed the cast iron griddle because the meat close to the griddle was cooking faster. By removing it everything cooked evenly. I used lump coal mixed with apple and cherry wood. The bottom vent was barely cracked open and the top one was about half open and the grill temp stayed around 250° F to 280°F. I only used up about 1/3 of the coal in the basket I made and it smoked for about 3 hours I did add a couple pieces of cherry wood the last hour because it quit smoking but probably didn't need to, it would have gotten some good smoke the first two hours.
 
Sounds good.I do boneless skinless chicken breasts tied together skinny to fat/fat to skinny and they turn out good.I've read people are really pleased with what you have.I saw one in-store a few months back and was surprised at the thickness of the metal.
 
Yea, It is heavy duty. I suppose it has to be because it can be used for a side-box for the bigger grill so it has to be able to handle logs of wood and a lot of heat and not warp. Sure beats all the mini charcoal grills I got before that really only lasted a year.
 
Smokin Raf, Only took a few weeks to find your post. I am using the same FB to smoke. First time I tried it, I just put the charcoal on the side. It did OK but temp was a bit high. Next time I created a Basket for my charcoal. Used a pizza screen cut and folded into the shape of a Chinese takeout box. That really helped to get the temp on target. I did a six hour smoke on a pork but and finished it in the oven. I liked the color and the smoke was to my liking. Added a few pics of my first smoking and my last attempt of ribs. The smoke chip box in one pic did not work over the coals so did not continue to use it.That was during my first try. Now getting some ideas of turning this into a mini offset smoker. Just have to figure out what to use as a firebox. I will make a dedicated thread if I do make the attempt. If someone already did this let me know. ;-)
 
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