My Homebuilt Smoker

[smokyokie]

Hey Gunny,
I'll meet you halfway and swap you some pecan for some hickory. Hickory is getting real tough to find around here, and I've never seen white oak available. I don't cut or split my own. Pecan is abundant though. They say the restaurants used up most of the available hickory and that alot of them have gone to pecan. I'm embarassed to tell you what I paid for my last rick of hickory.

BTW, my FIL, and also a good friend had the same experience w/ the radiation and taste. You never know, time may take care of it.

 

[gunslinger]

DDBBQ. I must not have read this last reply from you. If you're still game, I'll take you up on that wood trade.

 

[smokyokie]

Maybe we can swap it out at the get together this summer.

Tim

 

[short one]

Hey Gunslinger got your reply and if you would like some wild cherry, I could turn you on to some if you can let me know when you'll be coming thru. I use cherry or apple alot. Hickory gets my system out of whack. Let me know. Steve

 

[cajun_1]

Great post Gunny. Good info on the "tuning plates". Hopefully you'll soon have it in 1 color, be it painted or powder coated. I know the basics of powder coating, but will it survive the heat ?
BTW: she's a BEAUTIFUL wreck right now.:D

 

[short one]

Gunslinger: Just found pics of your smoker last night, and am glad to see that I'm not the only one who has a barrel that needs a paint job.Looks like a nice unit. Guess outside paint doesn't hurt the inside results. Homemade but functional right. Steve

 

[gunslinger]

That'd be cool. I'll let you know the next time I head that way. It will be pretty soon too. I bought my Mom a house next to me, so I'll have to go up there to move her.
What about oak? I could bring some and swap ya.

 

[gunslinger]

Thanks Cajun. There is a learning curve witht the plate, but once you figure it out, it really does help.
For paint, I think I'm going to use Marvins plan. Epoxy paint.

 

[deejaydebi]

Gunslinger -

All I can say is WOW! That thing is huge! You did a hell of a job there.

(can I say hell here?)

 

[gunslinger]

Thanks Debi. It's changed even since that photo. As soon as I get it done, I'll post detailed pics.
I'm getting ready to install a square firebox w/pullout ash drawer, and when it's all said and done the whole unit will have a sink with hot water, a fridge, a generator, and plenty of food prep area. And it will be all one color.

 

[msmith]

Gunny have you started on the new mods yet, hope all is well with you and the family.

 

[gunslinger]

Thanks Marvin. And the same back too ya.
I have started on the mods, but now with the cheese thing in mind, I'm thinking of another addition. And since this is my thread and it's about my smoker, I'm going to post it here.
I'd like to try this cheese smoking thing. As stated in the past, I've never really cared for smoked cheese. But then there are lots of things I never cared for until I started making it myself.
I know cheese has to be cold smoked, and it seems a lot of people have a problem with wood smokers getting them to keep a low temp. So I wonder if it would work to either, keep the firebox door open and set my damper to just let a little smoke into the cook chamber. OR, add an additional exhaust stack to the firebox, keep the door closed, and set my damper just enough to get the temp where I need it.
And just to clear things up, the damper I am referring too, is between the firebox and the cook chamber. I don't know a technical term for it, so if you do, fill me in.
Ideas or suggestions please.

 

[msmith]

You know im just wandering here so please be patience, since you are going with a square fire box how about making a oven attached to the top of it. Kinda like mine but dont have an opening go thru, just let the heat rise from the fire box that should keep the temp down, just a thought.
Glad to here everone is doing fine.

 

[gunslinger]

I'm confused, so I'll beg of your patience too. How would an oven over my firebox keep the temp in the cook chamber low enough to cold smoke?

 

[msmith]

Man I dont know what i was thinking, not feeling well right now and totaly got off in left field. So x that idea.

 

[gunslinger]

That's cool Marvin. I like the idea of an oven over the firebox tough. If you could master regulating the temp, you could bake all kinds of thing while you're waiting on the meat. Seems like everything tastes better cooked outdoors. Don't know why, but it is.

 

[gunslinger]

Well I took Marvin's advice and built another box to stack on top of the firebox to use as an oven. So now it's 4 feet tall, 2 feet wide, 2 feet deep, 1/4 inch plate and I have to use my tractor loader to move the darn thing. I should have mounted the firebox to the smoker before I welded the oven to the firebox. Hindsight is always 20-20, right?
Thinking about figuring out how to mount a rotary actuator and thermostat to a vent to control the oven temp.

 

[msmith]

Dang Tom you have been busy, doing a lot of work on your smoker. You probably just added another 400 lbs to it. I think you will like having the oven to keep things warm. I didnt cut in a vent on mine but I can damper down the stack and raise the oven temp. On a normal cook my oven runs around 200*.

 

[deejaydebi]

I would think the extra smoke box would be best as far from the heat source as posible and sitting lower than the heat source. The heat will rise and the cooler smoke will still filter down to the lower smoke box.

Remember it only takes a little smoke to do cheese or it gets yucky fast!

 

[gunslinger]

Hey debi, It's not a smoke box. Just an oven to keep things warm.