- Dec 3, 2007
- 62
- 10
First time adding pics. If they took, here are a few snaps of my rig. My daughter named it the Trojan Horse. It ain't much, but I call it my own.
The stainless box is an old derelict food warmer from a catering outfit. It was discarded because the existing elements in the walls were all burned out. I cut an adjustable air conditioning vent into the top for through flow circulation control. I made four pair of shelf runners from steel shelving legs. They are all adjustable up or down due to existing shelf pins built into the oven walls. The four shelves are cut from expanded metal, measuring 24"x 34". Chamber access can be gained on either end from a pair of clamshell doors. The base is nothing more than old scaffold wheels and scrap steel (The paint cost more than the material!).
The smoke chamber is built from the bottom and lid of an old round Brinkmann unit and rest on two drawer slides. The lid raises about an inch via the handle to allow the drawer to be pulled out for re-charge. There is an element on one side for burning chips (260 watt from a Lil' Chef smoker) and the other side has a water evaporator (150 watt from a commercial freezer), each with it's own temperature controller. The water chamber is re-charged with a manual valve and tubing that runs from a half gallon jug hung on one of the legs. There is a third controlled element (1500 watt) in the bottom of the cooking chamber for actual heat control. With the chamber element off and the smoke element on the unit will maintain about 80-90 deg. F for cold smoking. The chamber will max out on a freezing cold day at about 300 deg. F with everything running at full tilt.
The control panel is homebuilt using throw away parts from work (yeah, sure) and automotive pinstripes. The cooking chamber and smoke chamber elements are controllable either automatically by temperature or they may be set to manual for "on" only operation. The water evaporator is not actually controlled; it is either on or off. This controller is used only to indicate when water needs to be added to the heater. When the temperature rises beyond about 180 deg. F, the water chamber is empty.
While this thing may look kind of elaborate and gaudy, it does generate a lot of conversation with guests. And, it's really kind of fun to baby-sit throughout the day (or night); you feel somewhat like a process engineer. Oh, and it makes damn good grub too.
Let me know what you think.
Mark
BTW- I have a question about water use, but I'll save that for another thread.
The stainless box is an old derelict food warmer from a catering outfit. It was discarded because the existing elements in the walls were all burned out. I cut an adjustable air conditioning vent into the top for through flow circulation control. I made four pair of shelf runners from steel shelving legs. They are all adjustable up or down due to existing shelf pins built into the oven walls. The four shelves are cut from expanded metal, measuring 24"x 34". Chamber access can be gained on either end from a pair of clamshell doors. The base is nothing more than old scaffold wheels and scrap steel (The paint cost more than the material!).
The smoke chamber is built from the bottom and lid of an old round Brinkmann unit and rest on two drawer slides. The lid raises about an inch via the handle to allow the drawer to be pulled out for re-charge. There is an element on one side for burning chips (260 watt from a Lil' Chef smoker) and the other side has a water evaporator (150 watt from a commercial freezer), each with it's own temperature controller. The water chamber is re-charged with a manual valve and tubing that runs from a half gallon jug hung on one of the legs. There is a third controlled element (1500 watt) in the bottom of the cooking chamber for actual heat control. With the chamber element off and the smoke element on the unit will maintain about 80-90 deg. F for cold smoking. The chamber will max out on a freezing cold day at about 300 deg. F with everything running at full tilt.
The control panel is homebuilt using throw away parts from work (yeah, sure) and automotive pinstripes. The cooking chamber and smoke chamber elements are controllable either automatically by temperature or they may be set to manual for "on" only operation. The water evaporator is not actually controlled; it is either on or off. This controller is used only to indicate when water needs to be added to the heater. When the temperature rises beyond about 180 deg. F, the water chamber is empty.
While this thing may look kind of elaborate and gaudy, it does generate a lot of conversation with guests. And, it's really kind of fun to baby-sit throughout the day (or night); you feel somewhat like a process engineer. Oh, and it makes damn good grub too.
Let me know what you think.
Mark
BTW- I have a question about water use, but I'll save that for another thread.
