- Apr 2, 2013
- 3
- 10
http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/justsmokeit/library/?page=1
Not sure if this belongs here but,
I just purchased this custom built trailer a couple weeks ago. It's a 6x12 trailer with a 275 gal vertical offset smoker on one side and a 275 gal pig cooker on the other with room left for our 5 burner vermont castings grill and plenty of wood.
The vertical smoker had standing water in the bottom, but it had just rained and the seller said he forgot to close the door. After I got it home and reinstalled the chimneys, I noticed that neither of them fit exactly so its inevitable that water will continue to get inside unless its sealed. Any ideas on a way to seal it up allowing me to still remove them when traveling?
I did a dry run yesterday to check temps and to dry the tank out. I had a chimney of charcoal and 3 logs of oak. It took forever for the tank to get hot. I hooked a fan up to the firebox and the temp started to rise rather quickly but then stopped at about 250 on the bottom and 150 on toward the top. I added another log and got the temp on bottom to 375 which raised the top to about 230-250. Held this temp for about 20 minutes then started to drop. Had to add another log to keep top temps around the 230 range. All of this in 2 hours with a roaring fire in the box. As the temp started to drop again and the cold winds started blowing I abandoned the initial burn. Won't the roaring fire create a bunch of unwanted creosote? Is it normal to have a that big a fire going the whole time in a large cooker like this? This morning about 16 hours later I went out to clean the fire box and it was still smoking, I opened the top and in about 5 minutes the wind had started the fire up again. It seems to me that if the fire box is insulated enough to hold the heat that long when its in the low 40's that it should be able to get the tank hot enough when its 70 and sunny, right? There is plenty of seasoning inside the grill confirming that it has been used a lot. What am I missing?
Not sure if this belongs here but,
I just purchased this custom built trailer a couple weeks ago. It's a 6x12 trailer with a 275 gal vertical offset smoker on one side and a 275 gal pig cooker on the other with room left for our 5 burner vermont castings grill and plenty of wood.
The vertical smoker had standing water in the bottom, but it had just rained and the seller said he forgot to close the door. After I got it home and reinstalled the chimneys, I noticed that neither of them fit exactly so its inevitable that water will continue to get inside unless its sealed. Any ideas on a way to seal it up allowing me to still remove them when traveling?
I did a dry run yesterday to check temps and to dry the tank out. I had a chimney of charcoal and 3 logs of oak. It took forever for the tank to get hot. I hooked a fan up to the firebox and the temp started to rise rather quickly but then stopped at about 250 on the bottom and 150 on toward the top. I added another log and got the temp on bottom to 375 which raised the top to about 230-250. Held this temp for about 20 minutes then started to drop. Had to add another log to keep top temps around the 230 range. All of this in 2 hours with a roaring fire in the box. As the temp started to drop again and the cold winds started blowing I abandoned the initial burn. Won't the roaring fire create a bunch of unwanted creosote? Is it normal to have a that big a fire going the whole time in a large cooker like this? This morning about 16 hours later I went out to clean the fire box and it was still smoking, I opened the top and in about 5 minutes the wind had started the fire up again. It seems to me that if the fire box is insulated enough to hold the heat that long when its in the low 40's that it should be able to get the tank hot enough when its 70 and sunny, right? There is plenty of seasoning inside the grill confirming that it has been used a lot. What am I missing?
