Hi Everyone,
Hello from Western NY. 1st post on smokingmeats, but I have done my fair share of lurking in the past. Took a mess of ideas and modified my old sidebox walmart special smoker that worked great for the past few years. Anyways I had a spare, very large, Stihl saw and put it up for sale or trade when this was offered as a straight trade for the ol' 056. I couldn't say no.
Its a 275 gallon tank for the cooking/smoking portion and about a 50 gallon tank for the firebox (25"x12"38"). Its a few years old and well seasoned. This thing is really nicely built, Ill be doing some finish work with some expanded metal to make a deck, new wiring/hitch, a few other odds and ends too. So its not a ground up build, its a finishing and tuning kinda build I suppose. This will get me off my duff and start smoking those venison snack sticks and make proper venison sausage. That 16 quart Chop-rite sausage press might as well move into the kitchen permanently.
A couple things I want to do, 1 make a stainless steel catch pan to go under the majority of the smoking surface. Ill loose 6 inches off the left and right side for the flu, but only lose a few inches front to back. I'll probably weld in some additional angle iron support for this. Might do 1 pan to cover the whole thing, or 2 pans...or 3. Not sure the protocol or what anyones ideas are. The reason for the catch pans is just for ease of cleaning and I dont want to chance the bottom rotting out. I need to patch all of two small holes.
But the most important thing I need some help on is the damper. This thing cannot operate on its current air damper. A firebox of this size needs a much breathing hole than 4 1/2" holes. I have no idea how big the hole ought to be. I was kinda thinking one of these in 8 inch? Once it gets going I can leave the door open but it leaves much to be desired on the fine tunability.
Ill likely make a larger charcoal "box" at somepoint too, but I had to take down a 275 year old pignut hickory tree and I have plenty of that to play with.
And without further interruption, the pictures
Hello from Western NY. 1st post on smokingmeats, but I have done my fair share of lurking in the past. Took a mess of ideas and modified my old sidebox walmart special smoker that worked great for the past few years. Anyways I had a spare, very large, Stihl saw and put it up for sale or trade when this was offered as a straight trade for the ol' 056. I couldn't say no.
Its a 275 gallon tank for the cooking/smoking portion and about a 50 gallon tank for the firebox (25"x12"38"). Its a few years old and well seasoned. This thing is really nicely built, Ill be doing some finish work with some expanded metal to make a deck, new wiring/hitch, a few other odds and ends too. So its not a ground up build, its a finishing and tuning kinda build I suppose. This will get me off my duff and start smoking those venison snack sticks and make proper venison sausage. That 16 quart Chop-rite sausage press might as well move into the kitchen permanently.
A couple things I want to do, 1 make a stainless steel catch pan to go under the majority of the smoking surface. Ill loose 6 inches off the left and right side for the flu, but only lose a few inches front to back. I'll probably weld in some additional angle iron support for this. Might do 1 pan to cover the whole thing, or 2 pans...or 3. Not sure the protocol or what anyones ideas are. The reason for the catch pans is just for ease of cleaning and I dont want to chance the bottom rotting out. I need to patch all of two small holes.
But the most important thing I need some help on is the damper. This thing cannot operate on its current air damper. A firebox of this size needs a much breathing hole than 4 1/2" holes. I have no idea how big the hole ought to be. I was kinda thinking one of these in 8 inch? Once it gets going I can leave the door open but it leaves much to be desired on the fine tunability.
Ill likely make a larger charcoal "box" at somepoint too, but I had to take down a 275 year old pignut hickory tree and I have plenty of that to play with.
And without further interruption, the pictures
