A friend of mine has a 275-gallon home heating oil tank, and we've been thinking about turning it into a smoker. The trouble is we don't really know what we're getting ourselves into, and we don't know how best to configure it for what we want to do.
What are we getting ourselves into?
- We're both good at cutting, bending, and welding metal, so that's not a concern. We don't have huge bankrolls, so that is a concern.
- Is a 275-gallon smoker going to be useful for anything other than feeding very large groups of people?
- How much wood or charcoal would it take to do a whole hog if we don't insulate the smoker?
How should we configure it?
- Obviously, we want to do low and slow for whole hog, ribs, shoulders/butts, briskets, etc. For ribs, I like to caramelize some sauce on once they're done smoking, so it'd be nice to have that capability too. With an offset fire box, we could put a lid on the top of the firebox and replace it with a grill when we're ready to caramelize, but we'd have to buy a bunch of plate to build the firebox. If we configured it as a vertical smoker and made the firebox a drawer, we could pull the firebox out, put a grate on it, and caramelize that way. Or maybe there's a better idea that we haven't thought of?
- Which way should we orient the tank?
- Should we hinge the doors on the sides or on top?
What are we getting ourselves into?
- We're both good at cutting, bending, and welding metal, so that's not a concern. We don't have huge bankrolls, so that is a concern.
- Is a 275-gallon smoker going to be useful for anything other than feeding very large groups of people?
- How much wood or charcoal would it take to do a whole hog if we don't insulate the smoker?
How should we configure it?
- Obviously, we want to do low and slow for whole hog, ribs, shoulders/butts, briskets, etc. For ribs, I like to caramelize some sauce on once they're done smoking, so it'd be nice to have that capability too. With an offset fire box, we could put a lid on the top of the firebox and replace it with a grill when we're ready to caramelize, but we'd have to buy a bunch of plate to build the firebox. If we configured it as a vertical smoker and made the firebox a drawer, we could pull the firebox out, put a grate on it, and caramelize that way. Or maybe there's a better idea that we haven't thought of?
- Which way should we orient the tank?
- Should we hinge the doors on the sides or on top?
