A friend of mine was going to throw this old double barrel smoker away, so I grabbed it and I'm now in the process of restoring it.
If it hadn't been for the cool old hardware, I would have helped him throw it away.
The barrels were pretty much rusted out, so I picked up two new food grade, heavy wall barrels.
I had the barrel interiors and the cast iron components sand blasted.
While you cannot see it in the photo, the original smoke stacks exited the upper portion of the upper barrel.
It will have three dampers.... one damper on the lower to upper flue, and damper on each on the smoke stacks.
I have been looking on line at the different styles, and came upon this schematic below.
I went with a single flue in the center, rather than a double.
Note where they show the chimney outlet locations on either end of the upper barrel..... they show them mounted down low!
I also plan to make a V shaped diverter to install over the top of the flue, as to direct the smoke more evenly towards the front and rear of the upper barrel.
So now my questions for those of you who use and/or have used this style double barrel smoker:
… outlets near the top ends of the upper barrel?
… outlets near the bottom ends of the upper barrel?
… temperature to maintain for the different types of meat? As you can see in the first image, this will have dual thermometers.
… smoking duration for the different types of meat? Salmon, Beef, Pork, Chicken????
… types of wood that you prefer? I have a line up on some Alder, Maple and Apple.
Regarding the chimney outlets...… I'm thinking that with the outlets located low, the upper barrel will hold the smoke better and perhaps longer.
However, with them located low, I'm concerned that there may be a loss of heat and smoke at the cook surface area.
I've not used a larger double barrel smoker like this before, so I will welcome any and all suggestions from those of you who have used this style.
Thanks in advance
If it hadn't been for the cool old hardware, I would have helped him throw it away.
The barrels were pretty much rusted out, so I picked up two new food grade, heavy wall barrels.
I had the barrel interiors and the cast iron components sand blasted.
While you cannot see it in the photo, the original smoke stacks exited the upper portion of the upper barrel.
I have been looking on line at the different styles, and came upon this schematic below.
I went with a single flue in the center, rather than a double.
Note where they show the chimney outlet locations on either end of the upper barrel..... they show them mounted down low!
I also plan to make a V shaped diverter to install over the top of the flue, as to direct the smoke more evenly towards the front and rear of the upper barrel.
So now my questions for those of you who use and/or have used this style double barrel smoker:
… outlets near the top ends of the upper barrel?
… outlets near the bottom ends of the upper barrel?
… temperature to maintain for the different types of meat? As you can see in the first image, this will have dual thermometers.
… smoking duration for the different types of meat? Salmon, Beef, Pork, Chicken????
… types of wood that you prefer? I have a line up on some Alder, Maple and Apple.
Regarding the chimney outlets...… I'm thinking that with the outlets located low, the upper barrel will hold the smoke better and perhaps longer.
However, with them located low, I'm concerned that there may be a loss of heat and smoke at the cook surface area.
I've not used a larger double barrel smoker like this before, so I will welcome any and all suggestions from those of you who have used this style.
Thanks in advance
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