Smoker plans

[scottboness]

scottboness
Hi everyone. I am a Californian who transplanted himself to New Zealand 11 years ago. One of the things I miss about home is the food...namely BBQ. New Zealander's, like our Australian mates, love to Q. However, the only comparison is the word BBQ and meat. That's where the comparison ends. In this part of the world, everyone uses gas grills (except my father in law who uses a Weber to smoke his meat.
I am in search of some plans on how to build a good smoker BBQ. I have seen the "Big Smokey" plans and, to be honest, the system is too costly and too big for me. If we talk about cost; the conversion kit is aropund $130. Tha's no biggie, but then I have to add freight and duty, would be close to the cost of the conversion kit). I also have to purchase a couple of other bits, which drive the price up even more.
I am in dire need of teaching the people of this country what real BBQ is all about as well as being able to get my "Fix" whenver I get the hunger...which is usually every week.
A few years ago I visited a nice littel palce in Austin called Stubb's. :) I was in town for a couple of days and coupldn't get enough of them "Pig Cicles".
Can someone please help?

Cheers
Scott

 

[Dutch]

Welcome Scott! Have you thought about obtaining a parts list and trying to find what you need locally? Or thought about building a unit from the ground up with what's available there? There are plans available that you can buy and I'm sure that some of us here can give you some ideas.

 

[smoksignlr]

Hi Scott. Welcome to this forum. I couldn't help but wonder what Crocodile Dundee would sound like saying " I'll put anutha shrimp on tha smoka fo ya". Scott basically what I have done with my smoker is improvise, originally I was going to use propane. I saw a plan that I thought I might use and I went for it. Take inventory of anything you might use that is just kicking around. Tell the boys what's available and I bet they will come up with something to get you going. You miight get what I'm talking about if you check out my set up in the wood smoker forum. Happy hunting. Gary

 

[burksmoke]

Hi Scott,

We all talk about and obsess about euipment. The truth is you can smoke great Q even with scant resources. Some of the "old guys" I remember would just stack a few cinder blocks, build a fire, throw on a steel grate of some sort, place the meat on the grate and cover with some old sheet metal. And make great barbeque!

It is nice to have good equipment though. I have seen some great cookers made from 55 gal. barrels. Some places even sell kits that include everything but the barrel. I'm going to search to see if I can find a link to a site that has them. I'll post if I find it.

 

[burksmoke]

OK,
http://web.dbtech.net/~johnson/cooke...num/magnum.htm

This might work

 

[oz]

Hey Scott,
I too am a transplanted yank here in NZ. I am from Austin, Texas and do appreciate good que. I'm not sure, but I think Stubbs closed a while back. There is another one there called Rudy's if you have a chance (not to mention some of the old timers in Lockhard and Llano). I have smoked for years and had some withdrawal when I moved here (about 4 yrs ago). I found and bought a KIWI Smoker which I have found is great (they have a website http://www.kiwismokehouse.co.nz/ ). It's kind of pricey but worth it. I am about to move back to the states next month and will take it with me. When I moved here I had to get rid of a beauty capable of serious queing made from a propane tank. I will build another like that one once settled. I have been trying to spread the word in NZ about real que and have a few converts here too. Hey, where are you located? I am in Auckland. Good Luck!
Cheers,
Ken

 

[Dutch]

Ken,-I fixed your link for kiwismokers (just had to move the ")" out of the addy link). Looks like an awesome smoker- thanks for sharing it!

 

[troy shull]

you can check out the smoker i am building right now. see if it helps with any ideas

www.tdenterprises.net/smoker.htm

 

[monty]

Troy, one word,

AWESOME!

Monty