Smoker build

[THEFERMANATOR]

Guess I will put this one here since I aint cookin on it yet. My old smoker is just a small cabinet smoker, and has served me well considering I bought it almost 9 years ago now for $40 at Wal Mart, but the time has come to step up and build me another GOOD smoker. I used to have a 120 gallon tank that was a basic smoker, but it rotted out(was my dads, and then bacame mine). I wanted another decent sized smoker, but not a monster thats big enough to do a whole hog like the last one was. The other kick is I'm on a TIGHT budget right now with some family things going on, so to the scrap pile I go.

My neighbor had an old 120 gallon galvanized water tank that he had to replace because the bottom rotted out on him and no longer held pressure, so I got the base for my build for FREE$$ from him. I have a fair amount of 12 gauge and 16 gauge plate left over from rebuilding my lawnmower deck 2 years ago that I can scab together to make most of my firebox and my reverse flow chamber, some old grating leftover from my rack I built from my travel trailer, a piece of 4" exhaust pipe from my BURB build, a NICE piece of food grade stainless grating from a scrap pile for my cooking grate, and just a bunch of odds and ends from years of building stuff. I will need to pick up some angle iron, but other than that I should have most everything I need.

I didn't take a picture of it before cutting, but this is what I have after cutting it. I cut the bottom off to start so I could see how far I had to go to get to decent metal, and found I was left with a good 36 inches of 24" diamter tank for my cooking chamber.

You can see the seem was rusted pretty badly as well as a few other spots in the bottom, but the top portion is pretty nice inside with the exception of a spot where the water valve used to go in at.

Heres my grating I will use for the fire box and some other areas. And yes, I have quite a few JEEP parts pictured here.

And heres some of my scraps as well as a bucnh of old 6.5 parts.

So hopefully I will be smokin by turkey day to do some smoked turkey and ham.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Worked on it for a few hours tonight, doesn't seem like I got much progress done, but I got alot of measurements taken, and figured out most of how I'm going to build it up.

Heres the stainless grate I have for the cooking surface.

And heres a shot of the reverse flow baffle. I'm adding a little spin to it from most conventional smokers as I'm not going with a completely side mounted firebox, but I'm going to keep it mostly under the smoke chamber so as to minimize heat loss through the firebox to the air. I'm still up in the air about putting a warming chamber on it, or to keep the firebox completely under the smoke chamber.

 

[btfarm]

Nice re-purpose job. The old tank will probably hold up better after you get through with it anyhow.

 

[hookedup50]

I like it. I have an 80 gallon tank that I want to do that to. The expanded stainless will be hard for me to find without spending $ Keep posting pics! I'll hit the scrapyard. Smoked fish, wild turkey, hams. MMM.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I'm only using the stainless because I have it. The normal metal grating will work just fine and is what I would be using normally.

 

[3500GMC]

So when's the cookout? I'll bring the artichoke dip.
.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Well I wasn't concerned about the tank I'm using, but I've had a few people now say I shouldn't use it for the dangers of the zinc burning off during cooking and poisoning the food. I grew up eating out of a galvanized tank smoker, but I decided to not use it after finding a better option. My neighbor is giving me a 80 gallon air compressor tank he has that is the same diamter, so it will minimize the amount of replanning I will need to do. So now I won't have any concerns about the galvanized metal inside the tank.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Well you shouldn't get as many colds with a zinc tank. LOL

 

[Will L.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_fume_fever

The galvanized is a BAD IDEA. Its not just staying zinc. When heated it attracts an oxygen molecule and becomes zincoxide. Toxic. There are other problems with using it also.
Do you know what type of stainless the rack is? ONLY 316 STAINLESS IS TO BE USED!

A bunch of people laugh this stuff off, but I have seen people build bbq burners from potassium cyanide barrels before too...
Although I am a aluminum hat guy, I drink from the garden hose, from the highest metal content in the US, and added fluoride to boot. If my samich falls on the asphalt, I brush off the rocks and finish my lunch. If I am saying don't eat from it that should tell you something.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_fume_fever

The galvanized is a BAD IDEA. Its not just staying zinc. When heated it attracts an oxygen molecule and becomes zincoxide. Toxic. There are other problems with using it also.
Do you know what type of stainless the rack is? ONLY 316 STAINLESS IS TO BE USED!

A bunch of people laugh this stuff off, but I have seen people build bbq burners from potassium cyanide barrels before too...
Although I am a aluminum hat guy, I drink from the garden hose, from the highest metal content in the US, and added fluoride to boot. If my samich falls on the asphalt, I brush off the rocks and finish my lunch. If I am saying don't eat from it that should tell you something.

Don't know what grade stainless it is, just know it came from an old bottling plant and was used for fruit juices and such. I know it has sat outside for a good 10 years, and it still has NO rust on it whatsoever. Most just use regular flat steel grating for the cooking surface, so I feel pretty good about using a high grade stainless in it's place(wouldn't use it unless I laready had).

Heres the new victim. It's an old challenger 80 gallon air tank rated to 200 PSI, and it is over twice as thick as the water tank was. This thing is HEAVY.

And here it is cleaned up with all of the holes welded up.

I have it taped off for the marks to cut the opening, but cutting it won't be anywhere near as easy as cutting the other tank. This thing has to be 10 or 11 gauge steel. Since it is already REALLY close to the 36" cooking surface I was shooting for, I'm going to leave both ends on it and do all the work through the opening. So it actually makes for a little less work in the end. Just gonna take me some time to cut out the door opening as I don't want to chance distorting it using the plasma cutter, so gonna take some time with a sawzall. The best part is I'm still sitting at $0 as the new tank was a freebie from my neighbor.

 

[btfarm]

That grate from the food industry is 304 (very unlikely to be 316). I've designed meat processing machines to USDA sanitary regulations for 29 years. I assure you, any common 300 series stainless is just fine.

 

[Will L.]

By the sounds of it, our friend from Illinois is more versed than I am. I know the range of 300 ss is food rated, but I thought 316 was the only one used for heated applications above 200 f for food application. I know above 400f the difference is huge for breaking down against bromides, fatty acids, etc. Sorry if I hit the panic button hard- It just scares me to see someone get problems if I don't speak up.

As far a steel being rusted, Just get it toasty and wire wheel off the excess when cool just so you don't get the crunchies on your grubb. Rust is ironoxide, and is the exact thing your body likes (in moderation of coarse). It needs 700+f to start altering state, and actually gets more pure until the passed the point your metal is losing structural strength so no worries there... cleaning is the reason it's not used everywhere.

Wish I had some pics of some of the smokers and grills I built in the past for show and tell, maybe ideas for ya. The one that most people liked had a still attached for a beer brewing friend.

 

[Chevylover]

I'm getting hungry ! ! !

So get it done !


Cu,
Sven

 

[NVW]

Good call on getting rid of the galvanized tank. Drinking milk helps when welding it.

 

[Will L.]

The drinking milk thing is being taught down. Part of the poisoning causes nausea, and the milk calms your belly. The problem is your lungs and brain are getting the damage, the stomach is a side effect. If your welding and breathing so many fumes that you puke, your better off puking to tell you gtfo from the fumes. Other than easing the vomiting, there is no medical benefit from the milk.

I have to deal with galvanized welding very frequently, and will not let a guy do the milk trick on my sight. If you WANT the milk, then what you NEED is a respirator or better over all ventilation. Don't trick your stomach into letting you poison yourself worse.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Yesterday ended up being a bust for getting work done by the time I got home from getting steel and running errands, BUT I had a pretty good afternoon today. Got most of the firebox plate cut out, cut the opening in the drum for the smoke to go through, welded the top plate onto the drum for the smoke chamber, got 3 sides of the firebox welded on, 1 support leg welded on, and the legs are cut waiting for trimming and welding. Still alot of work left, but it's starting to take shape.

The 3 sides of the firebox welded on

Smoke chamber, reverse flow baffle, and the side of the smoke box

Smoker opening

Don't criticize my welds to much

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Was just going over my numbers again on the calculator, and it looks like I'm pretty close for most all of it. My firebox will be just slightly oversized at 105%, but most say to go 103-108% on the sizing(I should have probably undershot considering my design will utilize more of the heat). Planning on an 18.5"X3" opening out of the firebox for 55 cubic inches of volume, and the calculator says I need 52 but with the 180 degree change in direction I want to be al ittle over. My calculations come out to 58 cubic inches of volume for the reverse flow baffle chamber so it should flow planty and not bottle neck there. And I'm planning on a 30" tall 4" ID stack which is a bit taller than what the calculator calls for, but I want to keep the smoke away from me as best as possible. Hopefully this thing works out good as all the math says it should be sized right, and I will have a good 36" long, 23.5" wide, X 12" tall half circle cooking chamber to work with(may drop the cooking area down a tad deeper, will finalize my decision on that shortly.

Link to BBQ Pit Calculator

 

[Pepperidge]

Where do you come up with all this technical stuff?

You my friend are a walking encyclopedia about whatever you put your mind to do...my attention span is slipping away in my old age and I only wish I could wrap my mind around half of what you do...looking forward to the outcome...and maybe some good grub next time we are down...

 

[btfarm]

...my attention span is slipping away in my old age ...

Did you say something. .?

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Starting to take shape. Fell short of where I wanted to be at, but it is starting to look like a smoker(just upside down at the moment).

Shot of the front.

And of the end where the smoke chamber is being built to route the smoke back through the smoker.