First Burn 171 Gallon Offset

[hogaboomer]

Oiled up the outside with linseed oil, inside with vegetable oil and fired it up. Wood is all wet and doesn't want to burn right. Wheels aren't getting hot, I can hold my hand in between there indefinitely.

[towtruck]

Looking good!

[hogaboomer]

Thanks! I'm trying to dry that linseed oil on there right now, just burning some wood in it, not cooking anything. That wet wood finally burned down to coals and everything is looking pretty sweet!

[dacolson]

That's a beast! Looks great! I love the oil finish.

[Big T]

It looks great!

[hogaboomer]

Thanks, y'all! I been working on this thing for about a month, now. Just a few more little knick knacks to wrap up. I had welded a plate inside that first end cap to keep the incoming heat down below the grate, today I welded a 3 inch tall plate across the front of that to make it a water pan. Would be cool to add a pipe down into there like a gas tank filler tube, pour the water in from the outside - don't have the parts to do it yet. Still need to build a pulling tongue, and put a prep table on it, maybe call it done after that.
Oh yeah, I still need to get a valve and a nipple for the grease drain, too... one of these days it should truly be done.

[dacolson]

Never. Never truly done. I keep thinking about how to change/improve mine.

[Dirtytires]

Definitely a unique build...turned out pretty nice.

Best part is now it is cook-ready so you can start using it while you decide what else it needs. Heck, I’m still adding stuff to mine.

[Big T]

I constantly think of small things that I want to add to mine.

[hogaboomer]

First cook is a resounding success! The St Louis ribs are pretty righteous, the chicken was pretty dang good and the spare ribs are still cooking.

[dacolson]

Man that looks so good. Nice work sir. How satisfying is that?

[towtruck]

Very nice!

[hogaboomer]

Best ribs I've done yet! Thing cooks like a dream.

[dacolson]

So gratifying when they come out of the smoker you built yourself.

[Big T]

I'm glad to hear that your first run went well!

[Dirtytires]

Glad it turned out...definitely makes your hard work and efforts worthwhile.

Can I ask why you are cooking your wood? I’ve heard some people like to heat up the wood on top of the firebox before they burn it but I’m not sure I would want wood inside my cook chamber. Tell me about your process....

[hogaboomer]

The wood is pretty green, around 25% moisture content. Heating it makes it burn better. I had it on top of the firebox, on top of the cook chamber and inside, too. Not sure how it can hurt being inside, it's pouring smoke all over the meat already...

[dacolson]

You gotta put a hitch on that and tow it around the golf course with you.

[Dirtytires]

Whatever works....I’m not judging. I just don’t put anything but food in my cook chamber.

[hogaboomer]

That's fine, but is your firebox not connected to your cook chamber? The whole system runs on wood. Didn't seem to affect the taste of the ribs any.

[Brisket Envy]

I like it
Kinda flies in the face of conventional wisdom, with regard to firebox to cook chamber to smokestack dimensions.
Many of us seem to overthink those, and feel trapped by them.
Would you care to share the dimensions of the components of your smoker?
The results prove that the design works well, and I am sure sharing the dimensions will help others in building their cookers.
How often were you adding splits to the fire?

Thanks!

[hogaboomer]

The cook chamber is 171 gallons, the pipe in between end cap welds is 30 inch pipe x 36 inches long and the end caps are 15 inches long. I went on a tank volume calculator site and they said 171 gal. The plenum adds about 15 gallons, not sure if that figures in, or not.
The firebox is 24 inch pipe x 35 inches long. The smokestack is big, but I just used what I had laying around. Like 9inch pipe x 35 inches long. I figured if it acted like it wasn't drawing right I can close the damper, but I never used it at all. I wanted it a little high so it wouldn't be blowing smoke in my face. Seemed to work just fine. Feldon's said smokestack dimensions are not really an exact science, anyway.
I didn't really keep track of the wood use.

[hogaboomer]

All finished up, now.

[towtruck]

Nice!

[Big T]

Sweet! I'm guessing that the small grate on the top is for holding a thermometer but what's the pipe at the other end of the cooker ?