Aussie Aussie Aussie

[jolly]

Good Evening, good morning, good afternoon does it really matter? im sure someone is smoking

New to the club and been smoking for a little over 12 months. Im from... can you guess? yes Australia specially the Gold Coast, love it here and smoking is slowly creeping in around town. Ive got a Kamado, (actually a cheap and dirty bunnings egg) but its dipped my toes and owww my god do i enjoy the cook, friends are really enjoying it all too.

Anyhow Ive decided to try building one, Got a couple of mates on board to help out, one is an engineer who (thinks) knows everything, the other an bloke is a boiler maker and myself im a wanna be electrician. After using the Kamado ive really got my eyes set on a reverse Flow Offset, I like the idea of the baffel plate acting as a diffuser.

Im planning on buying the plans from smokerplans.net (actually how i found this fourm) and the plan specifically the Metric 50.8 x 123 unit, i really like the idea of the two lids and the warmer box.

https://www.smokerplans.net/index.php?m ... 8474a8db20

now a couple of questions,

1. call me a nooob but it looks to be a tank, now when i think of tank like this i think Vehicle LPG gas tank? am i correct in this assumption? im also concerned that they will potentially be gal finish, what is the inside lining likely to be finished in? ultimately is this type of tank going to be safe to cook with?

2. This to me seems like an awsome build but honestly am i biting off more than i can chew with this as a first build? is it going to be excessively costly? and what would you say approx time to build such a unit, please be honest and not bias.

3. last question

opinion on wireless thermometer? I was considering a tappecue or a fireboard, feel free to throw in differend brands, would love to hear differences pros/cons,

guys thanks for the help, look forward to sharing some good times, and if anyone here is local to me please drop me a msg

[mp4]

#1 - galvanized is generally considered not cool when it comes to cooking. Most tanks used for propane aren't galvanized though, so you should be good.

#2 - if you have a boiler maker buddy then your only handicap is your engineer buddy. Put him in charge of beer runs and the negative impact of having him on your build team would be negligible - especially if it's a long drive to the liquor store.

#3 - wireless temp probes are awesome. I have seen a few different brand names and they all work good.

Glad to have you aboard- have fun!

[towtruck]

Welcome.
Most areas in the states use tanks for home heating and such and are much bigger than an automotive tank. If all I had ti use was a auto sized tank I would visit the local scrap yard or steel supply and get yourself a hunk of heavy wall pipe to play with.

[Chromeski]

Not sure what's available around you, but I would stay clear of a galvanized tank.
I think you and your buddies are more than qualified for the build.
Is it going to cost too much? I guess that depends what the smoker is worth to you. The great thing is it will last forever if built right. You can price steel and lpg tanks now and try to get an idea of what the cost will look like now.
I have a thermapro wireless thermometer that works great. I've heard nothing but good about maverick brand thermometers I don't think you can go wrong there.
Welcome to the forum, excited to see what you build.

[Big T]

Welcome aboard!!

[ajfoxy]

Welcome to the crew.
I'm halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
If you can't find a tank, look for large pipe, or even get an engineering works to roll you a round tube from 6mm plate. Problem with old used tanks is that they generally have a heap of gunk in them, which needs cleaning out.
Of course if you don't feel like finding or can't find something round, then have a look at "The Mack". All square, with a warming cabinet and all from 6mm plate. At a stage I believe Frank will make available metric version with metric cut files that you can take to your favourite Plasma / Laser / Waterjet shop and have the whole thing cut out ready for you to weld up.

[Pete Mazz]

Welcome

[temurf]

Welcome.
I use a "Smoke" from ThermoWorks. It costs around $100. It has 2 probes 1 to monitor the pit temp and 1 for the internal temp of the meat.
It has adjustable min and max settings for each probe and a wireless receiver with an alarm for when either temp goes below the min or above the max.
It allows you to do things other than constantly watch the temp gauge on the pit.
There is also a wireless gateway available for it that allows you to monitor the temps on a smartphone.

[Dirtytires]

#2 - if you have a boiler maker buddy then your only handicap is your engineer buddy.

Wait....what??

[jolly]

Thanks for the warm welcoming gents,

Im actually looking at using some rolled still now, Found some offcuts just waiting to see if the deal goes through or not, I actually did a cook over the wekend, Flavor was good howerever i was a little disappointed with the cook. was going for a pulled pork, had been in the pit for 12 hours however the pork still juicy it diddnt pull very well, i have the feeling that perhaps it was a temp issue, Normally i cook around 110-115 deg C however this time i cooked at 90-100 over the course of the cook, does the temp sound like the issue, low temp and not long enough? should i stick to the slightly higher Temp?

Cheers fellas

[Pete Mazz]

Sounds low but an insta-read thermo is the way to know for sure (200-205ish). If it's a bone in butt, a simple twist of the bone will tell you when it's done.

[jolly]

Evening/good morning fellas.

Thought I would give a bit of an update, I'm pretty sure the issue is the temp, I've since done a few more cooks and have found if I up the temp it greatly changed the result. I actually did a brisket for the first time the other week and it came up sensational (actually cracked the shits with a mate for eating too much and not leaving me left overs for lunch!!!) I also did a pork picnic for a mate of mine and I have to say it was the best cook of that meat I've ever done yayyy.

Next I have also just purchased a fireboard been thinking about it for awhile now and I decided to just do it. I have a big party coming up on jam 1st for my babies first birthday so I have heaps of meat to cook, including a 14kg (30lb) suckling pig, 2x briskets, 2x picnic pork butts and some lamb kebabs. Wife is also get to g heaps of Asian food for me to cook aswell. So I figure why not spend the dollars and get a decent thermometer I don't want to ruin it all.

Anyhow a question about the pig, I'm going to low and slow it, should I just do a salt rub and smoke it? I figure no big need to do a massive complex rub as it's going to be covered in skin and think it won't penetrate? Am I wrong in this assumption? I know the skin won't be crunchy due to the low temp but I also figured to deep fry the skin (somthing I read from an American poster).

And on my build progress I need to get out my laptop and upload some progress pics. I've built the fire box (bit more work to go), cut out the main door and put on hinges for the main compartment, also welded in the baffle plate. Hope to fi ish the fire box this Saturday, make a start on the table for it and even fit the chimney.

Anyhow gents. Thanks for any advise I'll keep you all posted

Dj

[jolly]

Baffle plate tac welded

[jolly]

So this is the unit, good size for my first time learning all the new skills, I now look back and figure I should have made the fire box bigger, it is made to specification using the calculators, just think for future it will be easier to put in more wood if it was a bit bigger. But all good I'm learning

[Frank_Cox]

welcome aboard!!!
also... the Mack Metric plans are now available... even have a CNC file for it...
https://www.smokerplans.net/index.php?m ... cts_id=197

[Bricklayer2]

Welcome My eyes are getting a little older but I do have a question on your RF. Looking at your pic I do not see a space in the baffle plate on the opposite end from the fire box for the smoke to get to the upper chamber, maybe I just can not see it. ;) May want to look at that if you do not have it there. Others here can chime in on this maybe I am not thinking correctly.

[Chromeski]

Looks like the stack is opposite of the firebox (covered with a towel in the pic?) Meaning this is not a reverse flow, but more of a traditional offset ? So I assumed the opening was on the firebox side not visible in the pic. Maybe OP can clear this up. Lol