Idea for Charcoal Insulated Cabinet - Help please

[steinernm]

I’ve been learning so much from this forum. I’ve read so many threads and have taken a lot of notes. I’ve been cooking on Weber WSMs for years and have been wanting a Backwoods or Humphreys smoker for a while. I love the BBQ I can cook on my WSMs but I want more capacity and I’m tired of pulling grates off to access food underneath. I live in Colorado and used smokers are really hard to come by. I’ve been considering the Mini GF but I came upon Lonestar Grills Insulated Cabinet cookers. I don’t want to wait for the production time on these smokers and I can’t stomach or afford the $600 shipping price on most of these. A mini Stumps gravity feed would be $3,000 delivered and I can’t make that happen. The Lone Star Grillz insulated cabinets are not reverse flow and I’ve read here that in an insulated cabinet that reverse flow isn’t needed. I would make a water pan/deflector plate with 1” gaps on the side to let heat travel into the cook chamber.

My idea is to go with 1.5” square tubing, 11 ga for the frame
11 ga outer and inner skins
11 ga for the firebox skins
1.5” insulation

CC dimensions: 20” tall x 23” deep x 18” wide
Firebox dimensions: 10” tall x 23” deep x 18” wide

My charcoal basket would be huge which would be awesome for long overnight cooks like I do for brisket and butts.

Im going to attach a rough sketch of what I have in mind for this build. I would need 45’ of 1.5” square tubing and 2 sheets of 4’ x 8’ 11 ga sheet.

How much Gap overlap on door would I need? Is 1.5” tubing on the side wide enough to fit the overlapped door and hinges?

Is 11 ga thick enough for the firebox?

I sure would appreciate help from you guys and I would love your honest opinion on this build. If I keep it to this size the total cost of square tubing and sheet would be $616. Should I just go with the mini GF or do you think this would be ok? Thanks a lot! - Geoff

[Dirtytires]

Sounds like you want a set-it and forget-it type of smoker. If I'm going to limit myself to charcoal it's going to be in a gravity feed where I can put a controller on it and ignore it. You are still going to need to monitor and adjust it with a charcoal maze.

[steinernm]

You are correct. My WSM does real good on overnight cooks with a temp controller so I’m looking for something similar with more capacity and that is easier to use (cabinet door). So you think the mini gravity feed is the ticket? Material wise it should be about the same as this yes? Thanks.

[Dirtytires]

The mini is both bigger and easier. No way you will build either one for $600 with the price of steel today. Till you get the casters, thermometers, insulation, hinges, welding wire/gas, and all the steel I would dare say you would be lucky to be under $2k and not at all surprised if it was closer to 3.

Remember steel prices have increased 100% in last 4 months.

However, I have not built one so maybe someone can give you a rough build cost.

[steinernm]

I just got steel quotes from two places for this design. $616 for the steel. I also got another quote from a different place and it came in at $681 and that is all pieces cut too ($161 cutting charge). It’s expensive but less than I was going to guess.

Insulation, castors, hinges, thermometers, welding gas and consumables would be extra. Still doesn’t seem too bad to me. It has to be cheaper than ordering a mini GF from Stumps! I will probably buy the mini plans and go that route. I think it uses thinner sheet metal as well and maybe 1” square tubing so that both of those would be a little cheaper.

I would go with a stick burner build because I can get 24” (0.375”) pipe for free. I don’t mind tending fire at all but my brisket cooks are about 20 hours at 225 - 240 F. I’m in Colorado at 6,600’ elevation and it seems like my cooks take forever. I could start with the stick burner and then put the meat on the WSM when I go to wrap.

[knagy88]

I did something similar...

I really like it.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[steinernm]

I did something similar...

I really like it.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

I can’t open the pics from that link. Would you mind posting some? I finally bought a welder so I’m thinking about this project again. Thanks!

[SheffSmoker]

I can’t open the pics from that link. Would you mind posting some? I finally bought a welder so I’m thinking about this project again. Thanks!

They posted a topic about it with all the pics in:

https://smokerbuilder.com/forums/viewto ... =17&t=7961

[knagy88]

I did something similar...

I really like it.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

I can’t open the pics from that link. Would you mind posting some? I finally bought a welder so I’m thinking about this project again. Thanks!

Were you able to open that? Seems similar to what you were looking to build.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk