250 Trailer Smoker

[Gizmo]

Sheeesh!

[Smokeone]

Good one RC!

[Rodcrafter]

Thanks S1, sorry Rick, I just had to do it.

[The Czar]

That was pretty funny…

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[jwsimpleville]

So in every minute of my spare time I've been working on all the little odds & ends trying to finish this thing up.
I've been taking some pictures, but to be perfectly honest not as often as I'd like. Anyways heres a few more pics to add to the collection.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

Nice progress.

[Rodcrafter]

[Gizmo]

You came a long way on this - looks good! Except for needing a stack it looks like it's ready to light!

[Miketheforester]

That looks like a really nice build. Good work.

[The Czar]

Killer....

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[jwsimpleville]

So I have a question for those that have built smokers. I'm getting the angle and 3/4" #9 expanded steel tomorrow to make the six grates, in making the grates do I set them up so the food sits on top the grate and angle or should it sit down in the grate?
I certainly hope that question makes sense, because while I can picture alot of things in my head sometimes I can't quite translate that into words easily understood by others.

[Gizmo]

JW the way you phrased your question threw me. You can flip the grate and cook on it upside down any time you want with no difference.

If you're asking about where to weld the expanded steel to the angle frame consider making the angle frame (recommend 1") and cut the expanded steel to fit DOWN INSIDE it to protect your fingers from all those cutoff ends the expanded steel will leave along it's edge. I've seen them catch expensive neoprene gloves before ,,, fwiw

[jwsimpleville]

Spent some more time working on the smoker today. I got the grates made,

And just for a reference point and to add perspective to the overall size, I set an 18" level on the grate in this picture.

Then I decided that I've delayed cutting the smoke stack hole for long enough.

It actually came out pretty good given that I used nothing more than 2 cutting discs, and 1 flap wheel.

[Smokeone]

Nice work on the stack hole. Looks perty good for a disc hole.

[Rodcrafter]

You still suprise me with the work you do with so few tools. Keep it up your doing great. You'll be smoking soon now.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

Nice looking build. I'm like you and don't have a ton of fancy tools, but get the job done with what I have.
Love the build.

[jwsimpleville]

And the smoke stack is now installed.

[Smokeone]

I can almost see the thin blue smoke already!

[Rodcrafter]

[jwsimpleville]

Here's a picture of the smoke stack damper being cut out, and it's obvious enough but once again using the old trusty cut-off discs.

[goodwla]

Very nice progress. The racks look great.

Just need that nice smokey film on them to start sealing

[jwsimpleville]

Here is a pic of the damper finished up. I left a 3/16" lip of overhang to allow for a stop to be welded onto the cap.

[Rodcrafter]

[jwsimpleville]

So I spent about 6 hours just burning up some wood in it today, playing with the intake dampers and waiting about 30min to see the effects. And for 4hours of that time I smoke about 3 lbs of fatback on the grates and got a good coating of grease on the racks and just about everything that slides and moves.
I'm going to try 3 racks of ribs tomorrow morning and should be eating a good lunch before I go into work at 1pm. I will take various pics and post them up tomorrow. Until then ......

[The Czar]

I do like me some ribs.....