First Smoker help

[johnwash]

I am relatively new to smoking. I've used someones pellet smoker and have added a smoker box on a gas grill and i can tell the diffrence between that and the real stuff so i think its time i get a smoker. I don't want to spend so much money but i don't want a cheap piece of garbage so i thought i might build my own. I was thinking of building one of brick.I have little exprience building. Does anyone have any ideas. What will i need and how hard will it be? And also around how much will it cost? Thanks in advance.

[The Czar]

Welcome and you can get into a UDS for about 150 bucks!!!!

[Pete Mazz]

How large of a smoker do you want? IOW, how much food will you smoke at once? At the least you'd have to make a couple of doors out of metal. I'm thinking you could build a vertical out of brick easier than a RF or offset.

And...Welcome!

[SmokinFF]

The UDS would be your cheapest and easiest entry level smoker. And they crank out some good Q.

[johnwash]

I was thinking of getting a uds but i wanted to know if making my own would be better quality Q. At most i would smoke a whole brisket or a few racks. Of ribs.

[johnwash]

At a time

[SmokinFF]

A lot of comp teams are using drums to make award winning Q. Check out Click here : BBQsmokersupply on the index page to buy a UDS kit. All you need to find then is a drum. Besides that, it's better if you build it.

[johnwash]

What will be cheaper and what will make better food

[SmokinFF]

UDS and the Q is up to you. Check out other UDS threads on here and see if it'll work for you.

[johnwash]

Iill definetly check out uds but for building one what type of doors do i need and where can i find them

[SmokinFF]

No doors. Check out the threads. You'll need an open head drum

[johnwash]

No i meant if i built a smoker out of bricks

[Rodcrafter]

I would make my own so I could get what I want. Not being limited by what's available.

[johnwash]

So does anyone have any ideas i can use and sone directions

[Puff]

In all likelihood, you would need to fabricate them for the build you decide on. All would depend on that design. These comments you read are all from guys with lots of experience and expertise. If you are looking to get started with the least investment, the ugly drum has some real beautiful Q coming out of it. And if you look at some of the posts on the site, you'll be more than impressed with some of those ugly drums.

viewforum.php?f=12

[Tom_Heath]

I have several cookers and 1st choice is the drum. Providing that I am not cooking a ton of food.

I would vote a drum for anyone that is backyard cooking. Meaning less then 3 slabs at a time. Less then 4 butts at a time. and so on.

A drum can go with you to a friends house very easily.

[Rev.Mike]

[Pete Mazz]

To make a smoker out of mostly brick you'd probably need to start with some sort of framework made of steel. Maybe 1" square tubing, something to mount shelf tracks on and doors of course. If you don't weld you could search out a local welding shop. I'm thinking a rectangular frame 24" wide x 18" deep x 48 " high. The bottom 18" sectioned off for a firebox with a baffle plate of some sort and a door leaving 30" or so for the cook chamber and another door. Look on the site for vertical smokers and you'll get the idea. Now, instead of skinning the cooker in metal, build it out of brick. You'll need to seal it up pretty well and make some sort of small chimney but it seems doable. My smoker interior size was built around commercially available grates to save time and money.

[Rodcrafter]

[johnwash]

Right back at you

[johnwash]

Ive looked at the uds and they seem great but the one problem is that they are a little small and a little more expensive than i thought. I still might get one but before i do i wanna see if i should and can build my own

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

You can surely build one cheaper than buying one. And you can also make one as big as a 110 gallon which is twice the size of 99% of the UDS's out there.

[SmokinFF]

How much you lookin to spend? You could build a UDS without welding for close to $100. However if your looking to brick one up, it's in a permanent place and will probably cost more than $100 if you buy or build a door.

[johnwash]

If i dont already have a drum (which i dont) it will at least cost 200. What is an estimated cost of a door

[Big T]

I don't know where you live but I can't imagine a drum costing that much. I can buy them all day long from $5-$30 depending on the size and what was in them. If you have to buy steel to build the doors or pay someone to build them, you'll have way more invested than the cost of a UDS. I pay $150 for a 4'x8' sheet of 1/4'' steel, I know you want to build it as cheap as you can but the cost goes up pretty quick when you start buying supplies. jm2cw