Story of a 100# patio smoker

[Fiveflat]

So after I finished my 150 gallon smoker (documented on this site) I got tired of cooking in it because it took way too long to get the cook chamber up to temp. for a smoker used 95% for a small group. I hope I didn't go to the other extreme with a little 100# propane tank.
Here's where I'm at so far:

I have the weld-on hinges seen on top of the firebox. I'm about to tack them on but first I wanted to check with you all about distance. Should I lift the door off the tank at all to compensate for gasket material? If so, how much?

Thanks!

[Fiveflat]

Disregard my question... I figured it out. Just look at the pictures and give some critique or a nod of approval I suppose. Haha

[Big T]

That'll be a nice size cooker

[Pete Mazz]

nod, nod, nod.

[Rodcrafter]

Heck yeah!


Making memories.

[Fiveflat]

Thanks folks. The firebox comes in at about 160% as it sits now. I want to place firebrick in it and weld new plates inside them and then the calc falls to about 125% but I needed it big enough to still fit a split of wood into...

[Rodcrafter]

You don't have to weld plates in on the fire brick. Of course unless you want to.


Making memories.

[Fiveflat]

Thanks, I was thinking about a way to keep them in place if I wheel it around. May not got with inside plates but that was my first thought.

On another subject, I had a 2 degree break put in my rf plate. It wasn't enough so I resorted to a home made break which turns out to be a failure... and that's only 3/16! Guess I'll cut it and weld angle in the middle or something

[Fiveflat]

Well I made a little progress today, I ended up making a reverse flow tray. Lol. Welded two ends on it and put a drain through. I Mig'd the drain pipe and tested it with water and there were some pinhole leaks so I washed that weld out with my TIG torch. It's ugly but it filled up at least.

[Fiveflat]

Yikes!, that close up is way uglier than it really is!

[Puff]

Fiveflat,

It can be a pain in the butt to reverse engineer something like this but since you're putting the energies into it, you might as well try to get the firebox closer to the 102-105% ... Beats trying to chase temperatures up and down the scale.

Additionally, I had a wood stove 25 yrs ago with a fire brick lining on its 1/4" floor and walls but, to keep everything in there very secure, they used an angle iron on the wall to hang over the edge of the fire brick as if to keep it from tipping over. You would install the wall row of fire brick first and then lay the floor in. Eventually it all fit in nice and tight and although it was a wood stove... I'd bet you could bounce it along on a trailer and it would all have stayed in place. Of course the entire wall was not completely covered, but you could by adding extra tracks for the brick. My 2 cents, so to speak

[Fiveflat]

I'm hittin' what you're pitchin' Puff
Know what I mean?

[reccitron]

It's looking good.

I'm interested to see how you like the size once it's done. I have one those tanks and also getting a bigger piece of pipe and not sure which one to build first.

[Fiveflat]

Well, there's certainly a need for larger size CC but this one will do probably 99% of all my cooks. While it's so rare that I cook for more than 10 people I figured that it would be worth having two sizes...

Here's some progress:




I did a test burn in it last night. IT got quite hot but I didn't have a proper damper installed yet. I just had the hole cut, so it ran wide open. I'm hoping another test run tomorrow with a proper damper will let me throttle it down.

[Big T]

[Rodcrafter]

Nice work


Making memories.

[Fiveflat]

My neighbor keeps pulling out his little electric "Little Chief" to make jerky and it got me thinking...
I don't need a warming box on this little patio smoker but some nice fire smoked jerky would really make me happy.

Please tell me your thoughts on this idea I have here. Bad? Good? Not gonna work? His Little Chief onlygets to around 160 degrees. I think I'll be pretty hot at the bottom where it's sitting on the firebox but I should be able to control the temp with that gate valve, no? Everything is only sitting there mocked up. Nothing is cut or drilled or welded... yet.

[Big T]

I don't see any pictures of your mock up.

[Fiveflat]

Damn this google photo album thing... I think I fixed it. Can you see the photos now?

[Pete Mazz]

Nope

[forty_creek]

Nada


Drankin, Smokin and Dreamin

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fiveflat]

Okay, sorry for the confusion. I finally figured out how to upload photos instead of "sharing" them...

Now that we're on a new page, I'll copy/paste the text from my original message:

My neighbor keeps pulling out his little electric "Little Chief" to make jerky and it got me thinking...
I don't need a warming box on this little patio smoker but some nice fire smoked jerky would really make me happy.

Please tell me your thoughts on this idea I have here. Bad? Good? Not gonna work? His Little Chief onlygets to around 160 degrees. I think I'll be pretty hot at the bottom where it's sitting on the firebox but I should be able to control the temp with that gate valve, no? Everything is only sitting there mocked up. Nothing is cut or drilled or welded... yet.

[Rodcrafter]

That would probably work, but there are better options but not already made perhaps.

Here's another


I'm changing my FB and adding an Warming Cabinet/ CC. I'm also making it versatile


Making memories.

[Fiveflat]

Well, that's my only hang up is how it sorta looks out of place because of the size. I hate to put much more money into this little patio smoker and build a "full size" warming box because I like how it is setup now. It only takes 30 minutes to get the CC up to temp and I can cook for my family... or make some jerky in this little box.

[Rodcrafter]

Go for it. You can always take it off if you don't like it. It may be hard to get the paint out of it.


Making memories.