Question for those of you making Smokers.

[babydaddy]

I've got a well water pressure tank that I plan to use to make a smoker. I've got it set up horizontally right now, could be vertical if I have my mind changed. Question is, how are ya'll making your burn box? some of them look to be real thick cast stuff like a wood burning stove, which i have access to a small one and am thinking of using. I'd have to pipe the stove to the tank though where as with a steel box, i could weld it right to the tank. is there any advantage or dissadvantage to piping to the tank? thanks all.

Tim

[Arc_It]

Originally Posted by babydaddy

is there any advantage or dissadvantage to piping to the tank? thanks all.

Tim

From my reading on this site you need to consider how you plan to use the cooker. Smokers are usually run at a lower temp than a bbq (Smoking is up to around 250 degrees. Having a direct fire under the meat is usually at a higher temp than indirect through a pipe. A separate fire box is handy for adding wood/charcoal without disturbing the meat. Your main goal is to create a nice even heat that can be sustained without have to stoke the fire every 10 minutes.

The large cast iron fireboxes take a while to heat up but would provide you with longer residual heat and less temperature spikes. When you are building it, bee sure to add a temp guage for your cooking area.

[EBFARMER]

I recently built a smoker from a well tank. I used another well tank cut in half for the fire chamber but if I had it to do over I would have scrapped the whole well tank idea and found some 20" pipe. There are several reasons for this the first being that the pipe would be thicker and would be better able to hold the heat. The second would be that the well tanks had some rust on the inside and I worry about that affecting how long the smoker will last. The final reason that I would stay away from the well tanks is that they are usually galvanized and this causes problems with welding it as well as contamination while cooking. Here is the smoker I built.

[slaggy]

What method did you use to make your cuts on the well tank.

[EBFARMER]

I measured from the bottom of the tank, which was a square edge, to get a straight line where I wanted it and then made a cut with a cut off wheel on a die grinder. This gave me a starting point to get in there with a sawzall.

[babydaddy]

Farmer, thanks for the pics. i wish i had a scanner. i drew the same thing today on a notepad. except i had a small wood burner with a pipe into the tank. i even had steel wheels and skids on the front. weird.... so if i used a wood burner, i'd be all right on the heat issue. normal temps in a smoker tank are 250deg? i do have rust in mine too. i've been using the grinder and a wire wheel. i used a cut off wheel in my 90 grinder also to do the whole door. it makes sense that the tank would be galvanized, however, this tank has soo much rust i'm wondering if it is. doesnt seen to have the same coating or texture as galv pipe i have lain around. anyone know what the max temp rating for ~ 16guage steel? I would agree that the tank seems a little thin for a bbq, but i've seen sheet steel used on other smokers. how did you vent/adjust your heat/smoke from the box to the smoker? i'm imagining an in line butterfly choke type thing for mine. i don't want to give up yet, i'm still sweatin from getting this far. anyway, thanks again for the pics and input. oh yea,
How does yours cook?

[Arc_It]

The first pic here shows the typical thermometer for a bbq the second one shows the vent from the fire box to the smoker. This smoker uses an angled deflector from the fire box (see top of pic). Inside the smoker you can use tuning plates to help regulate the heat.

[iroc]

Nice craftsmanship EBFARMER!!!

[EBFARMER]

I simply cut a hole between the firebox and cooking chamber and put a baffle in the cooking chamber to keep food from getting the direct radiant heat from the coals. To control the heat I simply adjust the damper in the firebox door, or adjust the damper on top of the chimney. I am new to smoking and have only used this grill twice so far, however the boston butts I smoked so far turned out pretty good. I may put a larger chimney on eventually because I cant seem to get as much draft as I would like.

This is a picture of the damper in the door.

[babydaddy]

thanks guys. hey farmer, what size is your stack now? looks like 3"? I had planned on using the same for both the stack and firebox connection to the smoker. based on your info, would you say a 4" pipe would be sufficient?
Also wondered if 2 stacks are necessary on a pit this size? I was thinking one high and one low, both with flues to adjust heat and smoke. I guess it's a trial and error thing. that's the nice thing about steel. if it aint right, cut, weld and do it different. thanks again for the advise guys.

[EBFARMER]

It is three inch. The jury is still out as to wheither it really needs to be bigger or not.