Homemade BBQ smoker project

SimonAH

Ok, on last week’s “What are you doing this weekend?” thread I mentioned that I was building a cider barrel smoker and a few people wanted to know more, so as promised (one week behind schedule as I needed to source some parts) here is my objets trouve home made smoker.

The pork loin is defrosting as I type and the first cooking test will be this afternoon

Right, you will need;

One stainless steel cider or lager barrel
Some stainless steel mesh or a 15” circular BBQ grille
A ball valve
Two elbows and some stainless pipe (I actually used the spile from another barrel which was a perfect fit for my ¾ inch ball valve)
An angle grinder
(optional) a welder.

This is what it the finished article looks like;



What you do is cut the barrel around at the middle of the top “hoop”, then cut the remaining bottom half of the hoop off. This lets you fit the top section over the bottom section for a good seal and gives you a lid with lots of space for all that delicious meat.

Next you remove the spile from the top half of the barrel, turn it upside down and screw it back into it’s seating to form the chimney (obviously remove the spring and the rubber gasket) leaving the pickup end of the spile sticking down into the cooking area.



The lid is now complete.

In the bottom of the main section I drilled a 25mm hole that neatly took the thread of an elbow and piped up the ballvalve thusly;





In the piping photo you can also see the bottom half of an empty CO2 Mig canister that I sliced up and slotted to make an air intake protector. Could have used almost anything really but it was to hand. (note children, taking an angle grinder to a pressurised cylinder is a really really bad idea unless you are 100% certain that there is no pressure left in it)

Next I took a couple of bits of stainless bar and welded them across to make grill supports (although you could just drill through the sides and put in some bolts to do the same job).



And onto the top of this you drop a nice bit of stainless mesh to act as the grille;



Simple!

It’s cooking away at the moment to make sure that I’ve burnt off any paint and other nasties. Once that’s done then it’s a case of getting a good white bed of coals going, dropping on your (wet) smoking chips, loading up a good lump of pig, closing the lid, adjusting the ball valve to keep a trickle of smoke coming out of the chimney and putting on your eating trousers!

Caveats;
Stainless steel is a bee-atch to drill holes in (knackered a couple of drill bits)
Barrels (even if given to you by a friendly publican) are the property of the brewery.
Do not use an aluminium barrel as it will melt.
Likewise shopping trolleys (even if bent and rescued from hedgerows) belong to the supermarket.

estampida

for drilling s/s

you need either hss drill bits (high speed stainless) - work fine until you need to drill exotic metals that work harden like monel.....

or ti-nitride coated drill bits (can be expensive for large diameter drill bits) for monel and so on.......

chadders81

Have you covered the name of the brewer to dodge a theft charge?

I look forward to seeing your smokey meat.

SimonAH

Chadders81 wrote:

Have you covered the name of the brewer to dodge a theft charge?

I look forward to seeing your smokey meat.

:-D

I can't tell you how good it's smelling in my garden right now!

Greg T

This is a man thread. It's so het burds could get pregnant just by being sent the link...

Engineering, angle grinding, drilling, welding, meat smoking....

Marvellous . . .

I want a garden pizza oven . .

rubertoe

Is it ready yet or what?

SimonAH

Yes, yes it was.



<stifles burp>

davis

Awesome project. Look forward to seeing the results.

Also, just in case anyone else is tempted to try this: don't use galvanised steel for any sort of cookering. Dem's the rules.

Edit: Looks omnomnomnom. Have you considered tidying the instructions up a touch and adding it to Instructables?

chadders81

How long did you smoke it for?

SimonAH

Chadders81 wrote:

How long did you smoke it for?

The photo was taken at about the hour mark. I ran it to about three and a half hours in the end.

Was worried that it might dry out, but it was as juicy as all get out.

Really, really good - astonished that the first attempt worked so well :-)

thelawnet

http://www.bbbqs.com/Forum/

itboffin

You sir are a real man this thread should be made a sticky and referenced when issuing MTFU

Now then Cardiff is what 1.30 hrs from here .....

Talking of smoked meat yesterday I bought a smoke chicken breast and about the same amount of smoked mackerel from the Marlborough food fair, was nom but no where near enough.

tailwindhome

thelawnet wrote:

http://www.bbbqs.com/Forum/

Is it wrong that I'm a little bit aroused by that link?

squeeler

Magnificent!
Today I've spent 7 hours waiting to munch on slow cooked pulled pork and crackling from the oven and wonderful though it was I'm now beside myself with envy at your wonderous creation

mudcow007

Nice project si

i've been thinking about doing a keg bbq for ages, just need to speak to my friendly pub owner

i don't like the look of oil drum an plus they are steel so will rust

you get a 1000 man points for one of the coolest things ive seen on here

gosport_commuter

estampida wrote:

for drilling s/s

you need either hss drill bits (high speed stainless) - work fine until you need to drill exotic metals that work harden like monel.....

or ti-nitride coated drill bits (can be expensive for large diameter drill bits) for monel and so on.......

HSS stands for High Speed Steel! it is what 99% of drill bits nowadays are made from.
Also most stainless steels DO work harden.

Sorry to pick but it irks me to see false information - its mis leading.

The key to drilling stainless is keeping the RPM down (800rpm or less most the time), and the depth of cut (so pressure on the drill) up.


Congrats on the keg smoker, love it - true man toy. all you need now is a gas bottle wood burner!

team47b

mmmmm whole smoked garlic cut 'n' spread on crusty bread...

thelawnet

TailWindHome wrote:

thelawnet wrote:

http://www.bbbqs.com/Forum/

Is it wrong that I'm a little bit aroused by that link?

Not at all.

Photo from the BBQ 101 course I did:

thelawnet

By the way, speaking of man cooking, I'm getting one of these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYHpNXkFKsY

Mr Sworld

mudcow007 wrote:

i've been thinking about doing a keg bbq for ages, just need to speak to my friendly pub owner

Ummm... The publicans don't own the kegs. While I know you are from Liverpool please don't think you can steal them.

This is a massive problem that affects small breweries.

http://www.kegwatch.co.uk/

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

Mr Sworld

BTW. This post has been reported.

Do not steal. Just as bad as stealing a bike IMO.

EKE_38BPM

How do you know it was stolen? Perhaps it was bought and paid for, all legal-like. Or the previous legal owner gave it to the OP because they want some pulled pork next summer. Or perhaps it was at the end of its useful life and the owner gave it away.

With the facts available you don't know where it came from and you are jumping to conclusions.
I think I will jump to some conclusions of my own now, just to prove a point:
Judging from your avatar and your location, I think you are a gay Muppet. Lots of gay people live in Brighton so you must be one, right?

pangolin

Mr Sworld wrote:

Ummm... The publicans don't own the kegs. While I know you are from Liverpool please don't think you can steal them.

This is a massive problem that affects small breweries.

http://www.kegwatch.co.uk/

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

He specifically says in his post that kegs belong to breweries...

SimonAH wrote:

Caveats;
Stainless steel is a bee-atch to drill holes in (knackered a couple of drill bits)
Barrels (even if given to you by a friendly publican) are the property of the brewery.
Do not use an aluminium barrel as it will melt.
Likewise shopping trolleys (even if bent and rescued from hedgerows) belong to the supermarket.

EKE_38BPM

pangolin wrote:

Mr Sworld wrote:

Ummm... The publicans don't own the kegs. While I know you are from Liverpool please don't think you can steal them.

This is a massive problem that affects small breweries.

http://www.kegwatch.co.uk/

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

He specifically says in his post that kegs belong to breweries...

SimonAH wrote:

Caveats;
Stainless steel is a bee-atch to drill holes in (knackered a couple of drill bits)
Barrels (even if given to you by a friendly publican) are the property of the brewery.
Do not use an aluminium barrel as it will melt.
Likewise shopping trolleys (even if bent and rescued from hedgerows) belong to the supermarket.

The brewery may have given/sold it to the OP.

mudcow007

Mr Sworld wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

i've been thinking about doing a keg bbq for ages, just need to speak to my friendly pub owner

Ummm... The publicans don't own the kegs. While I know you are from Liverpool please don't think you can steal them.

This is a massive problem that affects small breweries.

http://www.kegwatch.co.uk/

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

wow there cowboy

i did actually say i will speak to my friendly pub owner i didn't say owt about stealing

oh and

Mr Sworld wrote:

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

Oil barrels are steel, steel rusts - an oil barrels are full of...... well oil which i don't really fancy all over my sausages thank you very much

pangolin

EKE_38BPM wrote:

pangolin wrote:

Mr Sworld wrote:

Ummm... The publicans don't own the kegs. While I know you are from Liverpool please don't think you can steal them.

This is a massive problem that affects small breweries.

http://www.kegwatch.co.uk/

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

He specifically says in his post that kegs belong to breweries...

SimonAH wrote:

Caveats;
Stainless steel is a bee-atch to drill holes in (knackered a couple of drill bits)
Barrels (even if given to you by a friendly publican) are the property of the brewery.
Do not use an aluminium barrel as it will melt.
Likewise shopping trolleys (even if bent and rescued from hedgerows) belong to the supermarket.

The brewery may have given/sold it to the OP.

I'm agreeing with you EKE, and making the point that Simon does not endorse stealing kegs

EKE_38BPM

pangolin wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

pangolin wrote:

Mr Sworld wrote:

Ummm... The publicans don't own the kegs. While I know you are from Liverpool please don't think you can steal them.

This is a massive problem that affects small breweries.

http://www.kegwatch.co.uk/

Go get a oil barrel instead FFS! :evil:

He specifically says in his post that kegs belong to breweries...

SimonAH wrote:

Caveats;
Stainless steel is a bee-atch to drill holes in (knackered a couple of drill bits)
Barrels (even if given to you by a friendly publican) are the property of the brewery.
Do not use an aluminium barrel as it will melt.
Likewise shopping trolleys (even if bent and rescued from hedgerows) belong to the supermarket.

The brewery may have given/sold it to the OP.

I'm agreeing with you EKE, and making the point that Simon does not endorse stealing kegs

We should be defence lawyers.

itboffin

Finishing off the leftover smoked mackerel solo smokey and fishy nom nom nom

SimonAH

Legaly obtained, here is my second barrel - welcome to a toasty warm workshop!

rubertoe

Simon,

You are a real man.

carry on.

EKE_38BPM

rubertoe wrote:

Simon,

You are a real man.

carry on.

+1