Sunday, May 12, 2013

Smoker build

So, another distraction from my guitar build was a craving for some barbecue! I wanted to up my game smokerwise, and decided to revisit some ideas from the past, an "ugly drum smoker."

If you Google "ugly drum smoker" (hereinafter referred to as "UDS") you can find all the info you need to build your own. I did some Internet perusing, and here is my version.

I do not know how to weld, so had to get creative with my charcoal basket. With some expanded metal and a charcoal grill grate and a few stainless steel bolts my basket was ready to roll. I put a chain on it to make setting it in the UDS easier:


Here is the basket in the barrel:


Next, I got an old, food grade, 55 gallon steel drum. First, I had all of the interior lining and exterior paint sandblasted off. Next, I began drilling holes for the various attachments I had going in it. Here you can see some of the screws inserted. These hold up the grill grate.


After drilling most of the holes, I painted the exterior with engine enamel to better protect the steel from the elements, as well as give it a classy look. I chose "Old Ford Blue," which I thought was a good, attractive color for a smoker.


I then put all of the parts on the UDS. Here is the finished product (except for my air intake).


For the air intake, I rigged up a black pipe coupling to connect my iQue110 (seen here: www.pitmasteriq.com). The iQue has a thermometer you run into the UDS, and it tells the iQue the current temp. If it is too low, the iQue kicks a fan on and boosts the temp. This allows me to sleep at night instead of waking up every hour to check temp. Here is a picture of how it is set up:


You use the knob at the top to indicate what temperature you would like (225 for me) and the iQue takes care of the rest. It will even alert you when you are over temp, or when the lid is off/losing temp rapidly.

I started a pork butt last night. Needless to say, I was so anxious to try it out I forgot to take a picture of the butt. Here is my sandwich though. Not bad for a first run.



Kati finished up a headstock template for me this week that I can print out and glue to some wood. You should expect to see some guitar project posts here in the somewhat near future (I have to graduate from law school this next week, so some focus will be shifted to wrapping that up...). All for now!