Can you guess my current DIY project

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Rained all day yesterday, meant to do stock work but after waiting all morning for the predicted showers to pass decided to make a few modifications to my newly welded firebox.
Thinking the ability to use it as a grill and also as a small fire bucket in winter would be handy.
With that in mind I took to it with the grinder and cut out a 1/3 diameter as a lid/door, fabricated some hinges and welded some 50x3 as a cover strip around the new lid/door. Got a bit of bowing that I hope will come back into alignment if I weld the reverse side of the cover strip. I can flex every thing back into alignment so worst case a set of sturdy latched will hold it all in place and give me a reasonable fit/seal.

Still raining so couldn't help myself built a fire in it, improvised a grill and cooked some snags

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Very nice Sean ill have to look up what an offset smoker is. What about old bbq grill for shelves? Too heavy? I take it the idea is cold smoked?

Have thought about BBQ grills and might still be a option for a temporary solution, offsets are hot smokers, low and slow is the idea, cooking temps in the 100-150c range.

That is looking good so far Sean.

Although, I think that at some stage in the future, you may get a little pissed off when you cant take the door off without the aid of an angle grinder.

Was deliberate so it cant be removed, only thing that pissed me off was I ground a nice little stop in one of the hinges to prevent the door dropping and did it on the wrong hinge Door dropped about 1mm and is just catching. Might put a few heat cycles through it before I worry about a fix.

You need to mount it on a trailer and bring it daisy picking next year. spits are so old fashioned.

Looks solid,never burn out the firebox.
A bloke up here has started a catering business with his slow cooker, also does the markets. Very tasty.

Bruce

Will be mounting a set of wheels on it so I can at least move it around the back yard. Weight and size is a issue with them, most commercial and competition pits are mounted on trailers for that reason.
With handles and a shelf Im planning on the other end it will end up about 2m long and about the same height with the stack in place.

[stinkitup]

Thanks for the reply Sean..looking good.

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

[Camel]

Hey Hill billy, hows this coming along ?? Surely you have done some more since last report.

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Just about done, firebox is finished and attached, chimney installed in the cook chamber along with the baffle plate. Have the slides for one cooking rack in place and the frame for the cook rack just need some mesh for it. Have to finish welding the cover strips around the cook chamber doors, fabricate a handle for the CC door and find some wheels.
Tried a set of old law mower wheels as a temporary solution, turned out very temporary 10min later with the weight of it they had collapsed.
Gave it a quick run last weekend just to check it was drawing and temps, with what I would class as a medium sized fire it got to 375f, opening the top damper dropped it 25f and closing the bottom damper another 100f. Its not going to take a very big fire to reach cooking temps.

Did a couple of lambs this week, have a shoulder and ribs in the fridge and planning to cook them this weekend.

[Camel]

Thanks for the update, and I hope you are going to show us some more photos, before, during and after use.
Re wheels, I found some solid bag trolley wheels at Bunnings the other day to replace the ones that always go flat, they are a softish rubber type stuff, cost 9 bucks each, they might struggle with the weight of your cooker though.

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Still not finished but decided to give it a bit of a run this evening, nothing to complicated or that would take to long.
Vegi garden is going strong so raided it, opened up some corn removed the silks, covered in butter a bit of salt and pepper then closed it back up and tied the ends.
45min in the smoker at 275f, made up some kababs with honey soy marinated sambar and once the cobs of corn had 45min in the cook chamber opened up the firebox and used the grill to cook the kababs.
Corn stayed nice and hot in the cook chamber while the kababs were cooking.

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Heat was a bit uneven on the grill and over cooked the ends of the kababs but they all got eaten.

[Camel]

Thanks, must be a night for kebabs, I found a pack of peeled uncooked king prawns in the freezer this afternoon, turned them into kebabs with mushroom, ham and capsicum and had them with fresh salad and steamed corn cobs.

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Pulled lamb shoulder on the menu tonight.
Dry rub on it last night and into the smoker at 11.30am this morning

[MISSED]

Looking good Sean I reckon a sambar shoulder cooked like that would be spot on


When are you doing it ?

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Being lean sambar would probably need injecting to keep it moist, will certainly give one a try.
Lamb being fatty should stay fairly moist, will have a look at the lamb at the 3hr mark and see how it is going and try and work out if I need to wrap or spritz.

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3.5hrs in and finally had a look and checked temp, 175f already so going a bit quicker than I thought.
Temp has got away on me a couple of times but have managed to keep it between 250-300f.
Looks like it has developed a nice bark but a bit worried I might overcook it and dry it out so have wrapped it in foil and will check internal temp every hour or so.

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Have a few relo's turning up about 6.30 so will throw some ribs on about 3.30 and some corn about 6.00.