Custom made smoker help.


 
B

Brendo

New member
Good morning all.

After living in California for a year I decided to build a customer smoker on my return to Australia.
The build went well with a few mods still to come I think.
( photos below )

I tried out the smoker last night with a turkey and got a beautiful moist result but my god it was so hard to control the temperature.

What I'm asking for here is setup help with the coals/hardwood and vent setup to maintain a hot or constant temp.

Im very new to the method of cooking and really want to learn.

The barrel is 300 litres ( 80 gallons ).
At the moment i have 3 of the webber trays in the bottom using charcoal or Hardwood.
I have a 10cf blower available to be attached at the bottom vent ( 1 inch ball valve ).
The large centre cork is able to be removed.
There are 5 20mm removable corks in the lid.

Hope you guys can help please.......

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/7azv3f5k2bbbfvo/12314791_10208493923855762_1278004602_o.jpg?dl=0

12325755_10208497559226644_825036912_o.jpg


https://www.dropbox.com/s/lrj8qlajdamjogg/12325755_10208497559226644_825036912_o.jpg?dl=0[

12314869_10208497557586603_944198418_o.jpg


https://www.dropbox.com/s/tixqwtmmzwhka00/12314869_10208497557586603_944198418_o.jpg?dl=0
 
Fire bricks on the bottom and I've only used it low and slow at the moment keeping the Temps around 180 - 220 F.
Ive been advised to soak the barrel about every 3 months.
 
Could you provide some more details about the anatomy and current setup of your smoker? Knowing the following info would help us give you more useful feedback:

1. Where are your intake and exhaust vents situated? How are they adjusted? (Or are these mods that are still in the works?)
2. The current charcoal setup - is the charcoal sitting in a basket? How do you load the coals in the smoker?
 
The drum holds the heat quite well.
Possibly not as well as metal but she does a great job.

The mods still to come do include the venting. At the moment a have a ball valve at the base with a 10cfm fan able to be switched on or off to soon be controlled by a auto unit.

The other mod will be a hinged door at mid level to add / change coal baskets. Changing from the top loses way to much heat.
Being a newbie to the game though setup is still something I'm learning.
 
Those mods all sound like good ideas. When you say add or change coal baskets, do you mean that you want a door large enough for the entire basket to fit through? If so, I don't think it's necessary to change the entire basket. You just have to be able to add coals while leaving the basket in place.

As for other setup options, the Virtual Weber Bullet Site has a lot of stuff you might find helpful. While you're not using a WSM, a lot of the concepts could probably be translated to your barrel smoker, such as adding a water pan or heat diffuser/deflector.
 
Thanks Yyang.
I'll look into it.
Thats what i need help with at the moment is setting it up for cooking.
Ive never really had any experience with cooking on webbers so how much coal, where and why is something i need to learn.
 
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