Little "Smokey"


 
R

R Greene

New member
Here is my mini I just built. I used the smoky Joe Gold, with a drilled out bottom and a 12 inch pizza pan diffuser. My temps stayed about 225 and peaked at 250. I think next time I try it I'm going to go with a smaller diffuser and may cut the bottom out. I didnt feel it had enough heat in it. I had to run it wide open with lump charcoal. The little ring in the bottom is a chicken beer can roaster that I cut with a dremel to give an air/smoke gap so I'm not plugging up my holes with my drip pan. And I can set my drip pan down under the diffuser shelf. That way if I want to use all 3 racks I can. But after testing I think 1 or 2 racks will be plenty and I will just set my drip tray on the diffuser shelf. I saw all of these cool paint jobs and I thought "How about a "Smokey and the Bandit" smoker with a Trans Am logo!" I love this thing. My pork turned out great. I smoked it for 6-1/2 hours. I didnt get it hot enough to fall off the bone but by 7:30 at night I was too hungry to wait any longer. Next time I'll start earlier in the morning. And this weekend I smoked some tilapia with cherry wood and that turned out very well.







 
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Nice clean Build. Great job on the Logo.. and the Pork/Tilapia looked great..

How did you cook the Tilapia? Did you rest it on a cedar plank?
 
Cedar plank would have been agood idea. I just folded some tin foil on my top rack and put a little olive oil on it and smoked it for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. I went to pick one up and it fell apart. I throw them on frozen with some lemon pepper, and they turned out great.
 
This thing can do no wrong. I smoked a pork loin this weekend for a get together. I had 11 people over and everyone loved the food. I also made some poppers. After about an hour in the smoker I put them in a tray wrapped in foil and threw them in the toaster oven at 250 for another hour. The loin turned out great. Great flavor, tender and juicy. You could cut it with a fork.
One thing I niticed and I have heard this from other members. Once I took the poppers out, the temp rose about 25 degrees. the temps mostly stayed about 225 and peaked at 260 I think im going to try ribs next. Or a beef roast.



 
Its been a while since Ive posted on here. The smoker is working great. I havent made any changes. I did find a great way to start it. Ive been using royal oak lump charcoal and what I do is I get out the MAP gas torch (much hotter than propane) hit it for about 2-3 minutes then blast it with the blower on my mini shop vac. I can have it setup in about 5 minutes. I tried some smoked burgers on it twice and they were fantastic. And the best thing about burgers on this, is after you smoke them for an hour or so, remove the pot and put the rack back on the grill to finish them up. They are so tender and juicy. I also did a turkey breast for thankigiving. I brined it with chicken broth, oranges, lemon, rosemary and candied ginger. Then I smoked it for about 4 hours, covered it in foil and finished it in the oven. It always seems that the last 20 degrees take the longest and I find it works best to foil whatever you are cooking and finish it off in the oven at 300 degrees. I also made a cold weather blaknet for it out of bubble insulation. You can get a roll for about 8-10 bucks and you get enough to make several of them. The bubbles will melt a little, but it works quite well in cold weather.





 
Ive also done steaks and potatoes with great results. I quartered some small red potatoes and rolled them in lemon pepper and olive oil and placed them right on the racks. And I also took out the bottom heat diffuser and cranked it up. I put my food on the top rack, and it actually got hot enough to sizzle. It was well over 300 deg, and of course the food was amazing.
 
You must have a lot of patience? I'm sure they tasted great but an hour or more to make 4 burgers would drive me crazy! ;-)
 
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