Jorge Willard
New member
After finally getting all the "right" parts and more importantly, a warm weekend to paint my mini, I give you "M I Z - B B Q"! So obviously, I love my Mizzou Tigers and hopefully with this new mini our second year in the SEC will go a little better than our first. 
I wish I would have taken more pics of the build and I had intentions of doing a pic by pic build, but once I get started the camera seems to disappear until the very end. Nonetheless, nothing really new as far as what others have done except for adding two dampers on the bottom bowl similar to the WSM (which has three, but I felt that two would suffice in addition to the bottom vent on the SJS). Thus, here are the pics:
Mizzou logo with "M I Z - B B Q".
3/4 shot that shows the yellow hex cap (far left on pot) that covers the electrical thread grommet mod.
Opposite side of Mizzou logo with thermometer mounted 1/4 inch below middle cooking grate. FYI, I installed my middle cooking grate 5 inches from the top of the pot, which was a Vasconia I got off Amazon. Perfect fit!
Close-up of 3" thermometer for my mini from a some local guys that build smokers
Close-up of bottom bowl with new damper installed similar to WSM. The other one you can see from the next picture of the charcoal basket and where they are positioned in relation to the basket.
Picture of the charcoal basket in which you can see both the bottom dampers similar to WSM and the proximity to the charcoal basket. I thought this was overkill adding more control over temp. I did an initial burn just utilizing the bottom damper and it was locked in pretty good around 230-250 after about 20 minutes. But when I did my second burn, I just used the two side dampers and closed the bottom. I had it locked in at 225 after about 15 minutes and held steady with some minor tweaking for over six hours.
Last pic of it in all its glory! I used VHT high heat gloss black engine paint and duplic color engine paint (yellow) for my background color. Without a doubt, the paint job was the most fun part of the build. Once it all came together, I already had visions of several iterations of more mini's in my future.
Other info: I ended going with a 11" tart aluminum pan for my diffuser which was shallow enough to not touch the bottom grate. However, I do have a 12" clay saucer that I will use and see which one I like best. After the initial burn, I realize I need to add some eyebolts to the dampers I installed as they get uber-hot. But other than that, everything else is quite standard. Again, thanks to everyone on this board for giving me the knowledge and insight into making my mini and I hope to help others if they have any questions.
GO TIGERS!
I wish I would have taken more pics of the build and I had intentions of doing a pic by pic build, but once I get started the camera seems to disappear until the very end. Nonetheless, nothing really new as far as what others have done except for adding two dampers on the bottom bowl similar to the WSM (which has three, but I felt that two would suffice in addition to the bottom vent on the SJS). Thus, here are the pics:
Mizzou logo with "M I Z - B B Q".
3/4 shot that shows the yellow hex cap (far left on pot) that covers the electrical thread grommet mod.
Opposite side of Mizzou logo with thermometer mounted 1/4 inch below middle cooking grate. FYI, I installed my middle cooking grate 5 inches from the top of the pot, which was a Vasconia I got off Amazon. Perfect fit!
Close-up of 3" thermometer for my mini from a some local guys that build smokers
Close-up of bottom bowl with new damper installed similar to WSM. The other one you can see from the next picture of the charcoal basket and where they are positioned in relation to the basket.
Picture of the charcoal basket in which you can see both the bottom dampers similar to WSM and the proximity to the charcoal basket. I thought this was overkill adding more control over temp. I did an initial burn just utilizing the bottom damper and it was locked in pretty good around 230-250 after about 20 minutes. But when I did my second burn, I just used the two side dampers and closed the bottom. I had it locked in at 225 after about 15 minutes and held steady with some minor tweaking for over six hours.
Last pic of it in all its glory! I used VHT high heat gloss black engine paint and duplic color engine paint (yellow) for my background color. Without a doubt, the paint job was the most fun part of the build. Once it all came together, I already had visions of several iterations of more mini's in my future.
Other info: I ended going with a 11" tart aluminum pan for my diffuser which was shallow enough to not touch the bottom grate. However, I do have a 12" clay saucer that I will use and see which one I like best. After the initial burn, I realize I need to add some eyebolts to the dampers I installed as they get uber-hot. But other than that, everything else is quite standard. Again, thanks to everyone on this board for giving me the knowledge and insight into making my mini and I hope to help others if they have any questions.
GO TIGERS!
