Thanks to all the information I've found here and on a few other forums, I decided to make a mini wsm. I had been smoking for a few years in my horrible horrible propane grill I was given for free, but decided to step it up to charcoal. Call me a romantic, but something about smoking food over a real fire is sexier than just turning a knob and igniting some stinky gas.
I already had a smokey joe so the first thing to do was to procure a 32 qt tamale pot from the local Mexican Grocer. My pot was $29.99, which I found strange as other 32 qt pots were labeled $39.99 and $34.99. I'm not sure which price was right, but I just grabbed the cheapest one, strapped it to my bike and came home.
Just a test fit to make sure I didn't buy the wrong pot.
I cut some L-shaped arcs out of the bottom of the pot and bent them inwards instead of just drilling holes or cutting out the bottom. I was hoping the pattern would encourage a swirly movement of heat throughout the smoker. I haven't necessarily found that to be true, but when I open the pot, I can see the smoke rotating on exit. If some older wiser bbqing gentleman turns me off this idea, I can turn the deflectors into a platform for the drip catcher I'm using. Or worst comes to worst, I can cut them out and be done with this blasted experiment. Pardon the foil, but after I tried cooking without the drip catcher, I made a huge mess and opted against ever cleaning the deflectors again (they are a pain in the butt to clean).
After my first few test cooks, I decided I wanted a charcoal basket. Mostly inspired by this awesome basket, I decided I wanted my basket to flare out instead of being the normal cylinder. Turns out this requires quit a bit of maths. Most of my time spent making this basket was spent on geometry.
I made the maths thumbnails a bit smaller because it's math. I used all these incredibly precise calculations to tie a bit of string I used to trace out my pattern.
I already had a smokey joe so the first thing to do was to procure a 32 qt tamale pot from the local Mexican Grocer. My pot was $29.99, which I found strange as other 32 qt pots were labeled $39.99 and $34.99. I'm not sure which price was right, but I just grabbed the cheapest one, strapped it to my bike and came home.
Just a test fit to make sure I didn't buy the wrong pot.
I cut some L-shaped arcs out of the bottom of the pot and bent them inwards instead of just drilling holes or cutting out the bottom. I was hoping the pattern would encourage a swirly movement of heat throughout the smoker. I haven't necessarily found that to be true, but when I open the pot, I can see the smoke rotating on exit. If some older wiser bbqing gentleman turns me off this idea, I can turn the deflectors into a platform for the drip catcher I'm using. Or worst comes to worst, I can cut them out and be done with this blasted experiment. Pardon the foil, but after I tried cooking without the drip catcher, I made a huge mess and opted against ever cleaning the deflectors again (they are a pain in the butt to clean).
After my first few test cooks, I decided I wanted a charcoal basket. Mostly inspired by this awesome basket, I decided I wanted my basket to flare out instead of being the normal cylinder. Turns out this requires quit a bit of maths. Most of my time spent making this basket was spent on geometry.
I made the maths thumbnails a bit smaller because it's math. I used all these incredibly precise calculations to tie a bit of string I used to trace out my pattern.
