Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Cool, black and shiny like all cars were meant to be.

"Oh Millie. Machines, like gloves, should be either black or white"

Miss Dorothy Brown, Thoroughly Modern Millie

That smoker is a beauty Dicko. Was the gas bottle a stainless one or a normal gal one?

Hi VB,

Tank is just carbon steel. (Had a s/steel one as an option but it was just a bit narrow)
Car tanks don't come galvanized as they are not generally bashed around and left in the weather
They are usually just painted or powdercoated.
Try to get the painted version as a sand blaster wont like removing the powdercoat,
They also can come in a wider diameter than the gal. household tanks.

The paint is a pot belly stove paint.

With you there F&F,
Kickass bbq is the best site I've found for good honest straight up advice and tips.
(Like the bit about not having the first drink until at least 14 hours into a 15 hour cook! )

I've used many of their recipes!


.

Thanks Dicko. Another thing for me to look out for when I eventually get out to the local recycle centre that services the shires tips.

I love the car also.

Is the pot belly stove pain just on the outside, with inside oil cured - or is it on both?

Outside only
anything on the inside "could" be tasted on the food

Reminds me, Never use pine (Treated or Untreated) as smoke or heat wood,
Your guests will never forgive you for the following hours of regurgitation!

Yep - figured that would be the case Dicko. Thanks.

Ok Dicko,
You have convinced me, I gonna build one of these babies.
Brought forward to the top of my "to do" list.
Any extra photo's of the inner workings would be greatly appreciated.

Scott check those links i posted

Yep, spent a few hours checking out this stuff on the web.
good links

Just cranked my smoker over for about an hour and a half to see if we could regulate temp... we can! Should be juuuust right for making kabana.
No pics of it until I paint it... it just looks like a dryer cabinet atm

That's good news Scott,
You won't regret it!
I will have to get some new pics cause I can't find the old ones.

Mine has sort of evolved into what I have now,
I have baffles in it to try to get the heat to the centre of the smoke chamber as it is hotter at one end than at the other.
I've even tried prototype oven fans to try to get over this!

If you're starting from scratch, try to get the heat entering down low, near the centre,
and put baffles to spread the heat from there.
Don't get me wrong, It works fine the way I've got it, but I'm big on improvement!

Inside the gas tank is a steel square mesh Pick your size, I used 50x50 because I had It,
25 x25 would be a lot friendlier as sausages wont fall through
Many websites suggest cooking in pans but I've never tried it.

The "most important" thing is that the chimney must protrude down into the smoke chamber to a point LOWER than the cooking platform.
this means that when the smoke comes out the chimney, the food has to do more than "Stop, Drop, & Roll" to survive the cooking process

The other thing is to have a large tray of water in the base of the smoke chamber ( I sit it straight ontop of the Baffle)
This ensures a "moist atmosphere" to give a "wet" smoke. this is important for two reasons,
1/.Moist meat (Captain Obvious)
2/.It also helps the smoke soak into the meat, giving it emense flavour as well as the telltale "red ring" around the surface when carved.

Feel free to PM me as the project progresses if you have any questions

Oh!, nearly forgot, the important bit!!
Webber...& Smoker alike...
As you take out the meat, Place in one Bannanna per person, (Sort of green, NOT over ripe) Just cut the ends off,
Put them into the cooker, don't add any more heat beads.When its time for dessert, They should be black on the outside,
grab em out, Cut the skin, Roll them onto a bowl and stick a bit of Icecream on it!

Dicko

Suddenly hungry and I don't know why.
Might have to put a smoker on my to do list, tho it is a long list. Out this way we sometimes cook meat in the ground for ages. The meat is so tender you can almost drink it.