Ugh, I Did It Again, Restoring Another Smoker

lousubcap

Never a doubt about the quality of the finished rig.  Just a question of time.  Way to stay the course and deliver.  
Looking forward to the test run on Saturday.  Enjoy the cook and messing about with your latest impressive restoration.  

Ozzie_Isaac

Phenomenal!

Botch

Beautiful work, Sir!  

Canugghead

Admire your dedication. Reminder: please don’t let it share parking with your vehicle in the garage 

WeberWho

Canugghead said:

Admire your dedication. Reminder: please don’t let it share parking with your vehicle in the garage 

Absolutely not! The truck is in the driveway. 

WeberWho

The good: My gaskets.

Something as simple as the gasket became one of the biggest headaches. I measured my old compressed gasket and it read roughly a 1/2" 



So I add an 1/8" for the compression. So I order it online as I don't know of anywhere locally that will sell it in a 20' section. So I wait the three days for it to be shipped. (New gasket on top and old on the bottom)



The new gasket was way too big. There was no way the gasket was going to compress down enough on the hinged side of the door. Three days wasted waiting on a gasket that was the wrong size. So I took some measurements/pictures and posted over on the BBQ Brethren asking if anyone has measured and replaced gaskets. (Most newer smoker gaskets are pressed fit or clipped. That makes a whole lot of sense. This older smoker gasket gets layed in silicone. So no easy or simple answer.)  The consensus over on the Brethren was a 3/8" gasket. That's your typical size gasket with newer smokers. That number seemed too small. I ran over to Menards with my old gasket and tried to compare my gasket with a 3/8" rope gasket that was in a plastic bag. Not the most ideal but my gut was right. The 3/8" gasket was too small. The 5/16" gasket also seemed small. Again, trying to gauge thickness through a plastic bag isn't the most ideal or accurate way but I was desperate at this point. That left me with a 1/2". So I order 20' of 1/2" gasket rope and hoped for the best. 



Let's just say I was really happy to see my 1/2" gasket make tight seals last night. That had me a little worried.


The Bad: I don't have a way to shut her down. I'll need to install a ball valve. I'll also need to come up with some type of exhaust cap. 

loco_engr

Way to go Vincent!

GrateEggspectations

Very neat. As with a lot of things, a job done by oneself is good for the soul - satisfying to the extreme. 

lousubcap

@WeberWho - does Q'ing on a BGE change the concept of being able to shut down a smoker??  Asking because the concept of being able to shutdown a cooker before I got a BGE was foreign to me.  I get that the concept/design lends itself to that but never would have thought about it.  

WeberWho

lousubcap said:

@WeberWho - does Q'ing on a BGE change the concept of being able to shut down a smoker??  Asking because the concept of being able to shutdown a cooker before I got a BGE was foreign to me.  I get that the concept/design lends itself to that but never would have thought about it.  

I think it's the combination of our kamado grills and the availability of lump charcoal now. Charcoal briquettes was really the only option for the longest time. Typically with briquettes you would only use as much as you needed as briquettes weren't really any good to use again once they were lit. There was no real reason to try and snuff it out and save briquettes. 

It's like with my offset, I never snuff it out. I run it until it's a pile of ashes. I've found no real reason to snuff it out. I find it easier to clean the firebox out with a bunch of ash rather than picking out half charred sticks out of the grate. Probably not too much different from kettle users picking out half used briquettes.

I've been messaging lkapigian and picking his brain with the vertical feed smoker. One of my questions to lkapigian was about the amount of charcoal I need in the chute. I wasn't sure if I should keep it full or only use the amount I needed for a cook. lkapigian mentioned he keeps his topped off. Which makes sense. If I was only using the amount needed for a cook I probably wouldn't bother trying to snuff it out. Since lkapigian recommends topping it off, I'll have to come up with a way to snuff it out just so I'm not wasting a bunch of charcoal. I'm guessing the couple other previous owners must have only used what they needed or didn't care about saving any lump. Just my guess anyway....

nolaegghead

I've run briquettes in my Large and snuffed and relit them several times.  Only difference is they leave about 5 times more ash.

pgprescott

The briquettes are usable but they are generally half filler. Fillers absorb moisture which reduce the performance of the briquettes and cause off putting taste. They are generally so cheap because they aren’t very much actual charcoal in their bag. There are some exceptions but those cost significantly more than the regular stuff. 

lkapigian

The Stumps shuts down just like the egg just fine, shut down intake and exhaust that’s it 

Botch

 WeberWho said:
…Typically with briquettes you would only use as much as you needed as briquettes weren't really any good to use again once they were lit. There was no real reason to try and snuff it out and save briquettes.

Heh, my Dad did.  He built a 2’-square frame with a metal mesh bottom, put that down on the gravel driveway, picked up the grill after Mom got the well-done steaks, poured the briquets into it, followed by a pail of water.  Re-used what was left the next weekend.  
 
But, he would clamp toothpaste tubes in the bench vice to get the last bit out, too; child of the Depression.  

Canugghead

Botch said:

 WeberWho said:
…Typically with briquettes you would only use as much as you needed as briquettes weren't really any good to use again once they were lit. There was no real reason to try and snuff it out and save briquettes.

Heh, my Dad did.  He built a 2’-square frame with a metal mesh bottom, put that down on the gravel driveway, picked up the grill after Mom got the well-done steaks, poured the briquets into it, followed by a pail of water.  Re-used what was left the next weekend.  
 
But, he would clamp toothpaste tubes in the bench vice to get the last bit out, too; child of the Depression.  

Did you're (sic) Dad use paper towel soaked in dirty oil, instead of starter fluid?    btw, eating steaks during Depression    you no (sic) I'm messing with ya.

Botch

Starter fluid was for sissies, he used leaded Texaco.  

RyanStl

I would have poked a little hole in the bags so I could compare side by side.  You wouldn't hurt anything.  The smoker looks awesome.

Canugghead

Botch said:

Starter fluid was for sissies, he used leaded Texaco.  

Haha, back in the day back home we dissolved crepe rubber scrapes in leaded petrol to make rubber cement for industrial use 

stv8r

Wow!! Amazing job!  Can't wait to see some cooks on this beast

WeberWho

We had a little get together this afternoon. I did a couple pans of macaroni and 30 thighs. Maybe not the most fun or interesting first cook but the extra space came in handy.

Here's a pic of the macaroni.



A couple pictures of the thighs. 



The tenderness of the chicken was nothing like I've had before. I was honestly surprised how juicy the chicken was. You would get sprayed if you weren't careful when probing for temps. 

I still need to play around with it to get the full grasp on what it does and doesn't like. 

Hopefully next weekend I'll have something a little more fun to share. 

Canugghead

Boom!

lkapigian

Bombdiggity !

WeberWho

lkapigian said:

Bombdiggity !

I had requests from my nieces for your mac and cheese last night! I didn't have a choice but to make it! (Minus the $18 dollars worth of bacon that would normally go on top.)

JohnInCarolina

Very cool man.  I love this kind of thing.

Photo Egg

WeberWho said:

We had a little get together this afternoon. I did a couple pans of macaroni and 30 thighs. Maybe not the most fun or interesting first cook but the extra space came in handy.

Here's a pic of the macaroni.



A couple pictures of the thighs. 



The tenderness of the chicken was nothing like I've had before. I was honestly surprised how juicy the chicken was. You would get sprayed if you weren't careful when probing for temps. 

I still need to play around with it to get the full grasp on what it does and doesn't like. 

Hopefully next weekend I'll have something a little more fun to share. 

Awesome buddy. Looks like it’s cooking very even shelf to shelf!

lousubcap

Now that is delivering the goods right out of the gate.  Great opening cook right there.  Sounds like this rig could be a keeper.  

RyanStl

Was the chicken that juicy without a brine?

WeberWho

RyanStl said:

Was the chicken that juicy without a brine?

No brine. Air dried overnight in the fridge with some cornstarch. Hit it with some rub the morning of and cooked low and slow. 

WeberWho

For @lkapigian







These ribs made the cut. No trash can this time. 

We invited my cousins over yesterday but they weren't sure on a time as they have a couple small kids. I lit the smoker before church and I went on my way. I received a text from my cousin during church and he asked if 11:45am would work? So that pushed ribs aside. I grabbed a couple pizzas from Papa Murphy's being I only had a small window of opportunity to get something on the table after church and before they arrived. 

So ribs became kind of an afterthought. I kept the smoker running throughout the morning/afternoon. I started with the drip pan in place this time and it kept the temperature rock solid. It cruised at 250 degrees throughout the day. I also noticed it used way less lump this time around. Drip pan is a must. 

I was happy with the end results. Especially with the smoke profile. I can see how the flavor rivals that of a stick burner but you get the ease of a temperature controller. Hard to beat for the simplicity and flavor. 

Here's a plated picture of the ribs. Nothing fancy as ribs were an afterthought but still gave me an excuse to play around with the smoker.

lkapigian

WeberWho said:

For @lkapigian







These ribs made the cut. No trash can this time. 

We invited my cousins over yesterday but they weren't sure on a time as they have a couple small kids. I lit the smoker before church and I went on my way. I received a text from my cousin during church and he asked if 11:45am would work? So that pushed ribs aside. I grabbed a couple pizzas from Papa Murphy's being I only had a small window of opportunity to get something on the table after church and before they arrived. 

So ribs became kind of an afterthought. I kept the smoker running throughout the morning/afternoon. I started with the drip pan in place this time and it kept the temperature rock solid. It cruised at 250 degrees throughout the day. I also noticed it used way less lump this time around. Drip pan is a must. 

I was happy with the end results. Especially with the smoke profile. I can see how the flavor rivals that of a stick burner but you get the ease of a temperature controller. Hard to beat for the simplicity and flavor. 

Here's a plated picture of the ribs. Nothing fancy as ribs were an afterthought but still gave me an excuse to play around with the smoker.

Awesome @WeberWho , is a smoker you will hang on to for sure