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Home made offset options

PostPosted: 01 Sep 2012, 07:28
by robgunby
Hey there

I've been pondering building my own smoker for some time. An unfortunate incident involving fire means my ECB is paintless and rusting on the outside, and will eventually die, so before that happens I need to ensure I have a decent replacement.

The smoker of my dreams would be an offset. I learnt to smoke on an "oil drum style" grill barbecue, using a 2 zone setup. I appreciate the grill size and ease of access (compared to lifting out a top grate covered with food to access the food on the lower rack on a vertical smoker)..

However, offsets are expensive, and the cheap versions notoriously flimsy, so I started considering building one. I have no welding kit or experience, so contacted a couple of friends who are engineers and asked for their assistance welding a stainless steel barrel with me. They both said you need specialist equipment for welding stainless steel, so I was back to square one.

Then I got to thinking. This time of year the DIY shops are flogging off their grill barbecues. So, how about buying another oil drum style grill, and adding a firebox at one end?

So does anyone have experience of this? I have looked around on the web and not found anything, but I could be looking in the wrong places or using the wrong terminology.

And two questions specific to the build:

1) Any suggestions on what to make the firebox out of / any premade items I could use that spring to mind?

2) How best to attach the firebox to the smoker? My guess is that it would need to be bolted right to it, but do I need to consider any kind of sealant to ensure heat and smoke transfer is not affected by leaks?

Thanks in advance!

PS, I am also considering cold smoking in the future. Is there any merit to the thinking that I could add a removable duct to the far end of the firebox, and have a separate firebox at the end of the long duct? I was thinking when the removable duct is not in place, a sliding door could be moved in place to cover the hole.

Re: Home made offset options

PostPosted: 01 Sep 2012, 17:07
by aris
I think what you want is an ugly drum smoker - google it or read up here.

Re: Home made offset options

PostPosted: 02 Sep 2012, 11:05
by robgunby
I'd considered a UDS, but I want an offset for the grill space and ease of access, rather than another vertical (which I have now). Sure, a drum could be made into a UDS, but I'm thinking to save myself some welding jobs!

Re: Home made offset options

PostPosted: 02 Sep 2012, 14:30
by aris
Look on smokerbuilder.com