What o

[Smartie]

What o all, well what to say and where to start. Like all of us here i started many years ago, burning chicken over flaming coals till black on the outside but raw in the middle, while sheltering from the rain. i have had jerk pork to die for in maypen and ribs so addictive in the everglades i went every day for a week. I have made grills out of bricks, buckets, wheel barrows, dug holes in the ground and made pits on the beach, but 3 years ago i made an oil drum bbq with a lid and found smoke..I SEE THE LIGHT... ..WOW.. what a turn around that made, and since then i have been using my oil drum happily until it fell apart from rust and over use..so the hunt was on for a drum,while looking on an internet auction site i came across an off set smoker...it was love at first sight. I had to have it and at only £70 a bargin i thought..it arrived in two boxes. It took myself and my son to pick one of them up into the conservatory it went. I like to tinker with things so when this bad boy was togther my wife just looked at me and walked away, shaking her head and saying some thing about my lack of parents, any way time to tinker, i lined the bottom with fire bricks and made a duct to take the smoke and heat from the fire box across to the other side of the pit, i moved the stack and put it the other side of the pit by the fire box and extended to grill level, i then fixed the lid shut and sealed it and then cut a smaller door in it so not to lose the heat and smoke but have good accsess to the pit, everything inside is foiled to help keep clean and to help with even heat, i then made a jacket from a wielding blanket to fit over the pit then insulated the whole thing except the fire box. In the fire box i have made a basket to fit inside and have air all around the coals and for long burn times.Test day arrived. I mixed 1 chimney lumpwood and one heat beads in the basket unlit and then lit half a chimney of heat beads and put them on top. Digital temp probe is in place on the grill and the heat was up to 230f in 30 mins. I set air flow down to just open and it sat at 230f for 13 hours with no extra fuel added, nothing caught fire and one very happy man. i have done a test with a plain chicken and used applewood to see what it was like..yum yum..moist and just the right amount of smoke, so now i am after good rubs to use and lots of tips..i want that jerk pork i had in maypen and those oooh so tasty ribs..any advice will be most wecome on rubs, cuts of meat, times, woods, etc.

many thanks

smartie

[All Weather Griller]

Welcome to the forum Smartie,

That was quite an intro, the mods on the offset were quite impressive. Did you try it as a straight through before you converted it to reverse flow or was it something you did from the outset.

It would be great if you could post some pics. On the rubs front, Toby (president of the society) is in the process of setting up a society shop which should stock an ample range of rubs and sauces.

Great to hear your baptism of fire.

Regards

Adie

[British BBQ Society]

Hi Smartie, welcome to the forum,sounds like you transformed a £70 BBQ into something much better and certainly sounds like you know your stuff!
Toby

[LM600]

Hi Smartie,

Sounds awesome Mate and staying at a constant temp. for 13hrs is just genius!

[Smartie]

Hi all, thanks for the replies, and yes I will post some pictures as I need to take the jacket off to tinker again, so while I do that I will snap away, it lifts the heart to find people who are interested in what I am doing, normally folk ( mainly my wife ) just shake there head. But the main reason I done it this way is that I don’t have hundreds of pounds to spend on a smoker so this was the only way I could get one. In total it has cost me £130. but I think the thing that makes it hold temp for so long is the doubled up welding jacket and the fire retardant water tank jacket I got from wicks for £4. The way I looked at it was that charcoal is not that cheep so why heat up all that metal for the heat to just disappear in to the air, don’t get me wrong, when I first tested it I had my worries , but all was well, I have also built a shelter around three sides of the smoker and a roof over it again to keep the weather off and heat in, so no matter what the elements throw at me I can Q.

What do you think of Heat Beads, seems some like them some don’t, personal I do and I found the half lump half beads worked for beyond my hopes when I tested it. It gave the Q effect but also with the heat and longevity of the beads.

Also I am after some Hickory logs, can any one point me in a direction. I did find a place called Druids Woods on line and for £30 you get 40lbs of wood. Seems good to me as a bag of chunks cost £8 for a 5lb bag


Happy Qing

[LM600]

Yeah, I've used Druids Wood before, something like £25 for 20kgs....I got some hickory and it came in split logs about 60cm long and about 20cm wide and the depth varied, think a triangle and that's what they were like.

[esselle]

Hi and welcome to the forum