Building a Trailer Smoker

[Ira]

(I put this in Recipes because we're talking eatin' here.)

I want to build some kind of a smoking rig on Harbor Freight's 40 by 48 trailer. And I don't care WHAT my wife says about it. (The hitch goes on the car this weekend, so I'll probably be walking into the office Monday with a black eye.)

I'm thinking of buying 4 vertical Brinkmans, and mounting them to the frame. 40 by 48 isn't that big an area, which is why I was thinking verticals--going up gives me more cooking area. (But I can also possibly frame out an extra 6" all around to give me 52 by 60.)

Don't need anything for huge catering jobs, cause I ain't no caterer, but I'd like something mobile to take to the park that can handle a lot of meat for parties, and to show off to those inferior passers-by who are drooling in hunger and envy.

Part of this plan is to actually bolt the verticals to each OTHER side by side into a cube (2 by 2), drill numerous good-sized holes through the adjacent sides, and in effect, create one large smoker with four doors, accessible on either sides of the trailer.

Whaddya think? Totally retarded?

Also, what if I used 3 wood burning and one gas--just to have some gas capacity in a pinch?

I haven't done the math/measurements yet to see what's what, but this is my starting point.

Bring on your criticism and abuse--I can not only take it, I APPRECIATE it.






"What smells so good?"

[War Eagle]

Best case would be to build one large smoker from scratch. You could make multiple doors if you wanted. But ... I think you make have the next best thing working here. If you have four verts bolted together with a chamber connecting them all and one large firebox at the end this could work well for you. You could maintain four different temps, from hot to warm or slow to slower cooking. You could also instal fans on the tops of each chimney to draw more heat into each chamber as needed. What do you think about that idea? Also you mentioned 3 wood and one gas, I think that's a great idea. Again it gives you the ability to increase your heat or decrease your cooking time as needed.

Please keep us posted on your progress, I am very interested in this project.

[Ira]

The thing is, I'm afraid about attempting to build something totally from scratch.

What do you mean about the firebox? To start with my plan, but have a totally separate firebox to feed all of them? That could work, because the box could hang over the dimensions of the trailer.

As far as the fans go, how would those be powered? 12V?

[Steve Frederick]

Whaddya think? Totally retarded?

Also, what if I used 3 wood burning and one gas--just to have some gas capacity in a pinch?

I haven't done the math/measurements yet to see what's what, but this is my starting point.

Bring on your criticism and abuse--I can not only take it, I APPRECIATE it.






"What smells so good?"

Well Ira, I always get excited with a new idea! And they say that genius is a step away from insanity...so, I say go for it!!

Hmmm! I didn't have enough for breakfast!!


Look at electrical fittings for the passage/connections between smokers.

A large chase nipple..
and locknut, would make a simple and removable connection. (If you really are crazy!)

At a jobsite, looking at a large control panel..

[Ira]

How the heck could I cut a truly round hole that large in steel? Also, these units have side vents, so matching the holes up while bolting, I should be okay side to side. However, back to back, I'm gonna have to do what you say.

Here's the unit I'm thinking of morphing into a monster--$59 at Wal-Mart, so I'm looking at $240 for 4 (minus wife's discount), plus about $140 for the HF trailer. Just gotta chop them legs of:

[War Eagle]

Yea, I know some of these guys around here could do it without thinking about it. I could never go that rout either.

That's a nice looking smoker by itself, I think you've got something cooking here. What are the dimensions side to side? 14 - 16 inches? If you go with the idea of one fire box at the end I would want about a 6 inch diameter opening from box to box so that you would get enough draw to pull the heat through each smoker.

Single fire box. If your going to go through the trouble of bolting these guys together I think you gotta have one main firebox feeding them. You don't want to have to maintain three different fires and this allows you to cook in stages. Check out www.chargriller.com. You may be able to order the firebox seperate from there, if not WM sells them I believe. Here in Atl Kroger sells those year round, grill and firebox seperate.

Yes, I think you can find 12v fans that will stand the heat. Course with the vertical smokers you may be able to control your draw well enough with dampers and not need the fans.

Example: if the firebox is connected to S1 (the first smoker in the line) and you want to raise the temp in S3 and S4 then just close the damper on S1 and S2. You probably would not need a fan, I would certainly start without it and add it later if needed.

[Steve_Cox]

Ira,

How about this one.

[Ira]

Yea, I know some of these guys around here could do it without thinking about it. I could never go that rout either.

That's a nice looking smoker by itself, I think you've got something cooking here. What are the dimensions side to side? 14 - 16 inches? If you go with the idea of one fire box at the end I would want about a 6 inch diameter opening from box to box so that you would get enough draw to pull the heat through each smoker.

Single fire box. If your going to go through the trouble of bolting these guys together I think you gotta have one main firebox feeding them. You don't want to have to maintain three different fires and this allows you to cook in stages. Check out www.chargriller.com. You may be able to order the firebox seperate from there, if not WM sells them I believe. Here in Atl Kroger sells those year round, grill and firebox seperate.

Yes, I think you can find 12v fans that will stand the heat. Course with the vertical smokers you may be able to control your draw well enough with dampers and not need the fans.

Example: if the firebox is connected to S1 (the first smoker in the line) and you want to raise the temp in S3 and S4 then just close the damper on S1 and S2. You probably would not need a fan, I would certainly start without it and add it later if needed.

(Steve, I'm looking to bring this in for under 500 bucks. I'm Jewish, remember? That rig looks too expensive.)

These units are 18" square, so for the 40 by 48 HF frame, that's about as perfect as you can get, with a little room left over for storage in one direction. (That HF frame is 40 wide, right? Or is the other way around?)

I looked at the firebox on that link--and do you think something like that could actually feed FOUR of these if I had all of them working? Granted, we're talking low temps, but still.

Also, you say a 6" opening box to box, but what about, say, four 1 1/2" openings? I could use Steve's great suggestion of those chase nipples to secure the units together and have my air passages, plus...

I could easily cap some off in the instance that I'm only using 2 or 3 of the smokers.

Getting back to that firebox:

I'm assuming I can find out how much cubic area any particular box can feed, and then just do the math to see what I need. But putting that aside for now, and as a START, could I first try to just use the first smoker in the line as the firebox? Or would 6" of passageway from there to the next smoker not be enough to properly circulate the heat to the next three?

If it doesn't work, I can always cut into that first one and install the box. But if it does work, that first smoker can also act as a grill.

Gee--this is almost as fun as planning the TD, and a lot cheaper.

[Colorado Trout]

http://www.mikesell.net/smoker/

[Loader]

Here's the pic of the one that ColoradoTrout posted the link about. Has a lot of step by step photos.





Here's the site owners quote on cost

Total Cost

Well, we stayed under the $320.00 mark. You could probably cut some corners here and there, but these are real world prices. If you look at the cost of one of those "professional" jobs we saved about $1000.00 and you can say you built it yourself! Big Smokey is an Icon of smokers and will be the envy of your block, I hope.

[JIML1943]

Hey Ira you would have to cut one of these in four pieces.

[War Eagle]

I think four 1 1/2 in hols would do the job and like you said you can use that to secure them together. Keep them at the bottom so you don't lose toom much heat from the first boxes.

That's a goo idea about being able to cloe off what you are not using.

I have the Chargriller from that link. The grill body is very large, I have cooked 8 full racks, baby back, without stacking them. All that to say it is a very large grill and that fire box will get it up to 400 if you want to. I think it would probably feed those four pretty well and remember you mentioned having gas in one of them (S4). You could always use the gas to supliment if you needed more heat. Also the fans as we mentioned earlier will also distribute and increase the heat through out.

I think it would be a good idea to start out using the first smoker (S1) to heat the others. Start with the basics and experiment from there. Close the damper in S1 half open on S2 and so on to increase the draw at the end.

You will figure this thing out. I can't wai tto find out wha tworks best so I can build mine the right way the first time. Ira the Guine Pig (sp?).

[Ira]

Here's the pic of the one that ColoradoTrout posted the link about. Has a lot of step by step photos.

I don't think those wheels are street-legal for towing.

[Ira]

Ira the Guinea Pig.

HAH!!!

What's exciting me about this is that it should be an inexpensive project.

Yeah, we're not talking about the BEST quality smoker here, the grade of steel, but as long as I keep them clean and keep it all covered when not in use, I'll get at least a few years use out of this mobile unit for about 500 bucks.

Also spinning around in my head was the idea of lowering the smoker units and installing heavy propane stove apparatuses to accommodate large lobster pots for steaming. Like a turkey fryer set-up.

But you can always get those as freestanding units anyway, so the whole trailer should be devoted to the smoking.

All I need now is a theme and a name.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Ira,
If you're too cheap to build a dedicated smokin' trailer, why not just assemble the HF trailer and haul your vertical smokers to where you want to go?... Then you could also tell your wife she now has a trailer to haul whatever whenever she wants to also...
Besides... You could haul a lot of Bud cans to the recycling center with it in one shot...
Personally, I'd think you'd get much more satisfaction from building a dedicated unit...
Afterall... You built a dedicated teardrop, why not a dedicated smokin' trailer???
BTW- Do you smoke baby backs???