Meet deadline or dead meat

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nicemeatingyou

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 1, 2016
12
10
Ohio
So I recently married.  My wife and I are doing things alittle different as far as that goes.  Married in the court house, we just had our immediate family there and after we took everyone to dinner.  That was back in March.  Were having a bbq party/reception in August where we will invite our families and friends.  We did things this way due to my wifes fathers health.  Didnt want him to miss her daughters "big day".  Also I refuse to pay $10,000 to rent a barn/reception hall/party center for one day and hire caterers.  So now that you have a little back story lets get to it.  Last summer I found a 1000 gallon propane tank listed on craigslist for $400.  SOLD to me (and my father, we went 1/2 on it).  Its been sitting in his backyard until two weekends ago when we cut it in half.  

Heres the tank when I went to pick it up, the guy blew a hydraulic line on his forklift when he tried to pick it up, in fact you can see the fluid on the ground in this picture


not to worry, his neighbor had one that got the job done


I have more pictures but limited to time, I will do my best to keep posting so bare with me.  Just a insite on whats to come, I ordered a bunch of trailer parts so I will be posting cost, where I shopped, how I saved, etc.  I have already begun working on the tank, waiting on my steel now.  
 

So we cut this tank using a sawzall most of the way due to my father being concerned of any flammable gases left. I however wasnt to concerned after taking all the plugs and drain out of the tank it didnt smell like anything except rust and there was no pressure relief. I sure as heck wasnt going to fill it with water. So once he felt more confident that there was no flammables we got the torch out and finished the cut. It wasnt straight by any means so ill deal with that later. My father lives about an hour from me and so i decided i need to take this half ofnthe tank home so i can work on it at my convenience. So we got the cherry picker out and loaded onto a trailer and off to my garage. First order of business was to make that cut square. So i went to harbor freight and bought a motorized laser level. I was able to get the beam pretty close to being square, used a paint marker to draw the lines and just used 4" cutoff wheels on my angle grinder. 6 wheels later i got it done. I think im going to use the laser level to map out the doors too. Its nice to have a perfect refrence line to cut along.
 
So while im waiting on my steel order i went ahead and ordered trailer parts. I picked up a 3500# axle from tracker supply. I went through etrailer.com for the trailer coupler, axle springs, hardware for the axle mounting, trailer jack, safety chains. I went through recstuff.com for the trailer wheels, hub caps, and lugnuts. One of the wheels got damaged during shipping so i called them up and they gave me the option of keeping the wheel and they will refund my $40 or i can send it back for a replacement. Went for the replacement. So from tractor supply i spent $165 for the axle, etrailer $116, and recstuff $203. I got a quote of $65 a tire for radial kenda karrier load d. Once i get new new wheel back ill take them up and get some rubbers put on. Im also going to take the tank to the sandblaster but i want to wait til i get the trailer built so i dont have to mess around unloading and loading this thing. Im thinking it weighs around 1000#'s. Cherry picker is alittle scetchy.
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Theres the damage. Kind of hard to see but i dont want the finish to start flaking off in a year. Recstuff.com customer service was great. Didnt even have an automated answer machine.
 
Well i just realized that i posted this thread in the wrong section. I do apologize. Im definitely showing my newbieness. Does anyone know if i can transfer this thread to the right area? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Id like to give thanks to the members who have already welcomed me and thank you for the kind words.
 
Congrats on your marriage. Welcome to the forum. That is one heck of a project. Keep us all posted on the progress of your build. I would consult with al on how to move a thread to the right place.
 
Ive been extremely busy working on this project so ill just be uploading pictures for now but if anyone has any queations id be glad to answer

 
Thanks. My neighbors think so too. Haha. They have watched this thing being built in the driveway every weekend for 2 months straight.
 
Sorry guys. This build has been done since the end of july. We did a test cook on it with a 16# packard brisket, 2 6# boston butts, and 2 dozen chicken quarters of legs & breasts. Ive never bbq'd anything in my life but thanks to everyone on the Internet and countless hours researching everything turned out perfect. Unfortunately i did not get any pictures from that cook. Spent 20 hours tending to the pit at 225. Our reception also went fantastic. Everyone loved the food. We kept getting asked who catered it and we had to explain that I built it and stayed up all night cooking on it. Ill have to get some pictures posted.

This is the only picture i have of any meat on this thing. Beef back ribs. Took a pic to send a textto my dad who was also smoking beef back ribs and we were comparing. Were alittle competitive.


I have the mk4 thermapen thermometer and i would highly recommend getting it if you dont have one already. With that being said im on their mailing list so i get an email every friday talking about meats and cooking and tips and tricks. I get one a few weeks ago talking about smoked dino ribs. Think the cartoon Flintstones. So I said I have to try that and after work i visited my butcher. So these and actually called beef short ribs. The whole bone. My butcher lets me call them dino ribs but I see him pretty regularly now. Its basically steak on a bone. Delicious! I like it better than a brisket and its quicker and easier.



 
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