Basic chicken cooker quick build.

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ribwizzard

Master of the Pit
Original poster
May 10, 2012
2,184
84
Orlando and Tampa Florida
Started throwing together a bulk chicken cooker last night, using bits and pieces of left over scap I had in storage. With no shop set up yet, I'm working under a tent and only have access to 110,should be interesting ..

Here is the trailer I built last night, and the 24"x 24" firebox I started..

 
I'm in, sounds like an interesting project.

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The bottom of the cook box has a slight V to it to drain everyone to front , right under the door where I will install a valve. That keeps it away from the firebox so that it does not burn up and produce any ill flavors in the cook chamber. About three inches above the bottom is a removable, 3/16" plate that is perforated ( high dollar stuff, but had just enough laying around ) that acts somewhat like a reverse flow plate to even out the heat across the bottom, but still let's the grease drip through.

Problem with a vertical cook chamber like this is that you get a lot of drippings all in one area , especially with chicken. The firebox had to go on the back side of the cook chamber in order to get the most even heat. If I used a traditional reverse flow plate, I would have all the heat coming right at me when I opened the door, and that wouldn't be much fun when trying to turn the food. So I used the perforated plate to distribute the heat.

I'm putting four gauges on it, two on the door, top and bottom, and one on each side of the cook chamber. Once I get them on , I'll know how even it cooks.

Also, I have a couple sheets of aluminum diamond plate. Was thinking of wrapping the cook chamber in that to dress it up. I'm just not sure if the aluminum would work against me as far as keeping the heat in?
 
The aluminum would be a big heat sink, it won't be too bad if you space it off a half inch or so with some sleeves and only attach it a few places to keep the contact with the cook chamber to the absolute minimum. It would work like insulation for you to work around so that part would be really nice.
 
Cut it with a skill saw using a fine tooth carbide wood blade. Wear your safety glasses.....  Aluminum, since it's a soft metal, likes to be cut with a high spindle speed. It works great.
 
Believe it or not...it pulled very well. Even backing it up is not bad since you have a good view of the cc in your rear view window. I have no light nor tag on it and a cop followed me for two miles and then turned off. I should have new gauges tomorrow and will cook some food on it next week. But I'm really not worried about it, the test fire did really well.
 
Honestly, not sure how i managed it, but this turned out to be one majical cooker!! Ive started using this one everyday. Going to do a few upgrades this weekend. To make it more user friendly,
 
Great News! Keep us posted on the updates, I like that layout, lots of meat, not much room or wood used. Does it have a stack out the top or is the only exhaust the pie vents you have on the sides?
 
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