Well, just as the title says.....the little one that could.
Without jumping all over the place about the issues i'm having on my smoker I do want to say that it really does an extremely good job for what it is.
A little history about it: I bought it froma guy near Dallas that makes them in his off time. I believe its made from an air compressor tank, could be wrong, thats just my opinion. (Thin metal). Anyway, I got it for christmas from my wife and I feel bad about selling it but I reallly want something of a thicker gage metal that'll hold the temp more effectively. I'm looking at a OC Wrangler after I sell this one. I've read the reviews on it and believe it'll better suit my needs than this one mounted on the trailer.
After the purchase of the smoker, I bought the trailer it sits on, cut the legs to fit my height, and mounted it on the trailer by means of welding. Not knowing what I was in for or what I was doing, I attempted to make it a reverse smoker by welding a full length baffle plate inside and moving the location of the exhaust stack to above the fire box. Little did i know or try to educate myself about the "PROPER" flow, design, heat, dimentions.....and all of that jazz. I have several issues and now i'm seriously considering putting it back the way i originally purchased it. I know there's some mods that i'll do to it while this porcess goes on, like: modify the fire box to make it more user friendly, fix the air inlet, seal up the cooking chamber.
Now, saying all of this, I'll say this: It does cook extremely well. Holds my temp at 250-275 flawless but my fuel consumption is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! I'm talking about 20lbs of charcoal or a wheel barrow full of split wood.......in a 4 hour period. I have thought that the thin metal plays a large part of the heat loss and temp swing. I'm thinking there's much more wrong with my little smoker that could besides what I've stated. I know it's difficult to diagnose or even say...."hey, this is wrong or that needs attention".....without actually seeing it in action. I'll come back and post a few pics in just a few of the internals and fire box......if that'll help.
Honestly, I'm at a loss of what to do with it. Should I just keep it, modify it, and roll on with what I know or sell it and start over with something I know is better quality and will smoker better and suit my needs better. Most of the time it's just me and my wife, however, there are times I have about 25-30 people at the house for a afternoon of horseshoes and adult beverages. Firing up this thing is daunting on me and really a pain in my ass before I read the articles about fire management and such. Coming up, building my minion and basket.
I'm VERY impressed with this forum. The weath of knowledge and willingness of people to constantly help out is sometimes overwhelming. Thank you for having such a great place here. The ease and user friendly way each sector is laid out, makes it a great place to sit back, read and learn something. The Mods and Admin here are nothing short of AWESOME, even thouhg i've never talked to any of them just yet. Thank you, that's all I really wanted to say.
Tim
Without jumping all over the place about the issues i'm having on my smoker I do want to say that it really does an extremely good job for what it is.
A little history about it: I bought it froma guy near Dallas that makes them in his off time. I believe its made from an air compressor tank, could be wrong, thats just my opinion. (Thin metal). Anyway, I got it for christmas from my wife and I feel bad about selling it but I reallly want something of a thicker gage metal that'll hold the temp more effectively. I'm looking at a OC Wrangler after I sell this one. I've read the reviews on it and believe it'll better suit my needs than this one mounted on the trailer.
After the purchase of the smoker, I bought the trailer it sits on, cut the legs to fit my height, and mounted it on the trailer by means of welding. Not knowing what I was in for or what I was doing, I attempted to make it a reverse smoker by welding a full length baffle plate inside and moving the location of the exhaust stack to above the fire box. Little did i know or try to educate myself about the "PROPER" flow, design, heat, dimentions.....and all of that jazz. I have several issues and now i'm seriously considering putting it back the way i originally purchased it. I know there's some mods that i'll do to it while this porcess goes on, like: modify the fire box to make it more user friendly, fix the air inlet, seal up the cooking chamber.
Now, saying all of this, I'll say this: It does cook extremely well. Holds my temp at 250-275 flawless but my fuel consumption is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! I'm talking about 20lbs of charcoal or a wheel barrow full of split wood.......in a 4 hour period. I have thought that the thin metal plays a large part of the heat loss and temp swing. I'm thinking there's much more wrong with my little smoker that could besides what I've stated. I know it's difficult to diagnose or even say...."hey, this is wrong or that needs attention".....without actually seeing it in action. I'll come back and post a few pics in just a few of the internals and fire box......if that'll help.
Honestly, I'm at a loss of what to do with it. Should I just keep it, modify it, and roll on with what I know or sell it and start over with something I know is better quality and will smoker better and suit my needs better. Most of the time it's just me and my wife, however, there are times I have about 25-30 people at the house for a afternoon of horseshoes and adult beverages. Firing up this thing is daunting on me and really a pain in my ass before I read the articles about fire management and such. Coming up, building my minion and basket.
I'm VERY impressed with this forum. The weath of knowledge and willingness of people to constantly help out is sometimes overwhelming. Thank you for having such a great place here. The ease and user friendly way each sector is laid out, makes it a great place to sit back, read and learn something. The Mods and Admin here are nothing short of AWESOME, even thouhg i've never talked to any of them just yet. Thank you, that's all I really wanted to say.
Tim
