# The Journey to a Bell Fab Smoker



## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

Well, this has been a journey, so this will be a little bit longer read, with how I became the proud owner of a Bell Fab Smoker.

It all started when I married a Texan.  For the first several years of our marriage she complained for years that she hand't had good BBQ since she left Texas.  (We lived in Idaho and then Nebraska at the time)

Wanting her to be happy (because she deserves the world), I bought a Cabela's brand propane smoker at a significant discount in their bargain cave.   It was the Cabelas brand, probably built by whatever generic company (Masterbuilt?).  The metal was thin, it leaked like a sieve, but I turned out some good BBQ.  I smoked everything on that thing, brisket, chicken, lots of pork butts, and even some bear hams (those made a mess).  I learned  a lot about flavor profiles and heat control.

Then I started watching BBQ pitmasters and I knew I wanted something bigger.  I dreamt of Stubbs gravity feed charcoal smoker, or even a Backwoods Party, but my budget didn't allow for that at the time.

We had moved to Wyoming (that's where I did the bear hams), and then to Nevada.  One day, I found myself at Home Depot, it was the end of the season and they had all their smokers on clearance.  It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but when I ended up buying a Brinkmann Trailmaster Limited Edition Horizontal Offset, for $125 




I couldn't complain.  That smoker has served me well for the past seven years, but I live in Oregon now.  The thin metal rusted out in the ash pan, and quite honestly it just wasn't BIG enough.  

See, we have five boys, and they have friends, and my wife has friends, I have a dog.  It's not uncommon for us to feed 30 people if I have the smoker going.

So I started shopping.  

After lots of shopping and frustration I settled on buying an Old Country Brazos.  (wait, what,  I thought you said you bought a Bell Fab.....calm down, I'll get there).  The Brazos is a good smoker.  1/4 steel, and well built.  It's just not built well enough to survive subpar shipping packaging from Mexico (where they are manufactured) to Oregon.  The Old Country (ordered through Academy) seemed to be what I wanted at a price point I could stomach and shipping was way less than a Lang (an now I know why).  The smoker arrived looking like it had been drug behind the truck for the last 15 miles.



















The pictures don't do the amount of damage justice.

(To be Continued)


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

One of the things you can't see in the pictures of the Old Country is the welds were broken on the smoke stack.  I refused delivery and sent it back to Academy (I did give them the option of refunding 50% of my money to pay for the repairs).

Discouraged, the search for a new smoker was reopened.

Some late night googling and forum searching led me to Bell Fab.  He is a small manufacturer based in Tulsa, OK.  We exchanged some emails and phone calls.  I told him what I was looking for and how much cooking space and I was amazed when he quoted me a price for a custom pit that was well below the cost of the Old Country Brazos.

I placed my order.






						:::Bell Fabrications:::Custom Grills and Smokers
					

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					www.bellfab.com


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

Craig Bell at Bell Fab was great to work with.  He was very patient and answered all of my questions.  He even sent me picture updates along the way.


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

And he sent me a picture of the completed product and we arranged shipping.







The shipping got a little hinky.  No fault of Bell Fab.  He did everything in his power, but shipping an 800+lbs smoker across the country can be challenging.  The shipping company certainly took their time.  It took a little over three weeks for it to arrive at my door.  Trying to get updates was like pulling teeth.  Their tracking information online never matched what they were telling me,  I would get comments like 'you need to understand it's on a train'.  (Which I maintain is not my problem), and ultimately, the other day, I got a little pissy, I was told I was unreasonable, and it was frustrating.  The company I work for has a shipping department and I went down to ask if I was being unreasonable.  My Materials Manager is awesome and in 45 minutes, he had figured out where it was, had a report that it was in good shape.  He got it moved closer, and delivered the next day.  (It was awesome)

It arrived in good shape (a few scrapes from shipping but nothing too bad)

Here are some pictures of it in my driveway when I took deliver yesterday


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

Again, I want to be clear, the shipping issues had nothing to do with Bell Fab.  He did his part.  

Also, the pictures above are pre-cleaning and seasoning.

I had to work a little late last night, and it was killing me knowing that my new smoker was sitting in my driveway.

I have to tell you, this thing is a beast.  It's constructed of 3/8" steel and weights 800+lbs.  It took me and my three teenage boys to get it across the grass.

So, I set about seasoning it.

There are a lot of opinions about how to season a new smoker.  I recognize that some people will think they have a better way then I did it.  That's fine.  I don't care.  Here's how I did it:

I cleaned with some water and simple green, to get rid of any manufacturing oils.  I warmed it up to dry it out (small fire), cooled it down, sprayed it down with Canola oil inside and out and took it up to run between 275-300 degrees for the next three hours, really letting those oils get into the nooks, crannies and pores.  I let the temp come down to <200, and sprayed it again, inside and out, and then took the temperature back up for about an hour.  Then I just let the fire burn itself out.

Here are some pictures of the action (it was dark during the seasoning process):




















And then I couldn't help myself, I had to go out and get some pictures this morning.










The seasoning gave all the metal a nice bronze color.  I look forward to cooking on it this weekend.  If anyone has questions about the smoker, let me know.


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## pit of despair (Jan 10, 2020)

fowldarr,
Nice! Keep us posted with lots of pictures!
Teddy


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## jcanitz (Jan 10, 2020)

Nice!!! Welcome to the Bell Fab family. I bet work last night was brutal.


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## Winterrider (Jan 10, 2020)

Looks like a wonderful unit that will serve you well for many, many years.


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## mooncusser (Jan 10, 2020)

That's an impressive piece of equipment!  Glad that you have a happy ending after the disappointment with the damaged unit and all that waiting.  

What do you have planned for the first cook?


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

mooncusser said:


> That's an impressive piece of equipment!  Glad that you have a happy ending after the disappointment with the damaged unit and all that waiting.
> 
> What do you have planned for the first cook?




Going to start with some chicken thighs tonight, because of time mostly, plus, if I ruin them I won't cry.  I have some pork belly and pork butts going in this weekend though.


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## HalfSmoked (Jan 10, 2020)

Ok less see some cooking.

Warren


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## mooncusser (Jan 10, 2020)

fowldarr said:


> Going to start with some chicken thighs tonight, because of time mostly, plus, if I ruin them I won't cry.  I have some pork belly and pork butts going in this weekend though.


Sounds like a plan.  Good luck and have fun!


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## jaxgatorz (Jan 10, 2020)

Congrats !! That is a tank !!


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

jaxgatorz said:


> Congrats !! That is a tank !!



It really is.


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## jcam222 (Jan 10, 2020)

Very much enjoyed the read. It was almost like I was going through getting a new smoker! Very happy you finally got that baby. Looks super nice!!


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## JCAP (Jan 10, 2020)

That thing looks awesome. Enjoy and eat up!


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## fowldarr (Jan 10, 2020)

jcam222 said:


> Very much enjoyed the read. It was almost like I was going through getting a new smoker! Very happy you finally got that baby. Looks super nice!!



Glad you enjoyed the read


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## Jabiru (Jan 10, 2020)

Awesome rig, and built by an expert. Looks like it was worth the wait. Happy smoking!


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## fowldarr (Jan 11, 2020)

Jabiru said:


> Awesome rig, and built by an expert. Looks like it was worth the wait. Happy smoking!



Craig did an amazing job. I’m very happy with what he turned out.


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## SmokinAl (Jan 11, 2020)

Looks like a real nice smoker!
Looking forward to seeing how you like cooking on it!
Al


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## Alphonse (Jan 16, 2020)

Thanks for the write up, a fun read.  You ended up with a mighty nice looking pit!  Look forward to some feedback on cooks.


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## fowldarr (Jan 17, 2020)

Alphonse said:


> Thanks for the write up, a fun read.  You ended up with a mighty nice looking pit!  Look forward to some feedback on cooks.



It works really well, rather than constantly updating this thread, I've created new ones for the stuff I cook on it.  Check them out, the food has been coming out really good.


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## E's Smokin (Feb 5, 2020)

Your smoker looks like a tank, its beautiful
I have 1 question, with the split doors, it looks like there is a gap between the doors, do you lose much smoke & is there an option for a single door model
Thanks & best of luck with your new smoker


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## fowldarr (Feb 5, 2020)

I'm sure that he would do a single door, There is very little smoke loss actually, you would expect more, but it seals up nice.  If I went with a single door i would make sure that there was a counterweight added, even split, these doors are heavy.  (It's made out of 3/8" steel)


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## Omnivore (Feb 6, 2020)

Great write up - I know nothing about offset smokers and it was a really interesting read! 

If you ever have to ship another smoker again (which I doubt!), check out a company called uShip. You post what you need moved, and regular people with trailers or trucks bid on moving your stuff if the required dates work out for everyone. I had a 600 pound used Viking stove moved from middle of California to the top of Oregon. It was really affordable and I didn't have to deal with any commercial shipping services.


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## sawhorseray (Feb 6, 2020)

A great write up and read, your new Bell Fab is a thing of beauty, a real beast. RAY


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## fowldarr (Feb 6, 2020)

Bell used a company called e-ship that basically does the same thing, but for commercial businesses.  The shipping ended up being fairly reasonable from a cost standpoint, but the length of time was ridiculous.  Not anyone's fault but the shipping company.  The important part is that it is here now.


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## fowldarr (Feb 6, 2020)

Here she is freshly seasoned sans thermometers.  The brinkmann in the background moved to a friends house (she got a little jealous and needed to go somewhere else to get some attention)


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## gary s (Feb 6, 2020)

Nice

Gary


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## Displaced Texan (Nov 11, 2020)

Brand new to the forum. Had settled on the OC Brazos from Academy after also considering the Yoder Loaded Wichita and Horizon 20" Marshall. Saw this thread and several others dating back to 2009 on this forum. 

Emailed Craig about an hour ago, and he called me back within about 20 minutes. I'm on the list, and he says he can have a 24x36 or 24x48 ready by Thanksgiving. Thinking for the little bit of extra money, I should go big with the 48 inch. 

Great threads and discussions on this forum. Hope to be able to contribute as well.


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## dannyklaus (Sep 21, 2021)

fowldarr said:


> View attachment 431430
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How do you like your cooker?  Anything you would do differently on the build?  Thanks!


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## Displaced Texan (Sep 21, 2021)

dannyklaus said:


> How do you like your cooker?  Anything you would do differently on the build?  Thanks!


You can see mine in my avatar as well as search for some posts and threads I have made, as well as those by 

 TNJAKE
. 

I had him do the triangular exhaust. Honestly, I don't think it needs out, as this unit really has great draw and convection. 

The grease drain in the cook chamber on my pit was not flush with the bottom, so it was not draining well. No big deal, I got a little grinder from Harbor Freight and fixed it. But, I would ask him to grind that flush. 

I would have him include some tuning plates. 

Definitely would recommend the two doors. Heat loss is very minimal. It isn't a pressure cooker, but a bit of gasket seal would easily solve that. I have zero problem keeping the temps up in this beast. 

He will do an insulated firebox, trailer, four wheels, basically just talk to him and tell him what you want.


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## pineywoods (Sep 21, 2021)

dannyklaus said:


> How do you like your cooker?  Anything you would do differently on the build?  Thanks!



Here's a link to a newer thread about the Bell Fabs
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/bell-fabrications-smoker.310479/


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