$4 air compressor to $400 smoker
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- Опубліковано 17 чер 2022
- I found this air compressor tank at an estate sale and managed to nab it for only $4, along with some other scrap metal (including the axle that made up the sledge handle in the previous video). I tried to use up as much scrap as I had lying around to keep costs down, but ended up buying the steel for the hinges, firebox, and banding around the doors (all told it probably came out to around $300 in materials & consumables). I probably could have saved around $50 by finding a cheap grill grate at a thrift shop, but I thought it'd be fun to make one to the exact size of this smoker.
This ended up being the perfect project for me to convince myself I needed a plasma cutter (especially after I bought a functioning air compressor a few months ago), and it's been quite the learning curve trying to learn how to use it while not screwing up my very limited stock of materials beyond repair. I still need to get better at consistently moving the torch head without stopping/starting. Oh, and probably buy a respirator.
This was a huuuuuuge project that took over 2 months of solid work, and was the first time I've made something with moving parts. I had to redo the firebox door at least once and I may redo it again next season, but I'm happy with how the cookchamber door came out. It warped a little bit when I welded on the handle, but it doesn't leak any smoke so I count it as a win. If I ever make another smoker, I'll probably double insulate the firebox (a LOT of heat is being lost, radiating off the firebox instead of heating the air going through the smoker). I'm still experimenting with where to place the coals in the firebox to help even out the temperature across the cookchamber.
By far, the worst parts of this build were stripping the paint off the tank (destroyed the garage) and seasoning the smoker (destroyed me). The firebox got plenty hot enough to polymerize the canola oil, but the cook chamber did not- I didn't show it on camera, but I ended up using a torch and 4 bottles of mapp gas manually heating a section and rubbing oil on it repeatedly until the seasoning had built up enough.
SONGS:
Macho Man - Village People
Party on the Patio - ZZ Top - Розваги
Loved it!
This video is pure unadulterated insanity. It deserves more likes and comments.
I gotta admit i agree with most of the other comments. Which suprised even myself since i usually detest videos with soundtracks or with more commentary from the land of " less than 1/2 of the video is comprised of content clicked for ' " . In other words great vid straight and to the point.👍
UPDATE: after 2 summers of use, I've gotten the best results using dry firewood with the bark removed, the top damper half open, and the bottom damper adjusted to keep the temp around 275. Any temp lower than that and the smoke does not burn as clean. This is still plenty low enough to cook chuck and beef ribs, and of course pork is extremely forgiving when it comes to temp control. The increased airflow using wood vs charcoal also helps me get better bark and overall cuts a few hours off the cook time (8-9 hours vs 12+ for a big chuck roast). Pink butcher paper is also a must for longer cooks, typically I wrap after the 3-4 hour mark or whenever the color looks a dark red, which helps baste the meat in its own fat and keeps it from getting over smoked. If I were to make this again, I'd make the firebox double insulated and also longer so I could use normal length firewood without having to cut it in half on the bandsaw first (I went with max volume when designing it because I thought I'd be exclusively using charcoal)
Skills.
😅😅 funnest, and most entertaining video I have seen in awhile.
Absolutely AWESOME!
Cool
My favorite part was all of it 👍
not bad
God I fucking hate how talented you are
Learn blacksmithing so we can combine our powers
This video is awesome. Also if the smoker failed to get hot next time you wanna re season it you can either use a leaf blower to blow the hot air from the box into the cook chamber.
Also I couldn’t tell but is this a reverse flow. Based off the smoke stack location it looks like one but If it’s not that’s why it didn’t get hot. All the hot air is immediately coming out the smoke stack and not going through out the smoker.
@@CowboyGothic thanks for the leaf blower tip! Yes this is reverse flow, the first tuning plate where the firebox meets the body is welded in, and the other plates direct the airflow towards the left side of the smoker before reversing and going up the smokestack. I think the main issue with it not getting super hot is more of a scale problem- since this is pretty small for a reverse flow it has proportionally more surface area vs volume compared to a larger smoker. Either way it gets up to 250 without too much effort, so it ends up only being an issue when I need to season it
Super cool! Btw what is that burst liquid thing you put all over at the end of the video?
That was canola oil a spray bottle, coated the whole smoker in it then heated it up to season the bare metal, similar to what you'd do with a cast iron or carbon steel skillet
Entertaining af
lol well done..