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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 19:47:53 GMT 10
G'day I have just got my project to the stage were Im giving its first live fire before I finish it off and paint it. Not my idea but they have a complete section on building these things on a U.S. site called The Virtual Weber bulletin board. I can thank the captain for pointing it out. Basically its a Webber smoky joe and a large cooking pot for the main body. Not wanting to pay $100 dollars on a weber smoky joe I found a clone at bunnings under the jumbuck brand. $27 but I found at the checkout it was marked down to $10 so I brought 2 figuring I needed 2 grills anyway and spare bits would go astray. The pot was the hard bit it has to be the correct size 38 cm. Had to use a 40 cm pot which was the expensive bit with a discount $90. I used the lid inverted on the base and it fitted like a glove. The top I necked down with 3 mm strips of Aluminium bent to shape in a slightly open wood vise. One strip to bring down to size and the second slightly raised fits the lip of the lid and gives it a good seal. Stainless bolts to hold the two shelves in place and a 32 cm stainless cake tin as a water bowl / heat deflector. Started up some charcoal beads in the bottom added 2/3 unlite so I filled up about 1/3. Having no water or moderator in it the temps shot up to 200C pretty fast. Leaving the top vent full open I closed down the side tabs to close off the air supply. Nearly closed down the vents completely and an hour later got it stable at 130C. Of course I cooked in it just some chicken wings in a rub. Took about an hour to cook with a bit of wood added for smoke. Had to go out so I didn't get to find out how long it burnt for. It was going for 5 hrs when I was there 4 of those it kept a steady 130C. A success in my book. Of course I'll have to work at the finer points but I think it's worth a coat of paint.  |
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Post by chrisg on Apr 26, 2015 19:54:10 GMT 10
 Different I keep wondering why I don't buy one of the originals or the other one that everyone raves about, then I remember that my wife has a dim view of outdoor cooking that I'm slowly, very slowly, changing. Unfortunately I do not think a DIY is going to advance my cause, otherwise... Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Apr 27, 2015 0:14:12 GMT 10
Great stuff Cobbler Dave, That will work Indeed. Now to have some fun with it. Looking forward to what you will be cooking up in that beauty. Got to be happy that you managed to make everything fit. Remember, Small air in, bigger air out. Choking the top is a FUBAR that many still make the mistake in the belief that it makes for more smokey food,,, . They lost their taste buds long ago. Ash management can be an issue with air flow so keep an eye on what happens to the bottom vents in your testing. You may have to protect them from clogging.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2015 7:50:46 GMT 10
G'day smokie
I'm lucky on two counts. First I've used a weber before the top vent only gets closed after cooking to kill the coals. Learned that lesson the hard way.
Also the jumbuck BBQ has sliding side vents so I shouldnt have clogged lower wheel probs and no ash blowing around the place.
I've added a second grate wired to the first at 90 degrees so any small coals are keep up out of the ash.
My son picked me up a bag of Lokkii BBQS beads were they awfull. Most broken and with bits of what looked like plants roots hanging out. Any suggestions for another are welcome. Also what are available in the way of natural firefighters I had to use those Kero smelling wax things.
Regards dave
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Post by chrisg on Apr 27, 2015 8:55:15 GMT 10
Heh,
Yeah, that Lokkii stuff truly is awful.
I usually use the compressed sawdust fire lighters, work well, no real smell.
Cheers
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Post by smokey on Apr 27, 2015 10:22:51 GMT 10
I've never got fire starters when I need them.
More often then not I use veg oil soaked paper towels packed under a chimney starter.
I also only use heat bead brand briquettes because they are a known and reliable measure, Particulary when doing the minion method in a bullet smoker and there is any overnight cooking where I'll be doing any sleeping.
K mart or Big W have 10kg bags for just under $15
Note: I just moved this thread to charcoal and will amend the not so clear heading in Electric cookers. My Bad.
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osdave
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Post by osdave on Apr 27, 2015 20:57:34 GMT 10
Nice job Dave.
Wheredya land the pot?
How stable is it?
Dave
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2015 8:29:22 GMT 10
G'day osdave
Temperature Stability ?. I was more than impressed with my first experiment. I was able to catch the temp and bring it down easy enough. Having no door makes it hard to refill any water so I'll be using a 250 cm foiled pot plant saucer. Most of these things using operate well enough this way so I'll just have to give it a go. I'm determined to paint it before it becomes too smoke stained so I'll just have to wait.
The pot comes from BCF. I found another at a commercial kitcken suppliers but the thing was 4 mm thick Aluminium ! I wasn't sure about the effect of that much mass would have on the ability of such a small charcoal burner to get it to temp and keep it there. So I decieded not to find out.
The BCF pot is marked 41x41x36.5 and was just big enought for the lid to fit inside the rim. It wasn't too hard to bend some 3 mm stock to neck it down. A second gave me a lip that fits in the lid like a glove.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2015 8:32:14 GMT 10
......., top lip  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2015 8:36:38 GMT 10
Bottom of the pot. The pots Lids inverted and pop riveted on the base. Bottom was then cut out. Fits the bbq really well and the structure is very stable.  |
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Post by Gus65 on Apr 28, 2015 10:32:41 GMT 10
A quick, easy and reliable fire starter that will work in any conditions is Cotton Balls soaked in Vaseline.
Get a heap of cotton balls and rub generously with Vaseline until it's soaked in well. Store in an old film container or something airtight and they'll last for ages and handle anything, even torrential rain.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 11:02:29 GMT 10
Gday Got hold of some high temp paint so the main body and base now are a charcoal grey. Looks good with the blue lid so I'll leave it at that. The paint needed to be heated to set it, so Sunday I flashed it up again. Didn't cook anything as I was not sure of paint fumes. I got a small lot of beads going and was able to steady down the temp to arrive at 130. Had to go out so that was good because I wasnt able to fuss over the temps. Came back to look at temp graph on my phone and the iGrillmini prob showed it steady about the 130 mark again for 4 hrs. Hardly any beads left so I loaded the rest of the beads and opened the vents to cook the paint as the heat had made it sticky up to that point. Next morning it had burnt the lot and the paint was cold and hard. Im pretty pleased with how this little cooker is working and with the paint and a few more washers has now cost me $165, still just under the price basic weber kettle. It's not just the money really, I've enjoyed the satisfaction of building this little smoker. Now I just have to master the low and slow.... Regards dave  |
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Post by smokey on May 4, 2015 16:59:50 GMT 10
Yep That'll work.
Some fancy minion method work should have it hold in the smoke bbq range.
Look forward to see it crank out some tucker.
Have you got it in mind how you are going to fuel it? IE, Large load unlit with eight lit beads in a centre divot and shut the bottom vents down to a bees doodle or using just enough fuel to keep a target temp, adding more as you need?
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 20:12:57 GMT 10
G'day
My investigations I've come across that method. The "coffee can minion". A tin can both ends cut out, stack the beads around it, lite beads into the can and remove the can with tongs. Sounds pretty sensible to me. I've found we have an unused s/steel cutlery holder to make a small enough chimney to start some beads in. Just a case of time now....would like to cook some mutton that's one meat that really sings with low and slow. Muttons a bit hard to find these days but there's a butcher down the "valley" that supplies a few indian restaurants. I've cooked it before in the wood fired oven and I recon I should be able to pull it off. I'll have to investigate the "stall" a bit more that's my only worry.
Regards Dave
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Post by smokey on May 4, 2015 23:48:47 GMT 10
Sounds like a good plan. The stall, Is not so scary but rather interesting to experiance. Biggest mistake people make is ramp up the heat too high shortening time at temp. All things being equal, the meat will get there. I find the 225f thing a bit of a strainge must have too. I can't tell any difference if the pit is running at 270f Your in for some fun  |
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