Project: Smoke-Stacked - Part 5: The Maiden Voyage

A lot has gone down since the last update.  Let's cut to the chase, and get to the pictures. 

Thanks to the wonders of Amazon, I was able to find the perfect thermometer for this smoker.  The maximum temperature is a little lower than most grill thermometers.  It's focus is clearly made to cook in the 200-250 range, right where you want to be when smoking. Here it is installed on the door.

Here's a close up shot.  You can see that it clearly has the different temperature ranges marked.  My goal is to be as close to 225 as possible.  More on that later...

Here's a shot of the smoker mostly assembled, with the stove pipe attached.  Starting to look pretty good!

Here's a profile shot, as well as a view of my messy work bench. 

Next was time to install the handle.  I had to trim down the brackets a little bit, for it to fit between the barrel ribs.  It turned out pretty well, and functions great!  When fully opened, the handle rests right up against the stove pipe. 

After a couple of really frustrating hours, I managed to somehow get some 6" aluminum ducting between the two barrels, connecting the dampers of the bottom barrel, to the collars going into the top barrel.  Considering my barrels were not the same shape to begin with, it made it extremely difficult to align the holes for the collars.  If you ever decide to build one of these yourself, MAKE SURE to get three, identical 55-gallon drums.  You will save yourself a lot of frustration in the end. I don't have any pictures of the ducting connecting the barrels.  It looks like garbage, but hey, it works!

So, this brings us to the maiden voyage.  In the morning, I moved the smoker out to the driveway, and loaded up the bottom barrel with my bricks.  I wanted to make sure to make a channel that my fire basket will sit on.

Here's a shot of my fire basket all loaded in.   You might not be able to see in the picture, but the basket is about 10" in width. (It barely fit in the stove door)  This allows the fire basket to sit about an inch and a half above the bricks, allowing air to get under the charcoal and wood. 

Thanks to the stupid ducting issues between the barrels, I didn't have time to season the smoker the night before the first cooking session.  So, I had to fire it up early, coat the inside with vegetable oil, and try to get it partially seasoned before the ribs went on.  I loaded her up with a couple of chimney-fulls of charcoal, and plenty of chunks of wood.  Here's the evidence, that my smoker works!

After a couple hours, I sort of knew what I had to do to keep my temperature right around 225.  So, once I had it down, I packed some rub on the ribs, and threw them on the smoker.  Here they are, smoking away. 

I ended up using quite a bit of white oak, and cherry wood.  I must say, they turned out great!  They maintained their structural integrity when picking up, but the meat came clean off the bone.  I was also able to achieve a very good smoke ring on the meat.  I apologize I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but I was very excited to eat them.  Taking pictures was the last thing on my mind, once they were done. 

Stay tuned for more adventures with the new smoker.  We're just getting into the prime BBQ season, and I intend on practicing plenty more this summer!