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My quest/solution for the perfect camping grill/smoker

I've spent a good deal of time trying to come up with a way to comfortably transport a smoker/grill when I go camping. It needs to be small, efficient and transform into many different forms as my cooking needs change. I did my research and have come up with the following solution, still in progress.

I started off buying a Weber smokey Joe silver. It's a great size for camping ( 14.5 inch grill grate ) with the intention of making a Weber Smokey Mountain Mini. This entails buying a 32 quart aluminum steamer pot, cutting out the bottom, placing it on the smokey joe grill, and placing the lid on top of the steamer pot to make a mini smoker. I had every intention of going this route, until I actually looked at the steamer pots. They seemed flimsy to me, and I figured there had to be something that would work better. I thought about a stainless steel pot until I saw the price :scared:. I kept researching until I came across a pic that someone posted on a Weber forum five years ago, and I was off and running. I give you this

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The 10 gallon steel drum :thumbup:. It fits extremely well to the top of the Weber and the Weber lid fits the top of the drum like it was made for it.

So I cut the top and bottom out of it, drilled some holes for the grates, welded some feet onto the bottom To hold the barrel to the Weber grill. I then decided that the little wimpy feet on the Weber didn't look like they were going to hold the added weight of the barrel and food, so I bought some inch and a half steel and bent new legs. I still have to clean the welded feet,the legs of the Weber, and either paint them or acid wash them, but this is what it looks like so far.

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This set up allows me to either use it as a smoker, a regular smokey joe grill, or a grill with extra grates instead of using the barrel for a smoker, but leaving it on.
 
Whoa.... I am impressed :yesnod:

The engineering/inventive/fabrication skills of some of our members is amazing.

Thanks for sharing this!!!!
 
I have to try that firebox mod with my ECB if I don't repace it next year. Longer smoking sessions always wind up with a bunch of coals just smothered in the ashes.
 
Some additional pics of the inside, and firebox mod.

Looks great! What are you using for a heat shield/diffuser?

I considered doing the firebox mod on mine but for now I'm not using one. I can get 8 to 12 hours of usable heat out of a full load of charcoal depending on the smoker temp and the outside temp. Near complete combustion each time, only a few small lumps of unburnt fuel leftover.
 
Looks great! What are you using for a heat shield/diffuser?

I considered doing the firebox mod on mine but for now I'm not using one. I can get 8 to 12 hours of usable heat out of a full load of charcoal depending on the smoker temp and the outside temp. Near complete combustion each time, only a few small lumps of unburnt fuel leftover.

I used a sheet of expanded metal I bought from Lowes. I think it was 12" x 24" if I remember correctly. I'm going to try my next cook without the ring and see if it makes any difference, or if I get more burn time. Right now I get about 10 hours with the ring @250 pit temp ( depending on outside temp. The last one I did was an overnight cook, and the outside temp was in the mid 60's ) . I get a complete burn of all the briquettes, but I lose the space for more fuel as a result. I just assumed that because all of the Weber smokers have a ring, that it helps in some way. If I can get the same results without the ring, I would probably get rid of it. I have it set up so I can take the ring off of the grate now, because I want to be able to use it as a regular grill too. It would be nice if I can get the same results without the ring, and not have to mess with the ring at all.
 
Looks great! What are you using for a heat shield/diffuser?

I considered doing the firebox mod on mine but for now I'm not using one. I can get 8 to 12 hours of usable heat out of a full load of charcoal depending on the smoker temp and the outside temp. Near complete combustion each time, only a few small lumps of unburnt fuel leftover.

I linked this thread in another thread, and decided to read it again. I just realized I didn't answer your question about the heat diffuser, sorry.

A little late, but I use this

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It's the outdoor gourmet stainless steel grilling skillet. It has a removable handle and I just wrap it in aluminum foil before placing it in the smoker. I wrap it so that I can add liquid to the pan if necessary, and when I'm done using it , I just remove and toss the aluminum foil, no mess, and no cleaning required. It works really well for me, and I can use it to smoke veggies or small things if I wanted to.
 
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