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 . 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
The 10 gallon steel drum . 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.
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.
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 . 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
The 10 gallon steel drum . 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.
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.