I was really looking forward to this test for probably, I don’t know, maybe 6 months. This was the test to see if I could actually pump smoke into a homemade smoker, and whether or not the unit would be able to contain the smoke and have it flow out the top as it is supposed to.
Day 3 was very productive. Today, the smoke generator, hotplate, and thermometers arrived via FedEx. I was excited to be able to spend some weekend time working on the build.
After connecting the digital thermometer, I thought that I might as well give it a test to see how the cabinet would respond under a little heat, and depending on how that test went, to allow it to hit major barbecue temperature milestones.
There wasn’t much to do today because none of the items we ordered arrived yet. I thought that maybe the smoke generator or the hotplate would arrive early, but they should instead arrive tomorrow. So instead, I finished taping off the inside of the vents in the cabinet today, and added and tested a few electronic gadgets.
So today we made the first design modification since acquiring the raw materials needed to build the smoker. The change impacts the shelving, and I am going to go back to the original “the design” page and note the change there as well so that it doesnt get too confusing. Continue reading
Today was Day 1 of the smoker build. None of the sexy items are done yet – no shelves, no smoker machine… but, I did order nearly all the components for the smoker and picked up a few of the key starting items.
So, if you are following along, I’ve already explained who we are, and how we sort of landed on a giant metal cabinet.
But now, let me explain the design, as this is still something we are figuring out.
To get to our current point, I feel obligated to explain a few concept ideas that we considered and shelved. And I will explain what I liked about each one and how we finally landed on the vertical server cabinet smoker.
Welcome to my site. You’ve come here because you either are very interested in what I have to say, or because google told you that you could learn a lot about making a smoker on my site. I hope that regardless of how you got here, you find this site informative and entertaining. I love talking shop, so feel free to contact me at any stage in your build if you have questions you think I might be able to answer. I’ll add links to products whenever possible and photos when I have them so that you can follow along at home.
First off, my name is Scott and I live in North Carolina. This is significant because you may or may not know the reputation of our state and the world of smoking meats and barbecue. Needless to say, there are a lot of folks around here that have strong opinions on what constitutes barbecue, who makes the best BBQ, which is the best type of sauce and a list as long as my arm about the proper steps in smoking meat. We even have an annual BBQ festival in nearby Lexington, NC every year that draws something like 100,000 visitors.