A couple questions about Big Poppa Smoker kit
 

1. Are all the pieces stainless steel? Do they pass the magnet test?

2. How airtight are the bottom vents? Can I snuff out a fire quickly with it to conserve fuel?

Yes Yes and Yes.

Yea all stainless, the bottom vents are great..i do add high heat silicone beed around the inside perimeter. Yes it snuffs out quickly. First class system without question.

So very nice, all stainless. Very much worth the $139 for the kit! I am going to get it and a 55 gallon stainless steel drum :)

It is what I used for my drum and I love it. It chokes off the fire pretty quickly, but as stated above some rtv silicone (essentially making a gasket) around the intakes makes a big difference. I would suggest having another person around to help for the rtv and intake installation, it is kind of a pain to do by yourself. Also, a little dish soap on the step bit during the hole drilling helps to keep it a little cooler so you don't have as much downtime during the prep.

Hitman

You can't rely on the magnet test for SS. Check out the link below.

http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1140

I don't think your going to drill thru any quality S.S. with a step drill. Cutoff wheel yes. Torch, yes. Just so you know.

Yes you can...I did it with a 80 Qt stainless pot. At first it was hard and then i figured it out. The key was laying it on it's side and starting with a fat 1"step bit, then switching to a smaller size...after it starts it's easy Use lube

See this thread.


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=173767

Words to live by.

Like FWISMOKER said yes.

Well I can get a SS drum for $150 in dallas. it's .9mm thick though.. is that thick enough? It doesn't have a removable lid but doesn't this mean a weber 22.5 lid should fit over it? All I have to do is cut out the top like I would with a can opener to a tin can--maybe get someone to cut it with plasma.

Mine smothers pretty quick when I shut it down, and I haven't sealed around the intakes yet.

I could be wrong, but that 80 qt pot is ALOT thinner than any S.S. drum your going to find. That is why I mentioned it. It can be done, but for the amount of holes for that smoker kit, it is a lot more work than a steel drum. And if the S.S. drum is 9mm thick, she is really in for a battle. Unibits are not really made for going thru quality S.S. Some of the lower grade stainless has a lot of carbon in it and much easier to work on. Just sayin.

It's less than 1 mm thick--9 tenths of a millimeter thick.

As others have mentioned seal the intakes and you will be fine. I found it helps with adjustments also. I have one of the first kits and it is as good as the day I got it.

Oh yes you can.

I drilled all these holes in this SS "bucket" with a unibit to make what was originally supposed to be the firepan on my SSUDS, but is now a giant chimney starter.

http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps589ea1a4.jpg

It was pretty thick walled too.....

http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps81ce9079.jpg





Now.....I'm not saying it wasn't tough.
AND.....I'm not saying I didn't trash the bit either.


BUT......I am saying it can be done.



AND, by the way.....there's about 1.58 MM in 1/16th of an inch, so the wall of my bucket was more than twice as thick as his 0.9mm drum wall.