New To Us BBQ Vault (PitMaker)

[TheTeZ]

Hey Guys. Long time since i've posted, but i read up quite a bit.

So, My teammate and i were talking and figured we needed a 2nd similar pit to our main pit.

We had a spicewine medium we got from a fellow team in the area for Literally a Steal. 500 bucks. It was quite dirty, mold inside and what not, But we cleaned it up and gave it a nice fresh coat of paint, and turned the doors red. It seemed to have a couple little add ons, a 3k smoker for 500 was a no brainer, Just glad we got to it first. since we got it it has become our main pit. I like tinkering so i made a maze for it. Not really too much else to do, Replaced the gaskets, thermometers and what not. that was 2 years ago when we picked it up.

Instead of just doing cooks at my place, like i said, we decided we should get something else, similar style. I ended up coming across a Pitmaker Safe on craigslist about an hour from my place. they were asking 1400 i believe but i was able to get him down to 1k for a pitmaker safe with out ever seeing it. We went to pick it up, and To our surprise it wasnt a safe, It was a Vault. This thing was beautiful except for a tiny bit of missing paint and being an older style, this thing was pristine. Its a beauty, We picked up almsot a 4k smoker for $1000, and im so happy we did.
I've done all the reading about that crappy air sliding vent, And figured i'd give it a shot, Threw some test charcoal in there and let it get nice and hot, Closed it down completley and ... it kept on burning. So i decided i'd make a home depot run and see what i could find. So i got a Ball Valve, and a couple stainless electrical outlet covers for 220v single sockets. (have a 1.5" hole in the middle" the biggest ball valve they had was 1.5" so i picked that up and i also got a peice of 4.5" black pipe, and a few other small parts.

So Heres what i made, (the outlet cover looked like it as made to fit over the intake vent. I had some grill gasket laying around, And i used a sealing neoprene washer (outside only) to seal where the ball valve went against the cover for a nice seal.

Oh, and i was worried about the 1.5" ball valve since the new ones come with 2", I was also worried about having to step down to 1" for the guru adapter. dont ask me why i thought that was right, went to buy an adapter for the ball valve and it turns out ANY ball valve adapter steps down to 3/4" so i guess i dont need to be worried, especially when forcing air i guess.... otherwise i just wont have the adapter in if i dont want to use it. (thats whats in the valve in the photo, but guess i dont need that!)

Heres a couple of the photos.


Inside


Outside Valve


now all thats left, is to give her an initial exterior cleaning as the inside is very clean. and get some meat cooking!



Oh, i got it from a guy who bought a closed down restaurant, he didnt know much about it, and wasnt going to use it in his new 'fancy' restaurant

[SmittyJonz]

[TheTeZ]

Sunday we will do our first cook with the new smoker. I'm pretty confident i can get it to keep consistent enough temps so we are gonna cook about 50lbs of pork, and a practice Comp. Brisket right out of the gate.

[MikeyZ]

I have a newer one. I find it works better with the 25 cm fan.

[TheTeZ]

Thats The pitbull? Thats what i use on the Spicewine and would be using with the Pitmaker as well.

[KevinJ]

Nice cooker congrats.

[JS-TX]

Congrats on the great deal for a great smoker!

[Hornnumb2]

This is what I ended up making for mine, had somebody on ebay machine it for me. http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=183644

[TheTeZ]

how big of a ball valve goes into that?

[K.W.]

I'm running one of the newer vaults with the 2" valve and an adapter for the guru fan. For reference, I'm using the 10cfm fan and have the fan damper set around 30% open. I haven't had any problems hitting temps with these settings.

[PaulstheRibList]

That's an outstanding deal on a Vault! Have fun on her