More Country Smokers Questions

[71-South]

Hey All,

Do any of you use any of these add-ons for your country smokers? If so, are you glad you got them? Could you have made them yourself without a degree in metalology? Are they worth the money?

- Side Shelf
- Front shelf
- Cover

Also, has anyone made their own hopper extender? If so, got any pics?

Thanks,
Bret

[embo500]

I have the side shelf. To me, it's kind of worthless. I almost never use it, but mostly because I forget to put it in place before I'm cooking. Maybe I'll use it more this summer...we'll see. It's in 3 pieces, and you put in the arms and throw the shelf on top of it. Kind of flimsy, but it will hold stuff as well as anything I guess.

Here's a couple pics:







I don't have a front shelf, but I suspect it is built similarly.


The hopper extender is a must have in my opinion. I am not sure it would be that easy to make one on your own, but I'm sure anything is possible. I can cook 20 - 24 hours without refueling in almost any weather with the extender. I'm at a point where I just leave it in all the time, and had a custom cover made to go around it. Which brings me to my next point.

Don't get the CS branded cover. Mine didn't even last a year. Granted, we had a worse winter than most (-30 a couple of nights, and with snow on top of it, the cover just ripped due to being so brittle).

So, this spring, I measured for a custom cover from Mel's BBQ Grill Covers, and for $100 + shipping, I now have a VERY heavy duty cover made out of automotive vinyl that fits over my smoker with the hopper extender in it. This cover by itself is almost 14 lbs. It is very well made. Here's a few pics with it on:

[tommykendall]

I see tic tac toe

[BBQ_Mayor]

I added a front rack which I don't know if I could live without. And some turf tires.
The rack is just some stainless steel shelf mounts that I had laying around and a wire shelf I bought at Menards.
100_0070.jpg

[71-South]

Thanks guys.

Embo500, I love the cover. I'll have to check Mel's out.

Ray, looks good. I may have to try a front shelf for mine.

By the way, I'm a city alderman. Can I join your Q team if I move to Iowa?

Come to think of it, I guess I'd have to quit the board then. DAMN!

[bbqdano]

The extender is very useful and highly recommended. As for the cover, I bought a generic grill cover last spring at Target for 25 bucks. It has a small tear (2" long) as a result of the sharp corners on the hopper cover. I'm going to add a piece of wood to the top extreme left edge of the hopper lid and round off the corners. That generic cover is probably good for another year as I can flip it around and put the small tear out on the right end.

As for the shelves, skip them. Go get a utility cart with wheels and roll it right up to the front of your grill when you need a place to set stuff. The cover fits easier without permanant shelving in place.

[HoDeDo]

Only pit fall with the extender is rainy cooks.... water can run into the main hopper... If I made my own, I would have it go over the sides, vs. in....

I have not added any shelves... but if you see Ray's wheels... I also beefed up the cart under mine... that was a must. makes moving it around so much easier...

I also added stacks to mine, and the digital controllers.

[DMDon]

Originally Posted by HoDeDo

Only pit fall with the extender is rainy cooks.... water can run into the main hopper... If I made my own, I would have it go over the sides, vs. in....

I have not added any shelves... but if you see Ray's wheels... I also beefed up the cart under mine... that was a must. makes moving it around so much easier...

I also added stacks to mine, and the digital controllers.

I got the hopper extender, digital control, extra rack, heat shield extender thingy, blocked some of teh outlets, new motors with the longer shafts, restricter plate ect.... all I need now is racing stripes and a disco ball. oh yeah, and a solid cook to make it all worthwhile.

[BBQ_Mayor]

Originally Posted by HoDeDo

I also added stacks to mine, and the digital controllers.

Sweet!. I've been wanting to add stacks to mine to. I'll need to check yours out in St. Joe next week.

[BBQ_Mayor]

Originally Posted by 71-South

Thanks guys.

Embo500, I love the cover. I'll have to check Mel's out.

Ray, looks good. I may have to try a front shelf for mine.

By the way, I'm a city alderman. Can I join your Q team if I move to Iowa?

Come to think of it, I guess I'd have to quit the board then. DAMN!

Doesn't take a city official to be part of the team anymore. I had to give up my mayorship since I moved out of town. I still retain the BBQ Mayor title.

[embo500]

Originally Posted by HoDeDo

I also added stacks to mine, and the digital controllers.

I would love to see a pic of the stacks if you have one...

[embo500]

Originally Posted by DMDon

I got the hopper extender, digital control, extra rack, heat shield extender thingy, blocked some of teh outlets, new motors with the longer shafts, restricter plate ect.... all I need now is racing stripes and a disco ball. oh yeah, and a solid cook to make it all worthwhile.

Extra rack? You mean for the cook chamber? If that's the case, I didn't know they offered that. Do you have a pic?

[DMDon]

Originally Posted by embo500

Extra rack? You mean for the cook chamber? If that's the case, I didn't know they offered that. Do you have a pic?

It's an after market part. Bob at BBQ Bonanza in KC built it, KCK.com. It's heavy duty expanded metal with an iron bar welded to it for legs. It sits on top of the grate and gives another level to cook on. Perfect for catching the dripping in a pan of beans. I'll see if I can take a pic tonight or this weekend. I still need to mod it with some larger, non locking wheels.

[71-South]

Went up to see Bob at BBQ Bonanza at lunch time today. What a great guy. Easy to talk to and happy to help and also just shoot the chit. Picked up a digital controller and a hopper extension. I'll get them on this weekend. Now all I need for some serious overnight smoking action is the ramp jam fix thingamabob from Danson's. I'm pumped.

[71-South]

Doesn't take a city official to be part of the team anymore. I had to give up my mayorship since I moved out of town. I still retain the BBQ Mayor title.

I used to aspire to be mayor until I became an alderman. The amount of work that he puts in and the number of meetings he attends are stunning. Also, the mayor of our small town (10,000 people) gets $200/month for his service. Fark that!

I have not added any shelves... but if you see Ray's wheels... I also beefed up the cart under mine... that was a must. makes moving it around so much easier...

I also added stacks to mine, and the digital controllers.

I also would love to see a picture of your stacks, Andy. Did you add them just for the crowd pleasing look, or was there another reason?

I can do the wheels on my own, and I'm going to rearrange my deck so it will be right next to my BBQ cart, so I think I'll be able to do w/o the shelves.

I got the hopper extender, digital control, extra rack, heat shield extender thingy...

What's the heat shield extender thingy?



Quote:
Originally Posted by embo500
Extra rack? You mean for the cook chamber? If that's the case, I didn't know they offered that. Do you have a pic?

It's an after market part. Bob at BBQ Bonanza in KC built it, KCK.com. It's heavy duty expanded metal with an iron bar welded to it for legs. It sits on top of the grate and gives another level to cook on. Perfect for catching the dripping in a pan of beans. I'll see if I can take a pic tonight or this weekend.

I'd like to see a picture of that too. I'm thinking my uncle could make one for me pretty easily.