New to site, new to smoking

[Fiveflat]

Hey Brethren! I'm from Northern Calif. and pretty new to smoking. Only helped a buddy a couple times on a very poorly thrown together UDS. I have wanted to have a nicer smoker for years.
Any rate - I finally had some time this fall and decided to build upon the UDS design with something for the porch on my shop.

Started with this:



And now it looks like this:



So far the only two cooks with it and the food has come out superb! One Pork Butt and one Turkey (I've decided I prefer turkey in the oven though).

Now I feel like this cooker is just a little too small although it's probably not - I love the looks of those big beautiful cookers so here are my future modified plans for this.



Looking forward to learning more about smoking from you all!

[MisterChrister]

Cool plan and great build! Welcome to the Hotel Barbeque. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!!!

[thaifighter06]

That is AWESOME. I love the vision.

[tish]

Nice cooker! Looking forward to watching the build progress.

[Fiveflat]

Thanks for the comments! I scour craigslist almost daily for that incredible deal on a tank but in the mean time I'm saving my pocket change to buy a steel pipe from the steel company.

Here's my first smoke, that also happened to my first Pork Butt.
I've used the work Pr0n for years too, glad to see the Brethern is on the same page as me (or vice versa?)

Pork Pr0n:



And then, the pr0n after pulling:

[Fiveflat]

Also after last night I have to reconsider the placement of my vertical now. I experimented on my wood stove in my house last night and now I want a flat surface on my firebox for a skillet.

Skillet Cornbread pr0n:

[Kathy's Smokin']

Very nice job, brother, I love the way you think. Don't give up on smoked turkey yet, they can turn out beautiful...... you may find a cook thread down the road to fan those embers.

[Fiveflat]

I think everyone at my party agreed that it was beautiful and very tasty. It was a very golden brown, almost looked like it came out of the oven itself. I have read that poultry takes on smoke like crazy and I thought I used little enough wood. I smoked it over coal, but I used briquets and not lump. Not sure how different they are for this purpose though?
But the smoke was just barely over powering for the meal.

[Big Griz]

As one newbie to another, keep up the good work. That's a pretty nice build you have there!

If you have any more questions, these guys are more than willing to help and have an amazing amoutn of knowledge!

[Kathy's Smokin']

Originally Posted by Fiveflat

I think everyone at my party agreed that it was beautiful and very tasty. It was a very golden brown, almost looked like it came out of the oven itself. I have read that poultry takes on smoke like crazy and I thought I used little enough wood. I smoked it over coal, but I used briquets and not lump. Not sure how different they are for this purpose though?
But the smoke was just barely over powering for the meal.

Huh. Thanks for the extra information, I didn't realize it was an overpowering taste issue. I smoked two turkeys in my kamado this year and and both times the smoke taste did not overpowere the taste of the turkey. I believe both times I smoked mine over briquettes, too, they were 100% hardwood with no filler or mineral spirits -- bought from Walmart in a tan coloured bag. Not sure why your turkey had such an overpowering smoke flavour and why mine have had a more subtle smoke taste. I didn't use wood at all but could have included about 3 lumps of mesquite charcoal. Maybe that's it, no wood at all. I smoke turkeys breast down so all the fat and juices migrate to the breast meat. Both times they've turned out exceptional.

[code3rrt]

That is some fine engineering work there!

Welcome to the site, believe me you won't be disapointed, really great people around here!

[Toast]

Mighty Fine and Welcome!

Just my .02 on your diagram is to make both stacks the same height and use a crossover pipe between the two stacks with a damper to control airflow and regulate temp better. On the horizontal stack, would recommend moving it to the other end of the firebox for better draft across the cookin' surface unless reverse flow is the way you want to go.

[cowgirl]

Great lookin' smoker! Welcome to the forum.

[Fiveflat]

That's a good lookin' Turkey Kathy! the overpowering was just barely. I'm not giving up on smoking turkey, but sharing opinions of others is all...

Thanks for all the comments on my smoker everyone!