Wine Barrel Smoker

[MTHank]

Originally Posted by mmmmeat

turn it into a cold smoker build a half uds.... pipe da smoke via ...4" pipe, and viola

"Cold Smoker" sounds like the best and most useful thing to do with it. Don't bust it up that is a pretty cool barrel to have around. I sure would like to have it. "Cold" smoking won't make it dry out as much and it would keep it's seal longer w/o waxing. JMHO

[smoke it if ya got it]

Wow interesting to say the least! I'm thinking unless you line it with something it would be hard to keep it from burning. Maybe if you kept it full of water before each use it would stay saturated enough to keep it from burning? That opens a lot of problems as far as air intakes (a plug ?). I'm sure you'll get plenty of other idea's here.

[anamosity]

Looks like 2 planters to me.
ie, cut it in half and decorate the out side deck with.

[swamprb]

Here is a very interesting article on "charring" the insides of Oak wine barrels and the thoughts behind the practice.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...cptaste18.html

If I were to make a cooker out of a wine barrel, I would use an 18" Weber kettle in the bottom with a ring of expando on its charcoal grate.

[sfbbqguy]

Originally Posted by swamprb

If I were to make a cooker out of a wine barrel, I would use an 18" Weber kettle in the bottom with a ring of expando on its charcoal grate.

It looks like that's something like what the guy did in the pictures I posted ^^.
Your idea of expando ring sounds like the best idea for a charcoal basket.

[icemncmth]

I have made smokers out of a lot of different things......Just buy a hotplate and put it in the bottom of the drum and then make a metal box to put in chips and put that on the hotplate. You will have a cold smoker in no time. We use to do this with a wooden box and you could keep a nice temp in the box usually around 200 or less.

[JiveTurkey]

Wow you all are amazing! Thanks for the replies and ideas. A cold smoker could be a good option. Than would be nice for smoking bell peppers and making chipotle peppers. And of course salmon. Hmmm now you all got my brain going crazy now. My main concern was having stray coals but I never thought about the wood drying out over time. I'd sure hate to put all the work in to have the staves get gaps and let all the smoke out. Or just use the barrel to cover a UDS as someone else suggested.

Too many ideas not enough barrels!

[JiveTurkey]

Originally Posted by KnucklHed BBQ

Alright, well that got me thinkerin' and I decided to build one real quick. Didn't take long, you can see it's still kinda rough but it looks like it should work! =)




Waddaya think?? Purdy nifty huh?

Good idea I just wonder how I would cut through the metal bands and keep the staves tight. Thanks for the sketch though. Tony Romas should sell their wax for smoking at Home Depot! Ha.

[Smokin Turkey]

Sometime ago, I was contacted by someone who wanted me to roll a stainless liner to be used inside their wine barrel smoker. Something he told me was he used it with great results for about a year until the wood began to dry out and it leaked too much to be used anymore. He never did get me to make the stainless liner (cost im sure) so no idea what we ended up using it for. I'm usually all for a project that someone tells me either cant be done or wont work well but in this case, Id worry that something very nice would get ruined in the process.

[Smokin Turkey]

If it were mine, I'd split it like a clamshell, line the inside with stainless, build a really sweet large grill / chicken cooker. You would have to think about how to keep the tension on the individual pieces but something like a turnbuckle on the inside and some carefully made pieces could do the trick.

Think wine theme griller..

[Smokin Turkey]

what does it weigh?

[Rollin]

Wood staves in wine barrels shrink when dry and eventually
get big gaps losing all the heat and smoke. In the video the
smoke is already coming out thru the staves. You'd have to
keep it watered down regularly. Even then with the heat and
smoke I think you'd be fighting an uphill battle. I like the look tho.

[JiveTurkey]

No idea what it weighs but it's heavy! It's called a "puncheon" in wine speak as it's a lot bigger than a normal barrel.

[Smokin Turkey]

what did it cost you? what winery did it come from? I think its a piece of art just as it is and I'd be working on making a rack to display it.

[BMORSE1981]

Hold on everyone, you need to turn this thing into a smoker. If done right you can turn this into one of the best lookin' smokers your buddy's have ever seen. Pm me and i'll help you more. You don't need to do only cold smoke or electric you can use it just like a usd you just have to soak it every few times you use it. Like i said drop me a line and i'l point you in the right direction.