First cook on my restored stick burner

[hammb]

Some may remember seeing this thread awhile back http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=221320

Well I finally got the smoker cleaned up and fired it up for the first time today. I used an angle grinder to remove the rust. Put on a fresh coat of high temp BBQ black paint. I got new grates made by a friend. Installed a couple of new handles and Tel-Tru thermometers. Really wasn't that much work and it looks SO much nicer...you wouldn't even know it was the same smoker!

So today I grabbed a couple pictures of it. I gave the inside a good coating of PAM and fired it up for the first time! Did a set of beef ribs and a rack of St. Louis cut spares. I ended up getting a later start on the meat than I wanted so I had to foil the beef ribs to speed them along, which cost me some of my bark, but all told a pretty successful cook. The spares were probably the best I've ever made...perfect doneness.

Coming from a WSM 18.5" this bad boy is WAY more maintenance, but that's the joy of burning just wood. I had a blast tending the fire all afternoon. I have to honestly say the smell hit me when the smoker was still coming up to temp. The delicious smell of pure apple wood burning with no charcoal, not choking the wood down to a smolder, etc. A completely different smell, and I think it's noticeable in the end product!

I am saddened (although not in the least surprised) that the vertical cook chamber stays 100-150* cooler than the horizontal chamber. Not the end of the world but will make it tough to use both at the same time.

Anyway, on to the pics:

 

[SmittyJonz]

Looks Good. The vertical is a warmer for finished meats or for smoking raw sausage or such while cooking. You can cook in it by building a charcoal basket for the bottom but wouldn't work while cooking in main chamber on firebox........

Add an upper grate to main chamber ( just don't load it so full as to restrict airflow) - if you don't weld to add grate rails, build one with legs that sits on the main grate.

 

[hammb]

Looks Good. The vertical is a warmer for finished meats or for smoking raw sausage or such while cooking. You can cook in it by building a charcoal basket for the bottom but wouldn't work while cooking in main chamber on firebox........

Add an upper grate to main chamber ( just don't load it so full as to restrict airflow) - if you don't weld to add grate rails, build one with legs that sits on the main grate.

I hadn't thought about adding a 2nd level grate to the main chamber...that might be doable. The diameter of the steel is only 15" so it's not a huge cooker, but there would probably be room to add a 2nd level for something like briskets or ribs.

The vertical chamber does have an access door at the bottom and I was thinking about adding a Fire basket of some sort for that.

 

[rocky2298]

That's a great heavy duty looking pit and you did a great rehab on it. Very jealous, I'd love a well built offset like that to play on with wood. Some day

 

[blazinfire]

Looks Good. The vertical is a warmer for finished meats or for smoking raw sausage or such while cooking. You can cook in it by building a charcoal basket for the bottom but wouldn't work while cooking in main chamber on firebox........

Add an upper grate to main chamber ( just don't load it so full as to restrict airflow) - if you don't weld to add grate rails, build one with legs that sits on the main grate.

I agree with smitty :thumb: I bet it would be awesome to have a warmer though!

 

[viking72]

Welcome to the Stickside!

Later,
Doug

 

[geoff7877]

Great looking cooker! That thing is a tank.

 

[KevinJ]

Great job on the rehab, Bones look good too. :thumb:

 

[hammb]

That's a great heavy duty looking pit and you did a great rehab on it. Very jealous, I'd love a well built offset like that to play on with wood. Some day

Yeah man this was just something I looked for on Craigslist for about 6 months before this one finally came up. It had a lot of rust and was a real mess when I brought it home, but it's all 1/4" steel and the bones of it were in pretty good shape...I figured for $250 it'd be a fun project, and I really wanted to get into burning straight wood for some cooks.

I was actually surprised both how little time I spent on the rehab, and how little money. The therms were the most expensive thing, and the grates were made/given by a family friend, so that helped, but I don't think I put more than $100-150 total into the stuff I had to buy...and that includes a cheap $30 angle grinder to get rid of the rust.

All told I probably had 6-7 hours in it as well. That's a fair amount of time, but to get a pit like this for basically $400 that amount of time is well within reason.

Plus it gets me some exercise splitting wood!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Very nice work Great looking ribs

 

[hammb]

Any ideas for building a firebasket for the base of the vertical cabinet? It's only a 15" diameter round, and the door to get into the base of it is probably only 8-12" wide. I'm guessing I'd want something with legs to bring the base of the fire up off the bottom for airflow?

Just thinking that's something I'd like to add there for the future.

I cannot wait to fire this bad boy up again!

 

[SmittyJonz]

Expanded metal wrapped around a charcoal grate and stainless steel bolts for legs unless your buddy can weld legs on.

Type" UDS Charcoal Basket" in Google Images

 

[cowgirl]

Great job on the pit! Food looks tasty too!

 

[DownHomeQue]

I'm surprised it runs that much cooler.. mine usually run between 50-75 degrees cooler.. but I have mine attached a lot lower to the horizontal chamber on the smoker than what yours is..

 

[BillN]

I like it nice job on the restore and the cook.

 

[THoey1963]

No worry with the different temps. Do your chicken at 350* in the main chamber and your ribs / brisket in the vertical side...

 

[mikemci]

Nice job on the rehab. My BIL has one that is configured the same. I cook on it occasionally and love the 100* difference. With no tuning plates, you have a great cooking range on it. Hot near the firebox and gradually lower as you get near the vertical. I use the vertical as a warming area and cook sausage in it (no popped casings).

 

[hammb]

Nice job on the rehab. My BIL has one that is configured the same. I cook on it occasionally and love the 100* difference. With no tuning plates, you have a great cooking range on it. Hot near the firebox and gradually lower as you get near the vertical. I use the vertical as a warming area and cook sausage in it (no popped casings).

Oh yeah, it definitely can be quite useful to have that temp difference sometimes!

I also think the vertical chamber will be awesome for doing some colder smoking sometime.

Still, I think I wanna get a fire basket for the vertical chamber so I can do some shoulders in there while doing briskets/ ribs in the main.

Either way, I'm very pleased with how this bad boy cooks, and the first cook on it turned out fantastic. Very impressed with myself (basically all attributed to reading on this board) that the BBQ came out so tasty for my first time cooking with pure wood fire.

 

[lankster35]

Looks like a LyfeTyme pit. I have the double door 20" with the upright but yours looks to be the 16". If you want to get the vertical hot just get some rectangular tuning plates (I have 6) and cut them 6 inches wide and whatever length will get you 4-5 inches below your grates. Push them together and your vertical will get as hot or hotter than your horizontal. Spread them about an 1/8 inch apart and you get about 50 degree difference at least on my pit it is. The first tuning plate next to the firebox is slanted on an angle to close off the fire from reaching the grate (if that makes sense). I love my pit and that one will last your a LyfeTime.......Great buy at $250.......

 

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

Nice restoration! Food looks tasty too.