How did you cut the tank, did you fill it up with water? I just got me a tank and want cut it but I don’t want blow up!!!! How did you do it???? Thanks
I filled with a half a large bottle of Dawn dish soap and water (was super sudsy!), then emptied, then filled again with the other half the soap and cut with the water still in it, doing my best to avoid water from getting into my grinder. Read a lot on this subject before cutting it and no boom. 🙂 The propane smell was really evident before I started the rinse process could not smell it after 2 soapy rinse cycles, plus with the tank being filled, there's no oxygen and propane residue to ignite inside the tank. Make sure you cut slow and move from section to section (not one long cut across long cut lines). This helps to reduce door swelling from heat warp.
I only raised the firebox up enough that the throat of the Firebox to cook chamber would equal the dimensions Feldon's called for (for the FB to CC opening) as well as making sure the other end of my reverse flow plate had at least the same sq. in. or more. First step was to cut the moon in the firebox face (shown at 3:15) and then face the opening towards the tank. I used a string and a sharpie to mark the steel so the half circle was perfect. After the cut, I determined the height by raising the box so the bottom of the moon cut was a safe height above the bottom of the round tank, then I marked the top of the firebox height on the tank and made my cut on the tank. (The angle from the firebox to the tank pic that I used is at a bad angle, so don't be fooled, the bottom of the moon is above the bottom of the round bottom of the tank. If you look closely at 3:32, you will see where I used the cut moon scrap to ensure I left proper spacing for the top plate on the firebox. The RF plate mates to the top edge of the firebox and runs across the lower body of the smoker. Make sure the throat on the opposite end of the firebox is the same size or larger. Good luck, hope this helps!
Great build James and thanks for making it a slide show, it was way more useful than watching someone use a grinder for 22 minutes straight. LOL What temps can you get with a good fire and how much, if any, does the temp vary from end to end? Again, thanks
I have been very lucky with this build. Feldon's calculator made this an easy pit to regulate. I can run it as low as 200 and all the way up to 350 without losing control over the heat, using the circular damper I have on the door. When I was asked to cook for my daughter's wedding, I decided to go for precise heat control and bought a BBQGuru system. I now set the temp and have no issues keeping temp as long as I keep feeding it every 2 hours with a few splits of wood. I am now getting married in a few weeks and will be cooking BBQ for my own wedding, about 125 guests! I usually start the cook of my Boston butts around 1AM, cook them to 165, then foil them up and let them cook to 205, then toss them into a cooler for a couple hours to steam. It's usually a 10 hour cook, then into the coolers. They always come out perfect! End to end, there's about 20 degree difference.I have also noticed the grate temp is not the same as the temp on the dial gauge in the middle of the door! There's about a 15 degree variation there as well. I use this heat difference to my advantage. I usually cook most everything to the right side, except chicken. Cooking chicken a little faster avoids the rubber skin. :o) Thanks for your kind words Allan!
Bought it on Facebook marketplace. Waited until the time was right. Found someone desperate to sell quick and he delivered because he was selling his property. Worked out perfectly for me. Good luck, brother!!
Thank you! It was a 5-week project that I worked on until it was completed (a couple nights during each week and 4 of the 5 weekends). I bought the tank for $50 delivered from one of the facebook yard sale sites and it sat in my yard for almost a year while I researched the builds and saved up to do it. I bought a used trailer for $275, could have saved more by waiting for a better deal, but I wanted to get this project on the road seeing as I was asked to cook for my daughters wedding. I used a lot of materials from scrappers to save money (example, I cut up used bed frames for angle iron, only had to flap disc the powder coating off - this added time to the build, but I saved a lot of $, over new raw steel costs). The smokestack is a used stack from a semi truck for $30. I also bought items like pre-made hinges, handle assemblies, the damper, smokestack cover plate and a few other items on ebay to save time and keep a nice clean look. If I would have used all new materials, I would have been easily in the $2.5k range for the build. I do not believe I went over $1,250 in the whole project (including paying a guy to stick weld the firebox and buy new 1/4" plate steel for the firebox and new 3/16" steel reverse flow plate. I wanted the firebox welds to look perfect). My price also included all the consumables like cut wheels, sawzall blades, torch gas and other items used to complete the build. This thing cooks amazing and I run it probably 3 times a month on weekends, sometimes more when I can. Thanksgiving this year was incredible. I cooked my friends birds too. I had about 60lbs of turkey on it, plus a ham and some appetizers. Good luck with your build, hit me up for ideas if you want help. Make sure you use Feldon's calculator to get your specs correct. It makes a huge difference in your build success.
Great looking build. I have a 120 gal tank that I am going to be using for my build. I have been doing a lot of research for the design and specs. I have played with some numbers on feldons pit calculator. I was wondering the dimensions of the cook chamber door on your smoker? Also how did you figure out how high to mount the reverse flow plate. I am a member of a couple forums but I haven't really had a chance to start a thread about building the smoker. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Thanks for the note. My fire box is 22" cubed. it's 103% of the tank measurements, they say go just over and that's exactly what I did with it. Firebox management on it is very easy. I had the 1/4 plate stamp cut at the local steel supplier, so I had no major cutting on the firebox minus the door opening and cook chamber opening, just weld the box and go. This made welding the edge and corner seams very easy. I did my RF plate measurement based on the door opening. Sounds funny to say, but here's the logic. I wanted a cook chamber door that was exactly 1/2 of the height of the tank, so I marked the opening, cut the door and welded on the hinges. I knew I wanted my cook grate to be as close the bottom lip of the door as possible. The rule of thumb is 4 to 5 inches below the cook grate is the RF plate, so I built my racks, then stuck the tape measure through the expanded metal and made marks exactly 5" from the grate onto the sides of the tank. I then measured the with across the tank and knew my width and length of the plate. I had them make it in 2 pieces (minus the width of the grease trough angle iron). One thing to note about Feldon's calculator that I never took into consideration and they don't mention on the site. The intake opening measurement is intended for a full opening measurement. Not a pinwheel opening with the 2x 1/4 circle slots cut in it. A 4" pinwheel opening intake is only about 45% of the actual circular size. A lot of people make mistakes with circular opening inlets. The one I have is a large single inlet, of which I hardly ever use anymore now that I have a BBQ Guru and fan tubes cut into the firebox. One of these days, I am going to finish my BBQ Guru video and post it. lol If I had to share the biggest things about my build, it would be these: Cut the door most of the way across the top, then weld on the hinges before cutting the last pieces, so the door keeps the alignment. Also, take your time cutting the door. Cut some, then move to a different section of the door, then move again, this keeps the door from warping badly. Another tip is the fact that I flipped my tank over and used one of the openings for the drain. This also keeps the top of the cooker with a smooth look instead of the knots from the valve and gauge openings. (I guess this is more of a pet peeve than a tip) Hinges are a little tricky, so I just bought laser cut ones for the fire box. The door ones are heavy duty greasable trailer strap style hinges. I like the heavy look better, but you can save money by making your own with rod and hollow tube/box steel. Lastly, don't go cheap on the steel, buy the 1/4" plate, at the very least for the fire box, it holds the heat better. If you need more suggestions and tips, feel free to look me up on Facebook. We have a group called "BBQ and Smoking Rubs and Recipes". We openly share cooks, recipes and build info all the time there. It's at about 40K members now, we closed it to a secret group for now while we do some clean up work. There were a few people going in there and posting virus infected web links into the group, so we closed it up temporarily. We should be opening it up within the month, so membership will open up again soon. If you connect with me on Facebook, I can add you manually so you can get in on the action now. There are also builder groups on FB as well. Have a great day!
Just curious why the smoke stack is on the same side as the fire box? Aaron franklin's videos suggest having the stack on the opposite side to have the smoke travel all the way through the cooking area to escape out the stack.
That's because this is a reverse flow smoker. On a traditional smoker, like Franklin uses, it dumps all the heat right next the fire box, making one side hotter than the other. Some folks make deflector plates to help with this issue, however the left to right side of the cooker will have a sizable difference in cooking temps. My smoker has a plate that runs across the bottom from the firebox all the way to the other side and my temp difference is only about 15 degrees. This thick plate helps to keep the temperature stable across the cooker when it is running, so the meats are closer in temps while cooking. (saves from having to move meats around during the cook) After traveling underneath the RF plate, the heat wraps around and up the left side of the cooker and then travels across the meat before finding its way out the stack. The dripping juices drop onto the RF plate and also steam up to the meats, helping to add additional flavor to the meats. This was all planned and implemented by design. I did a lot of homework before building this cooker and it simply works wonderfully. Hope this helps and thanks for your question.
Chris Commander Thanks! It’s supposed to be the same size opening as the firebox to cooker opening size on the poolside end. Check Feldon’s calculator, just google it. Gives you all the specs to make a great smoker!
Though I only built this one for myself, I have had several people offer me cash to build a rig for them (some offered to buy this one as well) after they see how easy it is to run and how great the food turns out. I enjoyed it so much, I have considered building smokers as a hobby for cash, what are you looking for? Trailer? Standard or reverse flow? Horizontal or vertical? Look me up on Facebook and shoot me a PM.
Man that thing is bad ass
JOFIE H. Thanks! She cooks like a well trained beast as well!
That's a beautiful beast man!
Thanks man, it cooks way better than my ex wife ever did. 😂😂
Great job. Congratulations.
Thank you!
🔥🔥🔥
How did you cut the tank, did you fill it up with water? I just got me a tank and want cut it but I don’t want blow up!!!! How did you do it???? Thanks
I filled with a half a large bottle of Dawn dish soap and water (was super sudsy!), then emptied, then filled again with the other half the soap and cut with the water still in it, doing my best to avoid water from getting into my grinder. Read a lot on this subject before cutting it and no boom. 🙂 The propane smell was really evident before I started the rinse process could not smell it after 2 soapy rinse cycles, plus with the tank being filled, there's no oxygen and propane residue to ignite inside the tank. Make sure you cut slow and move from section to section (not one long cut across long cut lines). This helps to reduce door swelling from heat warp.
@@MEGA_SOKO thanks man!!! 💯
@@MEGA_SOKO 💯 thanks man!!!!!!!!
How did you measure the fire box to the smoker? I'm getting ready to build one not sure on placement
I only raised the firebox up enough that the throat of the Firebox to cook chamber would equal the dimensions Feldon's called for (for the FB to CC opening) as well as making sure the other end of my reverse flow plate had at least the same sq. in. or more. First step was to cut the moon in the firebox face (shown at 3:15) and then face the opening towards the tank. I used a string and a sharpie to mark the steel so the half circle was perfect. After the cut, I determined the height by raising the box so the bottom of the moon cut was a safe height above the bottom of the round tank, then I marked the top of the firebox height on the tank and made my cut on the tank. (The angle from the firebox to the tank pic that I used is at a bad angle, so don't be fooled, the bottom of the moon is above the bottom of the round bottom of the tank. If you look closely at 3:32, you will see where I used the cut moon scrap to ensure I left proper spacing for the top plate on the firebox. The RF plate mates to the top edge of the firebox and runs across the lower body of the smoker. Make sure the throat on the opposite end of the firebox is the same size or larger. Good luck, hope this helps!
💪🏽🔥🥩🍖🐷🐔
Great build James and thanks for making it a slide show, it was way more useful than watching someone use a grinder for 22 minutes straight. LOL
What temps can you get with a good fire and how much, if any, does the temp vary from end to end?
Again, thanks
I have been very lucky with this build. Feldon's calculator made this an easy pit to regulate. I can run it as low as 200 and all the way up to 350 without losing control over the heat, using the circular damper I have on the door. When I was asked to cook for my daughter's wedding, I decided to go for precise heat control and bought a BBQGuru system. I now set the temp and have no issues keeping temp as long as I keep feeding it every 2 hours with a few splits of wood.
I am now getting married in a few weeks and will be cooking BBQ for my own wedding, about 125 guests! I usually start the cook of my Boston butts around 1AM, cook them to 165, then foil them up and let them cook to 205, then toss them into a cooler for a couple hours to steam. It's usually a 10 hour cook, then into the coolers. They always come out perfect!
End to end, there's about 20 degree difference.I have also noticed the grate temp is not the same as the temp on the dial gauge in the middle of the door! There's about a 15 degree variation there as well. I use this heat difference to my advantage. I usually cook most everything to the right side, except chicken. Cooking chicken a little faster avoids the rubber skin. :o)
Thanks for your kind words Allan!
Great build! Where do you find that size propane tank? I’m looking to build one and that looks to be the perfect size.
Bought it on Facebook marketplace. Waited until the time was right. Found someone desperate to sell quick and he delivered because he was selling his property. Worked out perfectly for me. Good luck, brother!!
Nice I’ll have to start keeping my eye out for one. How thick is the 120gal tank
@@billyjohnson8794 Mine was 1/4" thick
Great video. If you don't mind me asking, how much did all the materials cost? And overwall time spent?
Thank you! It was a 5-week project that I worked on until it was completed (a couple nights during each week and 4 of the 5 weekends). I bought the tank for $50 delivered from one of the facebook yard sale sites and it sat in my yard for almost a year while I researched the builds and saved up to do it. I bought a used trailer for $275, could have saved more by waiting for a better deal, but I wanted to get this project on the road seeing as I was asked to cook for my daughters wedding. I used a lot of materials from scrappers to save money (example, I cut up used bed frames for angle iron, only had to flap disc the powder coating off - this added time to the build, but I saved a lot of $, over new raw steel costs). The smokestack is a used stack from a semi truck for $30. I also bought items like pre-made hinges, handle assemblies, the damper, smokestack cover plate and a few other items on ebay to save time and keep a nice clean look. If I would have used all new materials, I would have been easily in the $2.5k range for the build. I do not believe I went over $1,250 in the whole project (including paying a guy to stick weld the firebox and buy new 1/4" plate steel for the firebox and new 3/16" steel reverse flow plate. I wanted the firebox welds to look perfect). My price also included all the consumables like cut wheels, sawzall blades, torch gas and other items used to complete the build. This thing cooks amazing and I run it probably 3 times a month on weekends, sometimes more when I can. Thanksgiving this year was incredible. I cooked my friends birds too. I had about 60lbs of turkey on it, plus a ham and some appetizers. Good luck with your build, hit me up for ideas if you want help. Make sure you use Feldon's calculator to get your specs correct. It makes a huge difference in your build success.
Nice build buddy!!
Great looking build. I have a 120 gal tank that I am going to be using for my build. I have been doing a lot of research for the design and specs. I have played with some numbers on feldons pit calculator. I was wondering the dimensions of the cook chamber door on your smoker? Also how did you figure out how high to mount the reverse flow plate. I am a member of a couple forums but I haven't really had a chance to start a thread about building the smoker. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Thanks for the note. My fire box is 22" cubed. it's 103% of the tank measurements, they say go just over and that's exactly what I did with it. Firebox management on it is very easy. I had the 1/4 plate stamp cut at the local steel supplier, so I had no major cutting on the firebox minus the door opening and cook chamber opening, just weld the box and go. This made welding the edge and corner seams very easy. I did my RF plate measurement based on the door opening. Sounds funny to say, but here's the logic. I wanted a cook chamber door that was exactly 1/2 of the height of the tank, so I marked the opening, cut the door and welded on the hinges. I knew I wanted my cook grate to be as close the bottom lip of the door as possible. The rule of thumb is 4 to 5 inches below the cook grate is the RF plate, so I built my racks, then stuck the tape measure through the expanded metal and made marks exactly 5" from the grate onto the sides of the tank. I then measured the with across the tank and knew my width and length of the plate. I had them make it in 2 pieces (minus the width of the grease trough angle iron).
One thing to note about Feldon's calculator that I never took into consideration and they don't mention on the site. The intake opening measurement is intended for a full opening measurement. Not a pinwheel opening with the 2x 1/4 circle slots cut in it. A 4" pinwheel opening intake is only about 45% of the actual circular size. A lot of people make mistakes with circular opening inlets. The one I have is a large single inlet, of which I hardly ever use anymore now that I have a BBQ Guru and fan tubes cut into the firebox. One of these days, I am going to finish my BBQ Guru video and post it. lol
If I had to share the biggest things about my build, it would be these: Cut the door most of the way across the top, then weld on the hinges before cutting the last pieces, so the door keeps the alignment. Also, take your time cutting the door. Cut some, then move to a different section of the door, then move again, this keeps the door from warping badly. Another tip is the fact that I flipped my tank over and used one of the openings for the drain. This also keeps the top of the cooker with a smooth look instead of the knots from the valve and gauge openings. (I guess this is more of a pet peeve than a tip) Hinges are a little tricky, so I just bought laser cut ones for the fire box. The door ones are heavy duty greasable trailer strap style hinges. I like the heavy look better, but you can save money by making your own with rod and hollow tube/box steel. Lastly, don't go cheap on the steel, buy the 1/4" plate, at the very least for the fire box, it holds the heat better.
If you need more suggestions and tips, feel free to look me up on Facebook. We have a group called "BBQ and Smoking Rubs and Recipes". We openly share cooks, recipes and build info all the time there. It's at about 40K members now, we closed it to a secret group for now while we do some clean up work. There were a few people going in there and posting virus infected web links into the group, so we closed it up temporarily. We should be opening it up within the month, so membership will open up again soon. If you connect with me on Facebook, I can add you manually so you can get in on the action now. There are also builder groups on FB as well.
Have a great day!
Thanks for all the info.
Just curious why the smoke stack is on the same side as the fire box? Aaron franklin's videos suggest having the stack on the opposite side to have the smoke travel all the way through the cooking area to escape out the stack.
That's because this is a reverse flow smoker. On a traditional smoker, like Franklin uses, it dumps all the heat right next the fire box, making one side hotter than the other. Some folks make deflector plates to help with this issue, however the left to right side of the cooker will have a sizable difference in cooking temps. My smoker has a plate that runs across the bottom from the firebox all the way to the other side and my temp difference is only about 15 degrees. This thick plate helps to keep the temperature stable across the cooker when it is running, so the meats are closer in temps while cooking. (saves from having to move meats around during the cook) After traveling underneath the RF plate, the heat wraps around and up the left side of the cooker and then travels across the meat before finding its way out the stack. The dripping juices drop onto the RF plate and also steam up to the meats, helping to add additional flavor to the meats. This was all planned and implemented by design. I did a lot of homework before building this cooker and it simply works wonderfully. Hope this helps and thanks for your question.
Thanks for the answer. That's a great setup! Thanks!
Great looking smoker! How much of a gap did you leave between the end of the RF plate and the smoker edge?
Chris Commander Thanks! It’s supposed to be the same size opening as the firebox to cooker opening size on the poolside end. Check Feldon’s calculator, just google it. Gives you all the specs to make a great smoker!
Had to watch this one on mute. Nice rig though. You did a great job.
Sorry you didn't enjoy the stock youtube tunes (so I don't get busted for using copyrighted music). lol I do appreciate the kind words on the build.
James Sokolovic it's all good. i was interested in the rig not the music. do you build to sell or just this one for self?
Though I only built this one for myself, I have had several people offer me cash to build a rig for them (some offered to buy this one as well) after they see how easy it is to run and how great the food turns out. I enjoyed it so much, I have considered building smokers as a hobby for cash, what are you looking for? Trailer? Standard or reverse flow? Horizontal or vertical? Look me up on Facebook and shoot me a PM.
Nice video. Nice pit, but who did the MUSIC? It's nice!
Lawrence Scott thank you. The audio is the free content (TH-cam audio files) from the video editor that you can download and save, royalty-free. :-)
nice work, could you please give me the base dimensions of your trailer for this somoker? , thank you
Carlos J. M. Thank you. It’s a standard 4 x6 trailer. Not very big.
Are you sure that's a 120 gallon tank? It looks like a 250 gallon
There was a metal tag on it, capacity was stamped as 120G. 👍🏼
"Credits, Design & Build, Myself"
LOL modesty is for lesser men :)