Anybody like ribs?

[joshcarlegis55]

Its refractory, I put it in there to do something different.. basically its a dense aggregate material with specialized cements that you add water to and mix like concrete but it will stand up to extremely high temps. They use it in foundries, steel mills, power plants etc. Anything where you have a shell the needs to be protected from extremely harsh emvironments. I am even thinking about shooting a insulating gunnite material in the cooking area that would allow me to hold in the heat better.

[joshcarlegis55]

Well folks this is going to be about the second to last group of pics for you. As you will see I am almost done with making this thing cookable. I put the top plate on my firebox today and have built the main grate. All thats left is finishing the welding and putting a grate in the cap which I dont think Ill do for a while. My folks are coming in a couple weekends and this needs to be smoking! I pulled a first today also... I have only been welding aboue a year and have never done it but I have accomplished the ultimate woops... I laid my left forearm right on top of a fresh weld. Not just a small tack but about an inch and a half long bead that was probly 30 seconds or a minute old.... betcha I wont do that again.

I had a bit of a warp-age in my door... dont know if that was the metal before I even made it or if it buckled from welding it in... little contraption with a utility winch to straighten it worked ok... still had a gap on the end but it helped make putting the plate on top easier since I have all sorts of ribd welded on it to help it from distorting from the heat of the fire.


Theres my gap I have to fill... not too big of a deal.


ACTION SHOT!!!


Main Grate... if you look hard you will see I used old fence T-posts as rails... talk about budget build, ha ha.

[joshcarlegis55]

PRETTY MUCH DONE!!!!!!!!!
All I need to do is get my temp gauge in here and put a damper on top of the smoke stack. This is gonna be my last pics except for maybe a couple when I cook on it the first time. If anyone has questions or anything you guys have my email or can get in touch with me through here. I will post the finished product when its on the trailer and completely done. Thanks for everyone who has taken interest in my post.

Josh

[purplewg]

R U going to put tuning plates in the cook chamber? Nice job on the back yard build too.

[Ranch Land Toys (RLT)]

Nice job! Now it’s time to show an action shot of it smoking!

[TurboIntegra42r]

that thing is kick ass. Are you going to add legs to it and move it closer to the house lol. i could see the folks coming over. WTF is he walking clear out there with the food for? haha.

[joshcarlegis55]

I dont think I am going to put tuning plates just for the simple fact that the posts telling how to do them are really long and I have ADD and cant read all of them. I will be cooking this weekend so if it doesnt turn out good I might look in to something like that. And the way I see it Integra... If they want food they can walk their happy a$$e$ out there and get it It will eventually be on a trailer.

Thanks for the comments by the way... Like purple said, aside from a generator welder and borrowing some torches from work this was all done with tools at your house including a light duty 110V welder so dont get intimidated if thats all you have.

[tom37]

Nice work Josh!!!!

It really looks great man.


Hey, If you have hot spots and you aren't hauling it down the road, just have a couple pieces of plate that you can drop in about 6" below the cook grate. I am sure there is a science to it but you can fake it. Just play with it, mine are for the most part close to the fire but its just a deal where you have to play with it. Depending on the weather depends how I set mine.


Even with out any plates sometimes its a pretty good deal to have one end nice and hot and the other end much cooler.


Just for the he!! of it man, take a whole chub bologna, throw a little rub on it and smoke it about 4 hours. I have had people say ( I don't know what that is but I really like it)

Again Nice Work!!!!

[purplewg]

Josh, like tom37 said, it is pretty easy to put some plates in under the cook grate right level with the top of the firebox input. My first one I just put a deflector right at the firebox entry to keep from toasting the meat on that end.

The more you use it, the more you will learn and modify it. Just remember for you first cook to watch the firebox end meat real close. It will cook much faster than the rest. You can rotate the meat too if it is a big cook.

[TurboIntegra42r]

I And the way I see it Integra... If they want food they can walk their happy a$$e$ out there and get it

.

hahahah thats what i would say too. That looks good though man. Post some pics up when you got some nice chicken or briskit on there.