Made me a smokin' wood box today.

[Dave Bulla]

Well, I had a reasonably slow night at work tonight so I went through the scrap bins and came up with a piece of 8" C channel and some 1/4x2" and 1/4x1.5" flat stock.  A little cutting and welding and I had this....

   

The four pieces of the lid are NOT welded together and can be removed, added or positioned as desired.  Here it is with the 1.5" wide piece removed and the 2" pieces evenly spaced.  I should have a lot of options as far as ventilation of the smoke goes.

   

And with all the pieces removed.

   

On the back sides of the lid pieces I welded some 1/4" key stock as retainers to keep things from sliding around.  Here is the back side showing how.  They are only tacked on at the ends as I didn't want the weld to change the fit.

   

And lastly, an end view where I welded 1/4x2" sides on to close the ends of the C channel.  And no, I'm obviously not a professional welder....

   


The whole thing is fairly heavy at close to 10 pounds but I should be able to leave it in the smoker or out in the weather for a lot of years before I need to make a new one.  Hopefully this will help with my hickory smoking issues.

[Dave Bulla]

By the way, the whole reason for making this box is because I sometimes have issues with a bitter taste when using hickory to smoke with.  I've been smoking stuff for years and understand that there are all sorts of thoughts on what wood to use.  Green wood or dry wood, soak first or don't, take the bark off or don't worry about it.  I've tried it all at one time or another but my one constant has always been that I put the wood directly on the coals.  So... since that ain't working to my satisfaction very consistently, I figured to try the indirect method and put the wood in a box on top of the coals.  If nothing else, it should cut down on the amount of hickory I use eh?

By the way, I've noticed that when I smoke something like brisket and use mesquite (is there any other way to do a brisket???  NOT!) that the smoke smells kinda harsh but the flavor imparted to the meat is very good and there is zero bitternes.  When smoking with hickory, apple, peach, pear etc the smoke smells very sweet but it's real easy to get an overpoweringly bitter taste.  Pretty odd really.

Anyway, I'm hoping this little gizmo will help out with that part of my smoking.

So, whaddaya think?  Will it help?

[Al Dente]

Hey Dave, the only thing that comes to mind is that you are adding wood too long into the process.  No smoke from wood for more than 3 hours, and you should not have any bitterness.  I use primarily hickory, and have never had a bitter piece of meat.  Let the lump charcoal continue to provide the heat after 3 hours.  I use the entire piece of wood as well, even the attached bark.  I won't add just bark, but if it's on the log, it goes in.  I use only dry wood, no green wood, and I do not soak it.  
I use the Minion Method.  I prep a bed of lump, then a layer of wood, then a layer of lump, then a layer of wood, then I dump my coals from the chimney starter on top, and add a few chunks of wood.  This will get my smoker to 270-300 in about 15 minutes, then I add my meat and some more wood.
I hope this helps, but the box looks awesome by the way.  Looks like a row of nickels where the welds are.

[Dave Bulla]

Al Dente,

I sometimes get the bitter taste even when just doing something like chicken parts that only take about 45 minutes to an hour.  Never anything I can pin down for a definite reason though.

So your fire is burning from the top down instead of the bottom up?

Never tried it that way but it makes sense if you want a moderate to low temp for a long time.

[frank bullitt]

Govt. job, Dave? I like Maple and do use Butternut Hickory, too!

Nothing beats a  hardwood fire for cooking!

To h.... with Kingsford!  

[Don Stokes]

Dave, could the bitterness be coming from drippage off the top?

I cleaned out my smoker grill tonight for grilling some doe tenderloin, after having smoked a wild turkey breast for Thanksgiving. For the turkey I used a bundle of hickory sapling pieces about an inch in diameter that I cut the same day from the woods behind the house. I wrapped the sticks in HD aluminum foil without venting, put the packet on the coals, and it took over an hour before the smoke started coming out well. The turkey breast was fine! Total time about 2 1/2 hours at around 225-250 degrees, near as I could tell. When I checked out the packet, the sticks were pure charcoal about half the original diameter.

BTW, the tenderloin tonight was fine, too, grilled whole for about 4 minutes on each side to a temp of 125 inside, seasoned with S & P and garlic. Maybe the best I ever had!

[Al Dente]

Two questions Dave.

1- What is the smoker made from from?  If it is from an old oil drum or from some other type of holding container, the previous contents could be imparting that bitterness.  Even if they are scrubbed 'til your hands bleed, those chemicals have leeched into the metal and will never come out.  Only barrels or containers that housed veg oil, propane, or nothing are the only suitable choice.  Or if you purchased one from a manufacturer.

2- What are you starting your fire with?  Never use a fire starting fluid like gasoline or a commercial one like lighter fluid.  That will definitely impart an "off" flavor.  I use a chimney starter with lump, and in the fire chamber are 2 sheets of newspaper sprayed with some PAM.  Light 'er up and she's good to get all the coals glowing in about 15 minutes.

[Dave Bulla]

Well, I do usually use lighter fluid but I let the coals burn down properly before putting on the meat.  I've wondered about the lighter fluid but it's just so much faster than without that I keep using it.  

My smoker is an Oklahoma Joe so it's not made from a barrel.  I just hate using them danged chimney things.  They hold about enough charcoal for a 12" round grill and nowhere close to what I need in my big smoker.  Guess I'll have to try lighting a small chimney full, dump it in the grill and put more over the top then sit around and wait...  Of course there's always the leaf blower.....

By the way, still wondering about your fire burning from the top down or bottom up.

[Al Dente]

10-4 Dave with the fire burning down, instead of up.  Of course, this is only when it is started, on a cook longer than 3 hours, you are now burning from the bottom up.  The coals that have burned down, are glowing and you now add new lump on top of these, of course not all over or you'll smother the thing and it will smoulder and your temp will drop drastically.

Your smoker is fine, so you have no residual chemical nasties. I would just clean the inside to get rid of whatever is left from the lighter fluid.

I would avoid the lighter fluid and try a chimney starter.  There is one on the market that is from Steve Raichlin, it holds a lot of coals.  You do not have to start with lump, you can use briquettes, just make sure that they are not a quick fire start type, just charcoal.  You get more in the chimney that limp as they are uniform in size.

[frank bullitt]

When I was still cooking with charcoal, I was using the white cube starters! They burn real hot and start fast!

You can also make your own starters from wax and paper, like we did in Scouts, that work great also. Don't use lighter fluid!

Dave, you built a smoker box, just build a Bigger chimney starter!

[Dave Bulla]

"Dave, you built a smoker box, just build a Bigger chimney starter! "

Hmmmmmmmmmm.... might be onto somethin' there....

[Al Dente]

And a light bulb went on...

[Todd Robbins]

I used to have the same problem with hickory.  Turns out it was creasote from trying to keep the smoke in.  Never had a problem with oak or pecan, just hickory.  Now I open the vent up a lot more and just use more wood.  Took me a while to figure out how to keep the temperature adjusted with the vent open more, but it makes a lot of difference in the final product.  I light my coals with a weed burner torch from Harbor Freight.  Very fast and no off flavors! :-)

[Mike Most]

Neat product, hope to see it in action here curious how it will work....

Mike

[Dave Bulla]

I used it the Wednesday before Christmas.  Smoked two brisket with mesquite (didn't use the box for them) and when I took the brisket off in the morning I built the fire back up and did 3 slabs of pork ribs.

A couple of things I learned...

I need to make a handle for the box.  Something rigid that goes over the top like a bucket handle but beefier so I can pick it out of the fire box when I need to add more charcoal or wood.

I'm going to weld a washer, standing on edge to the top of each piece of lid.  This is also to move them off and back onto the box when in the fire.  I've got a "pig tail" style turner and it would be a simple matter to pick the lids off and put them back with it if they had an eye on top.

Even in the box, the wood can catch on fire if the lid is not on.

The smoke flavor WAS better using the box!

[Al Dente]

Way to go Dave, with the little tweaks you have planned, the box's evolution will continue.  You really can't go wrong with brisket and ribs either, they're just made to take the low and slow smoke