How To: Beer Keg Smoker
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:11 am
Alright guys, since this is essentially the only forum where I post, I'm sharing one of my most recent creations with y'all just in case anyone is actually interested. As a preface, I love real barbeque and was having allot of trouble finding a relatively portable smoker that actually did a decent job (similar to the Big Drum Smoker, but a little more mobile). I wanted an over-the-coals design (the only way to replicate the open-pit taste) with good air flow control that was deep enough to keep the food in the smoke window, and out of the potential flame window. In searching for the correct materials it dawned on me that good old stainless beer kegs were perfect for the task - small, portable, correct layout... and stainless! I found some interesting design ideas surfing around, and combined all the elements I liked into this. Anyway, some friends have been bugging me to write up a little build tutorial... it really is a super simple project, so maybe the detail here is a little painful for some.
Also I'm horrible at taking 'how-to' pics along the way (I never remember in time and I hate the interruption) so I just laid out what you need to do and took a bunch of 'after' pics. I did this with the aid of a friend because I was gimpy with a broken collar bone at the time. All in all, this took us about 1.5 hours and we were up and cooking.
Materials:
-1 Keg (duh) - I got a decommissioned keg from Berkshire Brewing, but be careful if you decide to 5-finger-discount an empty one; allot of them have RFID chips in them now-adays. Probably best to just pay your deposit and keep one.
-1 good top grate - I found that the Webber "18-inch" bottom grill replacement works well - it's about 15" in diameter
-1 bottom grate to hold the coals - I cut one out of heavy stretched steel grating
-1x 10", 1x 12" 3/4"ID black iron pipe nipples
-1x 3/4" elbow
-3/4" ID pipe bracket + hardware
-1x 3/4” ball valve (the only expensive item)
-6x 1.5” 5/16" bolts, w/ nuts and lock washers - used to hold up the top grate
-1 bag of hardwood lump charcoal (please don't use that press-formed charcoal crap)
-A few chunks of hardwood of your choice (I've been using mesquite, hickory, or apple)
With a free keg I spent ~$45 on all this crap.
Tools:
Lists of tools are stupid and annoying... you will always need something not on the list, and don't need 10 of the things that are on the list. The main things you will want are a grinder w/ cutoff wheel (or plasma cutter), a drill, a marker, and a good beer.
Procedure:
1.Release the pressure from the keg by pressing the sankey tap!! I forgot to do this and my buddy got a nice face full of nasty beer ass (at least it was a nut-brown)...
2.Mark out exactly where you want the cut to separate the smoker top from the kettle base. I chose a spot just north of the second rib of the keg. The idea was to take advantage of the rib so that the top would nest into the bottom (in this case) or vise versa. On mine the top nests into the bottom because I thought the grate would sit in the lower lip, but it was just a hair too small... It works fine, but esthetically I would prefer the bottom nest into the top. Cut it off and deburr both the top and bottom portions.
3.Clean the nastyness out.
4.Check fitment of the top and bottom and adjust where necessary. I needed to trim the top a bit.
5.Supports for the top grate: Wrap a piece of twine around the top portion of the kettle to determine the circumference just below the rib where the top was cut off. Lay the string out on a table and measure it, then divide that number by 6 and mark the string by that increment. Wrap the string back around the keg, taking care to be sure it's even and level, and transfer the marks. Drill 6x 5/16” holes around the top, and tighten the 5/16” bolts, nuts and washers into the holes. There are probably more elegant things to hold the rack up with, but these work and are unobtrusive.
6.Cut a hole in bottom lip of the keg large enough for the 10” 3/4” ID pipe to fit through – make sure the bottom of this hole lines up to roughly 1/2” above the inside bottom of the keg. Next mark out an oval shaped hole in the side of the convex bottom of the kettle so that the pipe will slip through and sit with it's opening in the center of the bottom. See the pics or this will make no sense. The idea here is to minimize the amount of void-space around the pipe where air can leak in uncontrolled.
I did a lousy job of this on mine, but my original design was different. In the photos I have foil jammed in there, but I have since brazed the black iron pipe to the base of the keg. However, after using this for about 3 months, I realize that an airtight fit is really unneccesary.
7.Not in these pictures here, but before I put the 10” nipple together, I drilled a series of 3/16” holes along half it's length so the air flow to the bottom of the charcoal pile would be a bit more uniform. It actually helped allot.
8.Assemble the 10” nipple to the elbow and 12” nipple, and thread the ball valve on the top. Slide the pipe into the oval shaped hole at the bottom so it sits in the center of the keg, then determine the length of pipe-bracket necessary to hold the pipe in this position at the side. Brace the 12” pipe near the top to minimize wobble and attach it to the keg with the bracket hardware.
9.Figure out the inside diameter of the bottom of the keg just above the concave bottom and cut the stretched-steel grating to size with the grinder. It should sit in the bottom of the keg so there is ~1.5” of air space beneath it.
10.Examine your sankey tap fitting (if that's what you have). If you have a threaded sankey fitting, use an appropriate tool, or a hammer and punch to unthread the bugger. If your keg has a snap ring, your job will be even easier... see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npUA8DvngVw. Once you've removed the whole fitting and the long tube, disassemble it and remove the rubber washers, then reassemble. I flipped mine around once re-assembled the threaded it in backwards – I don't know what would be the procedure for a snap-ring fitting. This bit makes a nice chimney and actually helps greatly with airflow.
11.Clean the rest of the nastyness and filings out.
12.Toss some mesquite or hickory chunks in a pan of water to soak.
13.lightly soak some cooking oil onto a few spots of 2 loosely folded paper towels and place them in the center of the bottom grate. Pile a good heap of hardwood lump charcoal (not that compressed cube crap) on top of the paper towel and light the edges. Open the valve and let it get ripping (20 minutes or so) with the top off. Once the coals are white on the outside and red-hot, nestle the soaked hickory or apple, etc. chunks in the middle of the pile, and let them begin to smolder and billow smoke before placing the top on.
14.After about 5 minutes, throw your various marinated meats onto the top grate and have a beer... ribs take me about 4 hours for a full rack, pork chops take 2 hours, etc. Japanese short-rib jerky is on deck this week:
Sorry mine's a bit of a slop fest, the last time we had it going we got pretty 'faced and made a mess. The only thing that I did that's not shown in these pics was add tool-box style latches to the side so I can carry the thing around. I'm thinking the next one will be made out of a 55 gallon drum with several racks and access to the coals from the bottom.
So, if anyone has any knock-your-socks off marinade recipes, lemme know. Also, please post pics of your's if you happen to build one!!!
Also I'm horrible at taking 'how-to' pics along the way (I never remember in time and I hate the interruption) so I just laid out what you need to do and took a bunch of 'after' pics. I did this with the aid of a friend because I was gimpy with a broken collar bone at the time. All in all, this took us about 1.5 hours and we were up and cooking.
Materials:
-1 Keg (duh) - I got a decommissioned keg from Berkshire Brewing, but be careful if you decide to 5-finger-discount an empty one; allot of them have RFID chips in them now-adays. Probably best to just pay your deposit and keep one.
-1 good top grate - I found that the Webber "18-inch" bottom grill replacement works well - it's about 15" in diameter
-1 bottom grate to hold the coals - I cut one out of heavy stretched steel grating
-1x 10", 1x 12" 3/4"ID black iron pipe nipples
-1x 3/4" elbow
-3/4" ID pipe bracket + hardware
-1x 3/4” ball valve (the only expensive item)
-6x 1.5” 5/16" bolts, w/ nuts and lock washers - used to hold up the top grate
-1 bag of hardwood lump charcoal (please don't use that press-formed charcoal crap)
-A few chunks of hardwood of your choice (I've been using mesquite, hickory, or apple)
With a free keg I spent ~$45 on all this crap.
Tools:
Lists of tools are stupid and annoying... you will always need something not on the list, and don't need 10 of the things that are on the list. The main things you will want are a grinder w/ cutoff wheel (or plasma cutter), a drill, a marker, and a good beer.
Procedure:
1.Release the pressure from the keg by pressing the sankey tap!! I forgot to do this and my buddy got a nice face full of nasty beer ass (at least it was a nut-brown)...
2.Mark out exactly where you want the cut to separate the smoker top from the kettle base. I chose a spot just north of the second rib of the keg. The idea was to take advantage of the rib so that the top would nest into the bottom (in this case) or vise versa. On mine the top nests into the bottom because I thought the grate would sit in the lower lip, but it was just a hair too small... It works fine, but esthetically I would prefer the bottom nest into the top. Cut it off and deburr both the top and bottom portions.
3.Clean the nastyness out.
4.Check fitment of the top and bottom and adjust where necessary. I needed to trim the top a bit.
5.Supports for the top grate: Wrap a piece of twine around the top portion of the kettle to determine the circumference just below the rib where the top was cut off. Lay the string out on a table and measure it, then divide that number by 6 and mark the string by that increment. Wrap the string back around the keg, taking care to be sure it's even and level, and transfer the marks. Drill 6x 5/16” holes around the top, and tighten the 5/16” bolts, nuts and washers into the holes. There are probably more elegant things to hold the rack up with, but these work and are unobtrusive.
6.Cut a hole in bottom lip of the keg large enough for the 10” 3/4” ID pipe to fit through – make sure the bottom of this hole lines up to roughly 1/2” above the inside bottom of the keg. Next mark out an oval shaped hole in the side of the convex bottom of the kettle so that the pipe will slip through and sit with it's opening in the center of the bottom. See the pics or this will make no sense. The idea here is to minimize the amount of void-space around the pipe where air can leak in uncontrolled.
I did a lousy job of this on mine, but my original design was different. In the photos I have foil jammed in there, but I have since brazed the black iron pipe to the base of the keg. However, after using this for about 3 months, I realize that an airtight fit is really unneccesary.
7.Not in these pictures here, but before I put the 10” nipple together, I drilled a series of 3/16” holes along half it's length so the air flow to the bottom of the charcoal pile would be a bit more uniform. It actually helped allot.
8.Assemble the 10” nipple to the elbow and 12” nipple, and thread the ball valve on the top. Slide the pipe into the oval shaped hole at the bottom so it sits in the center of the keg, then determine the length of pipe-bracket necessary to hold the pipe in this position at the side. Brace the 12” pipe near the top to minimize wobble and attach it to the keg with the bracket hardware.
9.Figure out the inside diameter of the bottom of the keg just above the concave bottom and cut the stretched-steel grating to size with the grinder. It should sit in the bottom of the keg so there is ~1.5” of air space beneath it.
10.Examine your sankey tap fitting (if that's what you have). If you have a threaded sankey fitting, use an appropriate tool, or a hammer and punch to unthread the bugger. If your keg has a snap ring, your job will be even easier... see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npUA8DvngVw. Once you've removed the whole fitting and the long tube, disassemble it and remove the rubber washers, then reassemble. I flipped mine around once re-assembled the threaded it in backwards – I don't know what would be the procedure for a snap-ring fitting. This bit makes a nice chimney and actually helps greatly with airflow.
11.Clean the rest of the nastyness and filings out.
12.Toss some mesquite or hickory chunks in a pan of water to soak.
13.lightly soak some cooking oil onto a few spots of 2 loosely folded paper towels and place them in the center of the bottom grate. Pile a good heap of hardwood lump charcoal (not that compressed cube crap) on top of the paper towel and light the edges. Open the valve and let it get ripping (20 minutes or so) with the top off. Once the coals are white on the outside and red-hot, nestle the soaked hickory or apple, etc. chunks in the middle of the pile, and let them begin to smolder and billow smoke before placing the top on.
14.After about 5 minutes, throw your various marinated meats onto the top grate and have a beer... ribs take me about 4 hours for a full rack, pork chops take 2 hours, etc. Japanese short-rib jerky is on deck this week:
Sorry mine's a bit of a slop fest, the last time we had it going we got pretty 'faced and made a mess. The only thing that I did that's not shown in these pics was add tool-box style latches to the side so I can carry the thing around. I'm thinking the next one will be made out of a 55 gallon drum with several racks and access to the coals from the bottom.
So, if anyone has any knock-your-socks off marinade recipes, lemme know. Also, please post pics of your's if you happen to build one!!!
