Grill Daddys

So the smoker was working nearly flawlessly now, but you don't often see smoked hamburgers- and it's even more uncommon to see smoked steak.  There are simply some things that must be grilled.  I knew I wanted the grill to be large.  One of my previous (retired) grills let me cook 32 burgers at a time and it was great!   I wanted the ability back to cook a LOT of burgers at once.  I also knew that controlling temp on a charcoal grill can be harder than a gas grill- but this rig is going to be "a naturale"... No gas here!  After hours and hours of research, the best design I could find was a Santa Maria style/Argentine style grill with some tiny modifications/enhancements.  This style of grills has a wheel that turns and lifts the grill surface away from the heat source if needed.   We planned for a drop front to allow easy access to coals too.  This lets me easily move coals from the firebox to the grill, or from the grill to the firebox. I ordered the parts from Amaz

As mentioned, the firebox door warped when we cut it, so we bought new metal and remade the door.  We also added a sliding draft door to control airflow to the firebox.  While on this trip, we added a shelf around the smoker with hanging hooks and expanded metal on the floor of the trailer.  We applied heat resistant paint to the firebox and smoker so it is starting to look like the real deal.  Finally, I upgraded the rusted tire rims for new chrome rims and started putting on the trailer lights.

On second trip to Oklahoma, we added a door.  We also cut off the old single handle and welded 2 new "cool" handles that allow for easy lifting of the lid... And we added a counter balance weight to hold the lid open.  I didn't want the lid to go too far back making it difficult to close, but it had to stay open so I could work the smoker out too.  It was time to start a test fire to see how well it drafted and distributed heat.   I didn't want to go too far in building until we knew the fundamentals were right.  Most things went well except the door- and it warped when we were cutting it too size for the firebox.

My father pretty much epitomizes the definition of a modern Renaissance man- it's a large part of the reason I was willing to jump into this endeavor.  THANKS DAD!  I also have a cousin- shout out to Mike T.- who is an insanely talented welder.  While they both live 4 hours away in Oklahoma, I pulled the trailer to my dad's shop and work began.  First things we did included grinding down some of the really nasty welds and rewelding- especially around the seams of the tank.  We also put the metal plate about 6 inches below the grill surface to create a reverse flow smoker.  This created an even heat distribution, and the rounded end of the tank made for amazing air circulation.  We used some expanded metal and installed the shelf as a sliding shelf- this allows easy access to meats that go to the back of the grill and would be otherwise difficult to reach.  We also ordered a 4" cast iron stove damper and installed it inside the smoke stack before cutting a hole and welding

So Bubba's smoker was a 500 gallon propane tank that had been cut in half- his boss took one side and Bubba kept one side for himself.  He mounted it on an old jet ski trailer and started a firebox (no door).  Nothing else had been done.   The tires were dry rotted from sitting in the pasture so long.  The inside of the tank was severely rusted.  It had no tow lights.  It only had one tow chain, and it was held together with a padlock.  There wasn't a trailer jack so it took a tractor to lift it to put it on my truck hitch. But Bubba did have some expanded metal that he was going to use for the grill and also a quarter sheet of flat metal he was planning for the door- oh, and a 4" wide chrome plated smoke stack.   He said it was all the materials I would need to finish- which I suspected wasn't true, but I had big dreams and even bigger expectations.  I made the deal and limped down the road at 15mph, grill in tow to buy new tires and get it home.

So I had about $500 saved up from gift money over the last few years and now decided this is how I was going to spend it.  I watched Craigslist for months for someone selling a grill for < $500 that I could work with.  Well Bubba (I'm not making this up) was just the man to help me out.  Bubba had started a project smoker years ago and decided he just wasn't going to be able to finish.  He was selling the whole incomplete mess for $300 as is.  This was the start I had been waiting for.

One of my great joys is making BBQ that others like to eat.  I'll be transparent- I feel a great personal pride when someone says "Dude- that's some seriously good BBQ.  You should open a restaurant.". Now I'm not interested in running a restaurant or a catering business.  I do this for fun- and making money sounds like work. Anyway, I was talking with a friend of mine who loves BBQ so much he *did* make a business of it.  Richard Hill runs Legacy BBQ and catering in Rockwall, TX.  Richard competes in local BBQ competitions to create brand recognition for his catering business.  Anyway, as I was asking him about competing, Richard's advice was strangely simple- just sign up and try it.  You may or may not win your first several competitions, but you'll learn more than talking to me for hours.  This simple advice created a few problems for me though:  I couldn't use my upright smoker in competitions, it was propane powered.  I wasn't going to roll m

I've loved BBQ as far back as I can remember.  Grilled.  Smoked. Flame broiled.  Over the years, I've had many smokers and grills.  I've used a number of grills ranging from the Weber Smokey Mountain grills, countless gas grills, camp fires, an old propane tank poorly converted to a grill/smoker, and most recently started cooking on the Pit Boss Kimodo 22" ceramic cooker.  Each had had pros and cons- most have had more cons than pros- but the Kimodo is a pretty great cooker and my favorite so far!  I love that I can run it at 225F for 10 hours, or melt metal at 800F- okay, I don't melt metal, but I did run it to 800 just to see how hot I could take it.  I've been entered in some church BBQ competitions and placed well... And family says they like my BBQ... But you never really know for sure just how good you are until you go against others- so begins my journey.