So while I love the idea of the SNS, I try to work on a budget and after looking at all the photos I could find and reading all the reviews I've decided to attempt to construct/weld my own SNS. Has any one else done this? Ill admit I didn't scour the forum as hard as I could have, so if there is a post about it point me towards it, any advice welcome!
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I believe welding/shaping stainless steel is difficult and the price of constructing, including whose evers skilled time is burned, would be greater than just buying one. However, Pit Boss and Huskee invented this thing. I would wait for them to chime in on my statements. The cheap alternative is two fire bricks from Tractor Supply for about six bucks a piece. They are what have prevented me from buying one because they work just as fine as the SNS in my opinion, but then again I dont have the SNS. -
While SS is the best option, as you said it is the most difficult as well, I figure and could construct it out of non-coated, soft mild steel, shouldn't cost but around $30-$50 in steel, my dads got all the welding equipment and it would just be my time burned, thought I might as well give it a go. Did not realize Pit Boss and Huskee invented the SnS though, hopefully I don't get struck down for blasphemy.Comment
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Mild carbon rusts QUICK when subjected to water and high heat. And there's no coating or treatment we could come up with that would survive the heat. Tried it. Just doesn't last as long as SS and looks really bad after a couple of uses, so I opted to use 304 SS.Originally posted by ERipley View PostComment
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Rust was something I did not really take into consideration, I guess I might as well just shell out the extra for the SS construction as I lack the equipment to weld it myself. Thanks for the response Pit Boss! -
Nicely played, ERipley! You gracefully walked it back and avoided the wrath of the David Parrish and Huskee. I think we have found our next Secretary of State.
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I used to use two bricks and a bread loaf pan on top for water when doing kettle smoking..and it does work pretty darn good on the cheap. But the SnS really does work better or it wouldn't have been thought up while doing said bricks and water pan kettle smoking... and it wouldn't sell if it didn't work better. Plus it keeps things cleaner and more organized inside and adds a layer of efficiency. Nothing wrong with tinkering though. Lots of people build instead of buy, my dad's one. I am with some things too.Comment
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Not knocking anyone here but my experience has been that whenever something cool comes along, bbq related or not, if it's even remotely in my wheelhouse I tend to think "I could make that". I'll give it a shot and inevitability my version kind of works but in the end I wind up buying the original because it just works better.
I joined here just as the SnS was gaining steam. I own a steel service center and we stock and sell tons of 304 stainless sheet so of course my first thought was to just make one on my own. But after looking at the costs of the material, then having the sheet sheared to size, then having a fab shop roll it and weld it all together it just didn't make sense. A single knock off simply can't be made for the price (or quality) of a quantity produced and tested product.
I applaud whoever here came up with this thing and brought it market. This is a revolutionary product that you don't see come around too often. Whether they're selling them at razor thin or ridiculously high margins is irrelevant to me, they came up with something that changes the way we (or at least I) cook outdoors and they made it affordable to just about everyone. In my opinion they deserve to reap the benefits of their efforts and profit wildly from it.
Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now. Time to go gorge on Thanksgiving leftovers.Comment
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Hey guys, thanks for all the responses, for now I am using 2 fire bricks, but I have added the SNS to my Christmas list, so fingers crossed the girlfriend takes the hint and orders it!Comment
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Buy the SnS! it's a great product--very well made. Seems likely to last a life time. Mine is over a year old--no warping, no weld issues.Comment
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I have the SNS for my 22" kettle and it works great.
However, I just learned about the GrillaQue a couple days ago. Their design offers a little more flexibility in usage and it's about half the price of the SNS.
Anyone interested in either buying or making an SNS might want to give it a look - http://www.changonbbq.com/Comment
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I'm not seeing how this offers more flexibility? The only thing from looking at the site that I can see is they are using coals in the larger section in one example which could easily be done with the SnS.Originally posted by Histrix View Post
a couple things I did notice:
This doesn't appear stay flush all the way down the side of the bowl which could potentially allow heat loss into the the non direct side.
The rounded part of the SnS provides an extra barrier against heat loss allowing for better efficiency.Comment
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It's nothing more than a water pan baffle and it doesn't look very stable to me. I could see the whole thing tipping one way or the other and either extinguishing the coals or dousing the meat with a bunch of water. No thanks, I'll stick with the tried and true.Comment
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Originally posted by Nate View Post
I have no connection to the Grillaque and have never used one but have talked to a couple people that have.
The Grillaque can be repositioned so if you want a larger hotspot with more coals that is easily achievable or if you want a smaller hotspot with fewer coals and more area for indirect you can do that. The Grilla, when placed as close to the walls of the kettle as it can be is flush with the walls of the kettle. With the SNS to make a larger hotspot I guess you can just put the coals on the opposite non-curved wall side of the unit but then the fuel is not situated in an air-gapped barrier anyway so the efficiency point becomes moot.
Yes the SNS's curved wall does allow a slight air gap between it and the wall of the kettle so it may well be a bit more fuel efficient. Seeing how the kettle is itself a shell of thin steel all around it is not going to be known for having kamado-like fuel efficiency anyway.
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repositioning it to make a larger hot spot means you are going to have a larger gap between the unit and the wall it is also going to make it harder to contain the coals in a manner that allows an efficient burn which is one of the big benefits of the SnS.Originally posted by Histrix View Post
you really can't make it much smaller than what the SnS is since the unit won't really shrink
and the case of the air gap efficiency being a moot point is only the case when it would come to putting the coals on the larger side which would be a less likely use or occurrence for most... I'm sure there are more but the only real uses for doing that that I can think of would be the kebob issue... or if you were wanting a larger hot and fast area for something like burgers with a smaller safe cool zone... but hot and fast I am less worried about burn efficiency than I am low and slow anyway.....
obviously a kettle has less insulation that a kamado but efficiency and consistency matters especially when cooler weather sets in... even if it is just a little bit... a lot of folks go to a lot of trouble to find ways to insulate their cookers and smokers even if it is to buy them just a little extra help.Comment
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This thread is moot anyway as the company is out of stock, but I'll mention we thought about that design when we were creating the Slow 'N Sear. We were dissatisfied with the performance and scrapped it. There's a slightly longer version of that story but it's best told over beer and a cigar. Perhaps we should meat up in the Bahamas and I'll tell you all about it!
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You get what you pay for. If you buy half a product you'll get half the performance. If moving the water pan over is realistically something you'll do in your kettle, then maybe that product is for you. But when a person or company copies another's design by whole or half and then states it's better and more flexible than the original full product, you have to really analyze how gullible they think you are.Comment
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