After finishing my hill country smoker I decided to make 2 small improvements.
First off all I wanted to seal the slits for the rotisserie when NOT using the rotisserie. The simplest thing I could think of was to fold some sheet metal and just paint it black. See photos. Dirt cheap, very simple, and gets the job done. Really happy with how little effort I had to spend on these.
How it looks from the outside. Note the metal plate right above the rotisserie holder.
Inside look. Seals up good, and fits perfectly under the lid.
And the metal plate by itself
Second: I was missing a shelf, or anything really to put trays/plate of meat and things on. So I thought a bit about how to fabricate it. I wanted it to be foldable, yet not spend hours on fabrication. So I just looked at how others have done it and copied the construction. Really simple, but took some time to get it to align and look good. The wood is oak (of course), with 2 layers of clear coat.
The shelf, folded down
The shelf, when in use. Very good height.
The hinges, and support rod. I just welded 1" of angle iron on the side of the grill to act as a door stop.
To fold it down you just lift the shelf 1/2 inch, then the support rod swings out by itself (gravity), and then fold the shelf down. I can even do it drunk, with one hand
Now it's ready for some action. Will do a low 'n slow cook on it the next time, most likely a pork butt, to see how it behaves during a multi-hour cook. I'll report back.
First off all I wanted to seal the slits for the rotisserie when NOT using the rotisserie. The simplest thing I could think of was to fold some sheet metal and just paint it black. See photos. Dirt cheap, very simple, and gets the job done. Really happy with how little effort I had to spend on these.
How it looks from the outside. Note the metal plate right above the rotisserie holder.
Inside look. Seals up good, and fits perfectly under the lid.
And the metal plate by itself
Second: I was missing a shelf, or anything really to put trays/plate of meat and things on. So I thought a bit about how to fabricate it. I wanted it to be foldable, yet not spend hours on fabrication. So I just looked at how others have done it and copied the construction. Really simple, but took some time to get it to align and look good. The wood is oak (of course), with 2 layers of clear coat.
The shelf, folded down
The shelf, when in use. Very good height.
The hinges, and support rod. I just welded 1" of angle iron on the side of the grill to act as a door stop.
To fold it down you just lift the shelf 1/2 inch, then the support rod swings out by itself (gravity), and then fold the shelf down. I can even do it drunk, with one hand
Now it's ready for some action. Will do a low 'n slow cook on it the next time, most likely a pork butt, to see how it behaves during a multi-hour cook. I'll report back.
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