Turning a warming cabinet into a smoker!!

[Backroadmeats]

Well I have got all my piece to put this thing together.. ​ ​ ​​​​​​​

[RonB]

Sounds like a fun project. Good luck.

[Ahumadora]

For clarification, are you going to only cold smoke with it? You cannot hot smoke with it if it is galvanized. Zinc is toxic when heated to high temps.

[grantgallagher]

This is a most excellent point.

[Backroadmeats]

It is stainless steel.. but thanks for watching out for me.. I have seen people build smokers out of some questionable stuuf.. this is a warming cabinet from a restaurant.. the temp went to 200 I believe. I am installing a different element becauseit was originally just a little 110 volt element that took forever to heat up

[grantgallagher]

A lot of stainless steel ones will still have galvanized tops and bottoms. Worth trying to find out at least

[Backroadmeats]

It would have to be damn old to have galvanized in any food processing equipment that is nsf certified.. in this case I am a 100 percent sure this is stainless..

[ribeyeguy]

If you have any uncertainties at all just put a magnet on it. All food grade stainless is in the 300 series, 303, 304, 316, etc and all are non-magnetic. If it doesn't draw a magnet I'd say you're safe. If it does then there might be a cause for concern.

[Backroadmeats]

Thanks ribeye guy.. I have no doubt because I did just that,. Put a magnet on it just to check😁😁. I was almost positive it was anyhow I own lots of stainless equipment so I can usually see the difference pretty easily but the other guys question me made me nervous for a second.. all good though..

[Spinaker]

This is going to be a fun project! Keep us posted!

[Backroadmeats]

Well got the heating element in and all the controls mounted.. it seems I underestimated hard the stainless would be.. I have to figure out how to drill a 3 inch hole in the top for the smoke stack..

[barelfly]

This is cool. What will the wood box look like?

your smoker is the same concept as the unit that I use for smoking. I love it.

[Backroadmeats]

I need to come up with a smoke generator of some sort.. for now a stainless pan on the heating element will work..it is hard on the element but they only cost 12$..

[barelfly]

Take a look at Smokin-It smokers for some ideas. You could build a support that allows a box to slide over and sit right above the element.

[Backroadmeats]

It made it to 225 in just over 5 minutes.. no to bad for electric..

[Ahumadora]

You can make or buy a stainless pan for the chips and mount it 1cm above the elements. Also mount the chimney about 2/3 the way up the cabinet and extend it about 8" above the height of the cabinet.

[Ahumadora]

It will help regulate the temp vertically. So the hot air has to go down to escape. Makes more even temp throughout the cabinet. The larger the vertical space you have, the harder it is to control.

[holehogg]

Ahumadora are you saying that it will even out the heat so that the top section is not considerably hotter than the bottom section of the cook chamber?

[Ahumadora]

Yep to a degree. Hot air rises. But needs to be forced down to escape.

[Rfuilrez]

I have intentions of doing just this, using the fire box and draw fan from my KBQ as a starting point.

Will be be following your experience and will post mine when I get around to doing it.

[Spinaker]

I'd like to see this. THAT would be really cool.

[Backroadmeats]

The proper tool for the job and the chimney is in.. will let the high temp silcone dry and fire up some chips tomorrow night..

[Backroadmeats]

You can make or buy a stainless pan for the chips and mount it 1cm above the elements. Also mount the chimney about 2/3 the way up the cabinet and extend it about 8" above the height of the cabinet.

I would have put the chimney in the position u recommended and will try one for sure on the next one I build but when measuring it out I noticed my 4 year old could reach it and I would have to leave it out from the wall for clearance.. and God knows a kid can't resist a space you tell them not to go..thanks for the advice though and it makes perfect sense when u explained it..

[Ahumadora]

ok No problem. post food pics!!

[Backroadmeats]

I will this weekend!! Not smoking nothing yet..

[Black99vette]

Cool project!