I spent yesterday running a large offset at my buddies place, I think it's in the neighborhood of a 250-gallon, maybe. I've been kind of wistful lately about the possibility of getting my own larg(ish) smoker, but I really don't have room in my yard for the smoker, much less a woodpile to feed it. Nor do I really do enough meat to justify one but... dammit, they're fun!
I've had more fun running my little Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24" than I expected, adding and messing around with wood chunks. But I am still not getting the flavor I want, really, and the form factor is a little constricting for me. I want something I can reach into and flip things around easily, etc.
So enter the largish tank my friend showed me on his 'back forty' yesterday. He just bought this land adjacent to his homestead and is working on clearing things out, he wants me to take this tank and turn it into a smoker. Now, I'm not a welder, I don't know how to use a cutting torch, and I don't have room to do any of this. But I have some friends... and I wouldn't mind learning to weld. I know it's not as easy as all that, but I think it would be an interesting project - IF it is worthwhile with this piece of scrap.
So, a couple of friends who work in the gas industry tell me they think this could be an old water tank used to pull water off the oil or gas wells - and indeed there is an old gas (I think) well sitting unused on the property a couple hundred yards from where this tank sits.
Here it is:
As you may be able to see, it sits on some tubing that is holding it off the ground, and in that first pic, down at the bottom right, there is what looks like a hose draining out of it - add in the hole in the top, and the shape of the ends being flat and not rounded, I think this wasn't pressurized and possibly could be what they suggested - a water holding tank.
My question is, if we put the work into this, do you think it would make a good smoker? It's big, probably around 9 feet long, looks to be 3'8" steel to me, and seems to be in good shape.
We would have to take a lot of precautions in cleaning it out, making sure it wasn't contaminated by petroleum products in the past, and thoroughly burning that out if so in a safe manner. My 2 most likely collaborators in this project both work(ed) in the oil & gas industry doing gas chromatography and such, so safety and procedural concerns would be paramount, and I'm confident in their guidance.
I'm just wondering, most of the smokers I've seen have the rounded/domed ends you see from propane tanks, whereas this beast is flat. I don't know if that is convenience of availability, if the rounded ends are helpful or necessary for good smoke flow, or if it's some combination of the two. I mean, many of our pellet smokers are flat on the ends and don't seem to suffer any deleterious effects, so I wonder how much of the shape and size is just traditional and the availability of scavenged/manufactured propane tanks or what?
Maybe some of you guys can give me some guidance here? Is it worth loading this behemoth up and hauling it to my buddy's shop to start working on? It'll be a year-long project or more, is my guess, since winter is coming on. But I think this beast would be cool, if it would be functional. My mind is already going over offset designs, reverse flow prospects, etc.
Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!
I've had more fun running my little Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24" than I expected, adding and messing around with wood chunks. But I am still not getting the flavor I want, really, and the form factor is a little constricting for me. I want something I can reach into and flip things around easily, etc.
So enter the largish tank my friend showed me on his 'back forty' yesterday. He just bought this land adjacent to his homestead and is working on clearing things out, he wants me to take this tank and turn it into a smoker. Now, I'm not a welder, I don't know how to use a cutting torch, and I don't have room to do any of this. But I have some friends... and I wouldn't mind learning to weld. I know it's not as easy as all that, but I think it would be an interesting project - IF it is worthwhile with this piece of scrap.
So, a couple of friends who work in the gas industry tell me they think this could be an old water tank used to pull water off the oil or gas wells - and indeed there is an old gas (I think) well sitting unused on the property a couple hundred yards from where this tank sits.
Here it is:
As you may be able to see, it sits on some tubing that is holding it off the ground, and in that first pic, down at the bottom right, there is what looks like a hose draining out of it - add in the hole in the top, and the shape of the ends being flat and not rounded, I think this wasn't pressurized and possibly could be what they suggested - a water holding tank.
My question is, if we put the work into this, do you think it would make a good smoker? It's big, probably around 9 feet long, looks to be 3'8" steel to me, and seems to be in good shape.
We would have to take a lot of precautions in cleaning it out, making sure it wasn't contaminated by petroleum products in the past, and thoroughly burning that out if so in a safe manner. My 2 most likely collaborators in this project both work(ed) in the oil & gas industry doing gas chromatography and such, so safety and procedural concerns would be paramount, and I'm confident in their guidance.
I'm just wondering, most of the smokers I've seen have the rounded/domed ends you see from propane tanks, whereas this beast is flat. I don't know if that is convenience of availability, if the rounded ends are helpful or necessary for good smoke flow, or if it's some combination of the two. I mean, many of our pellet smokers are flat on the ends and don't seem to suffer any deleterious effects, so I wonder how much of the shape and size is just traditional and the availability of scavenged/manufactured propane tanks or what?
Maybe some of you guys can give me some guidance here? Is it worth loading this behemoth up and hauling it to my buddy's shop to start working on? It'll be a year-long project or more, is my guess, since winter is coming on. But I think this beast would be cool, if it would be functional. My mind is already going over offset designs, reverse flow prospects, etc.
Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!
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