FNG here.....

Project BBQ Trailer begins..

Comments, thoughts, suggestions welcome....

Plan:
100ish gallon water pressure tank for the smoker. Will attach a firebox to one side, and cut 2 doors in the tank. Plan to use 1/4" steel pipe for the fire box.
The water tank was leaking and taken out of service at a local repair shop... very solid shape.

I currently have a grill made from a big tank that we just light a fire inside and open grill with.... I wanted something I could also smoke with. About half the time I used the other grill, it was for hot dogs/burgers at some type of event, where smoking was not needed.

On the bottom of the tank, I want to install some gas burners for when just a big grill is needed. I don't want to light fires inside of the tank, it's messy, and the metal just isn't thick enough for that kind of abuse.

Any suggestions on the propane system/deflectors/drip control?

My brother has a way of doing pork steaks that this will work great for... He smokes them for a few hours, then puts them on a hot grill to caramelize the bbq sauce. It will be really helpfull to do it on the same beast.




Here is the tank:

Welcome Pyro sounds like a fun project, I have one suggestion you mentioned a side fire box? how about one that runs the length of the tank on the backside down low? the reason I say this is a side box will provide a hot side to the smoking chamber if you had a fire box that ran the length of the grill you could get even heat for large cooks or small by either keeping the wood/coals to one side of the box or spreading them out the length of the fire box for a large amount of meat and create your own hot and cold sides by adjusting the amount of fuel you put on one side or the other so you could smoke things at different temps if you wanted to, or use one side as a warmer of sorts you could go that route also and you would need two chimneys or just one centered on the hood.
you will also need some sort of flame tamer setup for the propane side to keep drippings off your burners I would also try to use a control knob for each burner so you can again vary the heat for large or small grill sessions.

Cant wait to see what you come up with.

Again Welcome

jim

Jim,

Thanks for the reply. I think I'll stick with the "standard" setup of a firebox on one end of the pit. The way the trailer will be setup, one large box wouldn't work very well.

A thought I had for the gas was to use the Holland Grill approach. Thinking 3-4 cast iron burners, like you would have on a turkey frier. Then mount a large steel plate over all 3 to give heat/dripping disbursement.

I like your grill that you made. Although i think the tank is too large. Can you also use that as a barbecue smokers? I hope so. Anyway you can still improve your own grill and my suggestion is to use smaller drum.