Saw a post a few months back and decided to give it a shot. I wanted to make 2 and sale 1 to cover the cost of both. The first one was completed prior to Thanksgiving just in time to smoke 2 turkeys and due to my busy schedule in the fall chasing deer, I just completed and sold #2 this weekend. Both are electric and have two racks. Overall, it was a fun project and i really enjoy / respect the art of smoking.

Raw Barrels


#1, my personal


#2 sold yesterday

Looks great, but how did they work?

How much did you sell the 2nd one for?

They work great.. I've done quick items like whole chickens, salmon, ribs, up to bigger cuts of meat like hog legs, brisket, and even 2x 12lbs turkey's.

I just soak a few chunks of wood and set right on the coils. I'll replace the wood about every hour and a half.. With electric heating element, its easy to control your temp at all times.

where did you find the barrels?

Look good, I have one and love it.

Very cool

very nice. I've thought about doing the same but I can't find wine barrels around here. Good job

X2

Great work!!!

I found a listing on CL for the barrels. There's a local winery in Frisco that had 200+ for sale when i was looking. The owner stated he orders regularly, so if any of you want his contact info, send me a PM.
I have a little over $200 into each of these and was offered $500 for the 2nd. Researching online, i've found for a min of $549-$799, but honestly was just trying to get a mine paid for out of the deal.

Nice!

Looks awesome, but how is it not a risk that they catch on fire?

Looks good, i've always loved making these!!
Ifi could give some advice, Its better in the long run if you screw each stave to each loops it attaches too. After about 6 months to a year, the wood staves tend to dry out and shrink a bit,then get loose from the metal hoops around it. It then becomes loose and almost wants to cave in some places. the barrels are used to holding liquid for awhile, swelling the wood. During the dry out with no liquid, plus hot heat inside they shrink.
Sorry, I hope you don't take it the wrong way, it's just things that have happened to me when i made these last year.

sorry here's a pic to show you one i made.

they look good

Who said they dont? jk, I usually only run at 200-225 and swap the wood out every hour to hour and a half. Typically when I open the top, all that extra air seems to ignite a fire, but as long as its shut, i do not have any problems. I soak the wood for a min of 1 hour, but prefer over night, and we are only talking about 2 small peices of wood, not a bunch of logs for a bonfire.. just enough to create some smoke.. and the wood is in the center, not along the side of the barrel.

and the burner is an electric heating element sitting ontop of a bag of lava rocks to keep the coals off of the bottom.

Nice looking smokers!

That's awesome.

very Cool

Now that is sweet. !!

Sweet!!!

Those are really cool good work I want one now