CharBroil American Gourmet - Mods in progress!

[Phinnay]

So! I scored an American gourmet off of Craigslist for $20 and am all excited to get cookin on my first offset smoker. The American Gourmet is smaller than most others I've seen, that turned me off at first but with not having my own place, moving pretty often, and not cookin for too many people, I think it will work just fine

It is a steel barrel and has a deceptively heavy firebox, the construction is pretty solid! I got mine with some rust on the bottom of the cooking chamber and firebox - a once over with the sandblaster tomorrow should take care of that.

I plan on installing tuning plates under the grill, removing the coal grates in the cooking chamber, and extending the exhaust down to the grate level. Tonight I began mockup of the tuning plates - Jeez! When did steel get so expensive o.o




this is the view from the firebox into the cooking chamber - the metal will come down 1 3/4" from the top, leaving a 1 3/8" opening for smoke.

I'm not sure if this is a big enough opening. I've seen Silver Smoker mods that cover half the smoke inlet - but the barrel is also much bigger.




Inside, I will have two pieces of angle iron running the length of the cooking chamber to support my tuning plates. The initial plate that is tied to the baffle is 6", each additional plate is 4" wide and they are spaced about 1 1/2" apart. From what I've seen this looks ideal for this size barrel - I plan on cutting some plates from plywood and moving them around before cutting up the (expensive) 16ga steel.

*the plywood will be used to see the smoke flow, not to cook with*



With the grates in place - I only have 1 1/2" between the tuning plates and the grates. It's been the consensus around here to have minimum of 6" but with this size barrel that is impossible - do ya'all think it will be that much of a problem?

In the first picture, there is a 2" lip from the bottom of the smoke inlet to the bottom of the barrel. I've toyed with cutting that out a bit more and moving the firebox down and bringing the tuning plates down as well. I don't want to go through the hastle if the 1 1/2 inches will be enough...

I have a lot of prep to do before I start welding, hoping to get the numbers worked out over the next few days and have a trial smoke by the weekend. What do you guys think!

[Phinnay]

Oh! as far as the firebox goes, I plan on tacking some angle to the front and back and building a grate for the coals to sit on. The grate that came with it was pretty far gone.

This will give me a lot of clearance between the bottom of the firebox and the coals, plenty of airflow... but also the possibility of installing a log lighter or gas burner for long cooks.

The question is - wouldn't ash from the burning coals falling into the burner clog it? I could fabricate a cover for the burner when its not in use but I can see that being a pain if I had to switch over mid cook. Has anyone run into something similar?