Test fire and seasoning pics NEW PIT

[james275]

Well I finally got a nice day to finish the Pit and take it outside and season it and test it out.

Here is the "Fire Marshal" inspection of the pit


Here is the pit with socond set of racks and seasoning under way


Here is the first fire. I used two chimneys of Royal Oak Lump from Wall Mart and some Hickory chuncks. OH MY DID IT SMELL GOOOOOD!


I tried to get pic of thin smoke


The pit came up to temp within 30 minutes and held at 225 to 250 for four hours. The last hour I packed in some hickory and pumped it up to 300. The tuning plated worked great. The right side was 20* hotter so I adjusted the plated and they evened out to within 10*
My next job is to paint. I can not wait until I can throw some food in there.

Recommendations on starter food? My father in law buys a pig from the fair every year and gives us some. I looked in the freezer and have something labeled "pork roast" and "Pic-Nic"???
Of course I want ribs.
Did I mention the hickory smelled great!!!
I can't wait.

[3970010]

Very nice pit. Is it your first build? How much did it cost you to put it together?

[james275]

Very first build. First time welding.
Had the welder so I could tack things on my Jeep CJ-7.
Decided to try a smoker after seeing a "how to" ad in
Popular Mechanics.
Tank $20.00
Plate $100.00
Misc. angle iron $60.00
Hinges, air intake $28.00
Expanded metal $35.00
Thermometers $15.00 each
Total $273.00

Plus a nasty flash burn on the eyes

All the ribs I can eat?????
priceless

[Hell Fire Grill]

Great looking pit. I'm still fabing mine, working out the bugs n collecting materials etc. Good to see another BG guy in the ring. I got some oak, ash, & maple if ya need it let me know.

[elk]

You really can't go wrong with pork if you can hold a steady temp. A picnic is usually a decent cut to smoke, lots of folks use them. The pork roast should work as well, but may have a little less fat, depending on how it was trimmed. That's a great looking cooker you've built, nice job!