Might have come across an old upright freezer and am tempted to turn it into a smoker. Depending on what it looks like inside shapewise, I'm thinking on using a fish frier propane burner. Beyond that, I've never built a smoker or run one. What tips or tricks can you give me design or use wise.
sorry got nothing other than the plastic prolly melt unless it was used strictly for cold smoking. the best cooker/smoker on a budget is build an ugly drum.
55 gal drum...roll a fire basket out of expanded metal...weld some bolts or something on the basket for feet i also welded a bail on it...used a $4 pizza pan for an ash catch...put whatever style intake vent(s) you want on the bottom and get a cover from a 22" weber or knock off...i welded some 5/16" nuts inside the drum for bolts to support the grates that way the drum is not drilled full of holes...your gonna need a heat deflector too that can be fabbed out of 1/8 or find something you can repurpose....i put my first grate 8" down..2nd grate 14" down and deflector21-22" down dependin on how tall your fire basked ends up .....any questions just ask..
This cooker is at the end of its life,but no problem...just get another drum and reuse everything...I've done this 3 times so far with the same components ...here's a pic of the nuts I welded in thats my heat deflector i forgot what exactly it was but i welded 4 tabs on it to catch the support bolts...that was a proto type since then i just burn them out(heat deflector) with the plasma
my other setup is solar.....and the ugly drum can be run via natural draft....i was just using the stoker in that photo