How to Build a Propane Tank Smoker

hey guys so this is gonna be a build video of this smoker I've built a few smokers before so I have a pretty good idea of the elements that I want to incorporate from lessons learned from my previous builds [Music] I had a hundred pound propane tank that was expired and I thought it could be repurposed as a smoker I have a weber smokey mountain cooker that works awesome but it's a bit small if you want to do any volume of smoked meat it has a diameter of 14.5 inches and coincidentally the propane tank has a very similar diameter so I figured I could build a bigger version based on the Weber design to cut into the tank without blowing myself up the first thing I did was I poured some water in through the valve because I wasn't going to remove the valve because that takes a lot of effort I poured it enough water just so that when I flip the tank upside down there would be water so when I drilled a small hole into the bottom of the tank there would be no chance of igniting any remaining fumes what this small hole does is it allows air to escape that's being displaced by the water as I pour more water through the valve once the tank was filled with water I drilled another hole just below where I want to cut into the tank to drain out some of the water and then I simply just used an angle grinder and cut into the tank [Music] so if drawn out a rough door on this I'm gonna have a bottom door to feed the smoker and then a top door up here which is where the meat and whatever else you want to smoke will go I'm gonna make a cut along here first and then weld the hinges on and that way I can cut out the door and not have to worry about how to figure out how to line up the door [Music] [Music] the hinges are roughly welded on now it's time to cut open the rest of the door [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so what I have done so far is I've welded one inch bar stock all the way around the door I cut out earlier and then I have two doors one on the bottom one on the top the bottom one is to tend to fire the top one is to get out whatever you're smoking then I put in two latches two latching mechanisms here just all made out of bar stock very simple design but very effective a welding hammer handle that stayed nice and cool so what has been done is here is just a piece of bar stock with a notch cut out with a V going downward so when this bar connects with this it draws the door in nice and tight and then this is just held on with some hardware this is just a piece of 1/8 bar stock with a welding hammer handle welded on to it stays nice and cool and then I have a little piece of steel welded on down here which then can be at rest and then you can see here here's the knotch and it draws the door in nice and tight on either side I've welded on some stainless handles this is one on this side and one on the other side for the hinges for the door I just use regular door hinges that I've just welded on pretty simple and what I initially did was like to make the doors I drew up the outline and then I cut the hinge side out weld it on the hinges and then cut out the remaining part of the door and that way I wouldn't have any issues with trying to line up the door the bar stock that I've welded across creates a pretty good seal down here on the bottom door pretending to fire to control the air flow I'm gonna make an intake so I've already cut that out all I need to do now is just fabricate some stock and then a sliding door that will slide both ways and then I can control the fire over here on the top of the smoker or the propane tank I've welded on some 1 inch bar stock all the way around and that will create a lip that will seat on top of the smoker I made my own flange up here which will then fit the smokestack [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] let's welded on the lip onto the top of the smoker I've me at it I've reattached the top of the propane tank I thought that looks kind of cool so I'm keeping that now it's time to make the inside racks of the smoker and it'll be almost complete I'll need to give it a washing and quit scrubbing out and test-fire it [Music] form the inside racks I took a piece of quarter inch round stock bent it fit it inside here cut out about an inch so that way I can welt this together and we'll draw it in and will be smaller than the inside circumference of the smoker [Music] the actual great material was made from 1/8 of an inch by 1 inch wire mesh what I like about this wire mesh is it eventually will take a nice seasoning after some use because it's mild carbon steel [Music] the wire mesh was welded onto the quarter inch steel ring it takes some time since each piece of wire mesh was weld to the ring and while it's not necessary to weld each wire I did it as it looks nice and it also removes all the sharp edges which will then make the cleaning of the grates really easy when you're scrubbing them with a scouring pad or stainless steel pad [Music] all right so here is the smoker finished I got to wash out the inside got all the racks installed just weld it in some 1-inch pieces of steel or hold the racks up in total I have six racks installed so I can configure it if I want to smoke the various different things so what I'm gonna do now is wash this out so I'm going to take it outside and scrub it real good rinse it out let it dry do the same with the outside and then I'll paint the outside there's some high temperature paint [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I am super stoked with how well this smoker came out now it's ready for some cooking the first thing I cooked on it was ribs and they came out do you wish so you can check out my video on that too [Music] well I'm really happy to have given new life to an old propane tank that otherwise would have just been scrap metal so thanks for watching this whole video and subscribe to my channel for all kinds of different videos so until the next video [Music] you

Channel: Andrew W

Views: 329,057

Rating: 4.8836927 out of 5

Keywords: how to build a meat smoker, how to build a smoker, how to build a propane tank smoker, how to build a charcoal smoker, how to make a smoker, how to smoke meat, how to make a propane smoker, how to make a smoker from a propane tank, how to make a smoker from a 100lbs propane tank, smoking meat, bbq with franklin, how to smoke ribs

Id: vBr__bhj3bA

Length: 18min 28sec (1108 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 24 2018