Introduction: Weber Smoker
Old Mr Weber starts smoking
Step 1: Weber Resigns
After a quarter-century of round-the-year service,
Weber was about to resign due to weak legs.
As my equally old Abu-smoker started leaking
at the same time as Weber lost his legs,
I decided to give Weber a chance to take over,
as his top was intact.
Step 2: Simple Tripod
I found some threaded rods in my workshop, to be mounted along
the perimeter of an old copper cooking pot from a flea-market,
large enough to cover all the holes in the bottom of the grill.
I drilled some undersized holes in a piece of scrap and screwed them into it.
As the pot has a flange some distance from the bottom,
it rests quite stable on the rods and is easily removed to empty the ashes.
Step 3: Making Chips.
From an old apple tree, I removed a dry branch and cut to straight pieces.
Then I screwed a handle to one of them to be able to shred it safely on my jointer.
Step 4: Loading
I filled chips from a quarter of a log in the pot and then etanol in a smaller pot beneath as a burner.
Step 5: Mounting
The old grill was then positioned on the cooking-pot,
and so the grate with the salted salmon I had prepared.
Step 6: Smoking
With the lid in place and the vent open, time to light the burner.
Step 7: Evaluation
Smoking continued long after the burner was empty, and due to the lower temperature
the salmon was much smoother than in the Abu-smoker, and more delicious.
Weber has now earned a permanent position as successor to Abu,
and will not be retired for years.
Step 8: Concrete
As the test was satisfactory, the base was substituted to concrete to last some years.
I'm happy to have a smoker that stays outside.
My old Abu has served me well, but the soot has been a nuisance in the kitchen.
Now that problem is solved with a reclaimed grill.
Step 9: New Build
To expand the functionality into daylong smoking,
I built a simple fireplace from reclaimed bricks and topped it
with an octagonal chimney to receive the Weber top.
This is however too recent to test for a while.
My intention is to cover the front during smoking with a piece
of mineral wool in the beginning, and perhaps make steel doors later.
Step 10: The Real Thing
There is probably some mason who can make it a lot nicer,
but I think it will work fine.
Now I can choose between the chips-pot or the fireplace
depending on the size of meat to be smoked.
And it cost me nothing but labour.