The New Smoker

As promised yesterday, here are the directions for building a serious trashcan smoker.

I had originally built an electric smoker, but there were some factors that led me away from doing so again. For starters, my apartment at the time was on the third floor of an apartment building and I had no balcony. That meant I had to run an extension cord out my window to the ground floor.

More importantly, however, was the fact that my smoker would not get hot enough to smoke anything in a reasonable fashion. I would use the smoker to put a smoke flavor on the meat and then finish them in my oven. The smell in my tiny apartment would linger for a week. Furthermore, I had to leave my smoker outdoors, so wrapping it in insulation was not an option.

The solution was fire! By using a propane burner on low, I could put a lot of smoke on the meat, with very precise temperature. Purists may bristle, but engineers and chefs will recognize the need for consistency.

This trashcan smoker is my test smoker so that I can dial in my techniques and recipes. Soon, I will build an offset smoker so that I can get cooler smoke and anaerobic environments (which present a whole now danger: botulinum). But this smoker will serve most people perfectly for years.

This project involves fire, flammable gas, metal, cutting, power tools, cursing, boozing, and subject matter not approved by the MPAA. I suppose I should warn you that there are hazards involved. If you act like a moron, you can get hurt or seriously killed. I am deliberately leaving a lot of the instructions vague because if you don't know how the hazards involved can be mitigated, don't go messing with fire. Wear protection. And I don't mean condoms.

What you need:

• steel trashcan with lid
  
• two Weber 18.5 inch steel grates
  
• cheap propane burner (like from a camp burner or turkey fryer kit)
  
• cast iron chip box
  
• six, 1/4 x 2 1/2 machine bolts
  
• six, 1/4 nuts
  
• 12, 1/4 inch fender washers
  
• drill
  
• 2" metal hole saw
  
• measuring tape
  
• thermometer, something like a meat thermometer, but a remote oven thermometer is even better (more on this later)
  

Note: there is a lot of shrill hype about the zinc in the galvanized trashcan. The trashcan is never heated to the vaporization point of zinc. Additionally, you get a smoke coating on the inside of the can from the first test firing. And finally, as a little more paranoid measure, don't let the food touch the side of the can. You don't want to let the food touch anything anyway because that would be a place with no smoke.

First, wash out the can. I used a dish brush and biodegradable dish detergent. The idea here is to get out the nastiness leftover from manufacturing and shipping.


Start by measuring the diameter of your trashcan. My can was about 20.5 inches in diameter. Remember that number. Make a mark near the top of the can that is on the vertical line where you want a rack mount (don't worry about height yet). Now, taking the diameter measurement, measure out that distance on the circumference two more times. This will give you three points on the outside of the can that describe an equilateral triangle in your can.

Determine where you want your racks. If you want to smoke large turkeys, or ribs standing up, I suggest 9 inches off the deck for the lower rack and another 12 inches above that for the upper rack. Measure 9 inches off the ground along the outside of the can, in the same vertical line as one of the three marks. Measure another 12 inches above that. Mark each point. Repeat for the remaining two vertical marks. Drill. Insert screws and fender washers.


Using the hole saw, create one hole on the side of the can, near the bottom. This is for the gas hose. You must do something with the edge of this hole otherwise it will chew through the propane hose. Create another two holes near the bottom of the can. These are to let in cool air to develop a decent draft and help control the temperature. I made the mistake of putting these holes on opposite sides. This allows a cross-breeze to form in the smoker. If I did it again, the lower two vents would be next to each other.

Now for the burner...

Assemble the burner (if necessary) and place it in the bottom of the can. Run the hose out the hole you made for it.



We'll test fire the smoker now, but don't plan on being able to do food immediately.

Soak some wood chips, place them in your chip box, put the chip box on the burner, and light the burner. Turn the flame down as low as it will go and stay lit. This may require some jiggering and hacking on your part. Put the racks in the smoker, replace the lid, and monitor the temperature.

The idea here is to make sure the smoker can be controlled over a range of 160 to 225 degrees. This is a good range for a variety of foods and impatience levels. Also, we want to coat the inside of the smoker with a protective layer of smoke.

I highly suggest a remote thermometer for the smoker, one with a wireless transmitter and receiver. The model I bought was the Redi-Chek.


This is not a great thermometer because it tries to do the thinking for you. But it is wireless, has a temperature alarm, and a long probe. This is invaluable for being able to watch a movie or otherwise wander away from the smoker and still be able to babysit the temperature. Additionally, if it is raining outside, you don't have to keep running outside to check the smoker.

I also bought a Weber piezoelectric igniter. This way, I don't have to try to stick a lighter in there. Just turn on the gas, hit the button, and away we go.

This is a work in progress, so there will be many more developments as time goes on.