Filing Cabinet Smoker Ideas

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Brew-Happy

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I haven't done this, but I figured this idea would be of some interest to the homebrew/meat smoking community. :D Southern engineers unite!:rockin:

I am currently researching this idea for a 2 drawer filing cabinet of mine. Not sure if my wife appreciates this as much as I do. lol I thought i would share some of my research. Enjoy

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/78039/filing-cabinet-smoker-finished-pics

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/118975/dual-file-cabinet-cold-smoker-questions

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/104256/three-drawer-filing-cabinet-with-pid

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/79800/finished-file-cabinet-b-bq-pit-q-meat-view

Nice build here: http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=328731&sid=1afe0cc9618b2f8736d30aafba7961c5


Excellent build here:


Ok that should keep you busy for a while. Hope you have fun with this. If you've done this please share your thoughts, pics, and meaty results.
 
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2 drawer? If I was gonna do it, I would do a 4 drawer.

you can probably get 1 free with all the businesses going down in flames.
 
2 drawer? If I was gonna do it, I would do a 4 drawer.

you can probably get 1 free with all the businesses going down in flames.

Well I already have the filing cabinet so no need to buy another. Granted they can be cheap at the local university surplus auction. Plus, I will be smoking small amounts of meat as it is just my wife and I eating. If I was feeding more, then I could definitely see a bigger cabinet, say something like this:

museumfiles02.jpg


Think of all the racks of ribs you could smoke in that puppy. :p
 
Hi

If you are going to junk the drawers, I think you loose any benefit the filing cabinet gives you. Looks like a lot more work (and thus cost) than some of the alternatives.

I'd also point out that something that big running on electricity isn't going to get very hot. I've spent a *lot* of time finding that out with an electric smoker...

Bob
 
carlisle_bob said:
Hi

If you are going to junk the drawers, I think you loose any benefit the filing cabinet gives you. Looks like a lot more work (and thus cost) than some of the alternatives.

I'd also point out that something that big running on electricity isn't going to get very hot. I've spent a *lot* of time finding that out with an electric smoker...

Bob

hi!

I agree. Also, as with beer(kegs, etc) more is....well.....more.

someday you may entertain guests, or want to smoke 40 lbs of homemade andoullie sausage to freeze or give as gifts.
 
Hi

If you are going to junk the drawers, I think you loose any benefit the filing cabinet gives you. Looks like a lot more work (and thus cost) than some of the alternatives.

I'd also point out that something that big running on electricity isn't going to get very hot. I've spent a *lot* of time finding that out with an electric smoker...

Bob

Hey Bob,

Thankfully I will be starting out small with a two drawer cabinet. It is good to know about the volume to energy ratio when smoking. I may not do away with the drawers at first. I like idea of cutting out the bottom of the top drawer and put in an expanded metal base.

At cheezy, I am almost totally certain i will not be smoking 40lbs of sausage. lol. as it is, this is a beginning project. I may be moving in the next 2-3 years, so i dont want to collect too much stuff for now. In the future, I can see a project build of a small concrete buried smoker, where i would burn a small stack of wood to heat the surround concrete and earth, then put in the meat and electric burner for the smoking. That would be a much later build. I have to work up the scale of the model. :)

This has been some good discussion so far tho.
 
be sure you don't have a filing cabinet with plastic wheels on the tracks if you haven't thought of that. sadly, i go a great deal on a cabinet to make one of these last year, and then got it home to discover plastic wheels. have yet to fix the tracks to a smoke safe material as of yet
 
Hi

There are a lot of cute places for plastic to hide in a modern filing cabinet, it's certainly worth checking. Rubber bumpers at the back of the tracks might also be an issue. Once you smoke a few times, the bearings and latches on the slides are going to lock up. They will be full of black smoke gunk. Think about how the drawers will work when that happens.

Even for smoking, you want the gear to get up to 250 ~ 300F. That sounds pretty simple and it probably is *if* it's empty in July. Toss 10 or 20 pounds of meat plus marinade in there in February with a nice breeze blowing down from Canada - not so simple.

It's easy to say it's a small project, been there done that. Smoked meat goes great with smoked veggies and smoked mushrooms and smoked peppers and smoked second kind of meat and ... Things can get out of hand pretty quick.

Bob
 
@lex and Carlisle,

Very good point about the plastic parts. This may be why they removed the drawers. In the youtube video, you can tell they pulled all of slide mechanisms and built better racks. This would mean I would have to junk the drawer anyway. hmmm.
 
Hi

I would think that a 55 gallon drum for a ugly drum smoker would be a pretty easy thing to score ....

Bob
 
Hi

I would think that a 55 gallon drum for a ugly drum smoker would be a pretty easy thing to score ....

Bob

It probably would. I was thinking a keg would be a fun smoker as well. Just thinking and researching is all this is right now, until I get more serious about this.
 
I've been trying to smoke meats for quite a while using my regular old charcoal grill and I have had fantastic results. This is possibly the coolest idea that I have seen for a smoker. We just set aside a few file cabinets at work, so I will try to snag one tomorrow. I am pretty excited to have a project like this and I am looking forward to smoking more! My basic idea is to take one of these 3 drawer cabinets and a firebox out of a .50 cal ammo can. I'm planning to take the guts of the drawers out and just hinge the doors. I've built a basic cooktop stove out of an ammo can already so I think that using it as a firebox will be pretty simple. Just plan on cutting matching holes in the cabinet and can and lining it up and bolting together. I might put a small piece of ducting between it to seal off smoke better and just flare it out on both sides. As soon as I get everything lined up I will try and post pics in a new thread as a project.
 
Take the guts out of the drawers???????

The ability to pull stuff out but leave it hanging seemed like the best part to me. Think about it.
 
All of the drawers had the little plastic wheels on them. I don't want to mess with that. I agree that It would be one of the best parts of using a file cabinet. I found one that was a two drawer that did not have plastic in it, but I don't think a two drawer will be big enough for me. I may end up using that one anyway to keep the drawers as you said. I gotta get on this quickly before everyone snatches them up!
 
Lowes sells all-metal drawer parts.

Smoking would eff them up pretty quick, but get some industrial ones and they would last years.

Pull it out baste it with one hand??? priceless.
 
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