I used a “smoky Mountain” vertical smoker and a “Brinkman” off set fire box. I thought this would be a long and detailed post but the big time consuming part was assembling the smoker and fire box. The tools you would need to join the two are a Phillips screw driver, crescent wrench, drill/w 1/4” drill bit and a saber saw with a metal cutting blade. I put the two on a work table for a more comfortable working height.
I positioned the two where they would be located. I was surprised that the fire box had a large elliptical shaped hole for heat/smoke transfer. I traced the ellipse and bolt holes with a pencil then cut the ellipse and drilled the bolt holes.
Man that looks like a big hole but every thing lined up nice.
Brinkman includes the parts necessary to use the fire box as a stand alone grill, a larger elliptical plate with draft control. I decided to use them to reduce the heat/smoke to the smoker. If the reduction is to much I will cut a 4” diameter hole through the ellipse. If the reduction is still to much I will just eliminate the ellipse. As soon as the weather breaks I plan to build a fire in the fire box and burn off any manufacturing residue and see what kind of temperature range I will have.
John's Garden Journal 
Cool, looks great! I have never smoked meat. I should try it on the weber kettle some time.
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I was actually going to do something just like this and was googling to see if anyone had done it and I found your site. Looks good!
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John, great looking smoker! My brother would be so jealous. He loves smoking ribs til they fall of the bone! You are so handy it’s unreal!
I just wanted to stop by to thank you once again for that incredible soil block maker you made for me. I use it every season for seed starting. I was just commenting about it to my folks last night and they convinced me to make one for them. I can duplicate what you made fairly well, but the bottom disk is confusing me. It’s clear on mine, so it can’t have come from the pill bottle. What did you make it out of? Shoot me an email or a comment on my blog. Thanks!
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The meat looks pretty tasty, but don’t screw around with that CO (Carbon Monoxide).
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This is very helpful, John. I have had a smokey mountain for a few years and just replaced it with a kamodo style smoker, but the new one with an 18″ round grill doesn’t always have the capacity I need. I like the idea of using charcoal so this project looks like a great way to make use of my old smoker and get a better product.
So, my question: Have you found that having the damper between the firebox and the food chamber is helpful in controlling temperature, or do you pretty much just leave it open and use the damper controlling the draft on the firebox and the exhaust at the top to control temperature? Would you recommend keeping the elipse or not bothering?
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Reblogged this on John's Garden Journal and commented:
There have been many hits on this post and I thought I would bring it to the top of the journal. Probably the time of the year. John
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