The Very Cool Barrel Smoker

Original Barrel, before project

Every once in a while I get the notion to make something or build something.  As we were a year or so out from our PCS from Italy to the states, I started wondering what cool stuff I could make from wine barrels.   At the time, we were able to get them for around $50 each.  Once some of the wineries caught on to us crazy Americans buying the wine barrels, they quickly went up to $100 each.  For a comparison, I have found wine barrels and whiskey barrels going for $125 in the states.  So, I thought it a good opportunity to pick some up before I departed our beloved Italy.  I have five right now.  I am saving three of them to build a bar with some kind of timber slab for the bar top.  I will build that once we get our home built in Bulverde, Texas.  I have built one into a wine barrel table with a glass top and inlaid corks.  That leaves me with the one that I built into a meat/fish smoker.

The first screw through the band

I am including my photos and steps I used to make it.  My purpose is so that someone else that may have the same idea.  I am also including lessons learned, things I would different or my trial and error ideas that got me to my final product.  Anyone with average handyman skills can build a smoker from a wine barrel.

The picture to the right shows the first screw I used to hold the staves to the steel bands.  The staves are one inch thick, so I went with a #8 screw 5/8 inch long.

I used 1/4 nut driver

Jigsaw to cut the top off.

I went through a few drill bits.  I didn't have a local Home Depot or Ace Hardware to go buy harden drill bits.  I used self tapping screws, so I only drilled through the band and allowed the screws to tap themselves through.  It has been two and half years since I built the smoker.  If I were to do this part again, I may buy one inch screws.  I have had a few pop.  Since this is a smoker, the expanding and contracting of the wood and bands probably took its toll on the screws.  To help with this, I would probably be very careful not to drive them in too hard.  I have to say that this was the most tedious and time consuming part of this project.  I put one screw through the steel band for each stave.

Now the fun part.  The part when you get to see some results for the work I was doing.  I drew a line parallel with and just above the fourth band.  Next time I would probably have cut a little closer to the third band.  It would be a bit of a calculation because you want to make sure you have the diameter to get the grates in.  The reason I would cut it closer to the third band is two fold.  First, it would make the top not so heavy.  Second, there would be more support for the hinges.







As I sit here two years later, the  staves in the top are flexing a bit more and causing the lid not to seat properly.  I will add some support to it, but if I were to do it again, I would make the above adjustments.

The inside of the barrel was a beautiful red the wine and had a great aroma.  The next step is to cut a hole in the bottom that would serve as the chip/chunk door for restocking the pan.

The door took some work and rework.  I used gorilla glue to hold the staves together.  The curvature of the door didn't quite match the curvature of the barrel, but it is what it is.  I ended up added a few screws on the top and bottom of the door to keep the staves tight and together.  The gorilla glue just wasn't enough.

Next step would be to get the grates in.  I used webber grates, 22.5 inch.  Three to four inch lag-eyes were used to hold the grates.  The 'eye' part of the lag screw provided a nice flat surface to hold the grate.  I put enough in there to support three grates, four lags for each grate.  Initially my thought was to use a small pan for the water pan.  After the first use, I realized I also needed something to catch the drippings from the meat.

I found a Paella pan on Amazon.  Those things come in almost any size you would want.  I believe a 26" pan fit the bill for me.  Once I got it, I cut off the handles so it was a nice fit, a perfect fit.  Keeps the water and catches the drippings.  You can also see the burner at the bottom in the picture above.

Originally I purchased an American smoker element.  I found that running this 1500 watt element on the transformer Italy did not produce enough heat.  It worked great for salmon, but it didn't quite do it for meat.  My next try was I bought, at the Italian store, an indoor grill.  It had a 2300 watt element and was 220 volt, so it didn't require a transformer.  It worked better.

I also put some small castor wheels on the barrel.  The first ones I bought at the Italian hardware.  They were a little soft.  I would recommend hard plastic wheels.  Although hot climates may still cause them to get flat spots.

Some finishing touches.  I put a handle on the front of the lid and two handles on the barrel.  I also attached some chains to keep the lid from going back too far.

In these last two pictures you see the electric controller.  This was needed and worked great for smoking salmon.  I was able to set the temp and the controller would cycle on and off to maintain 160 degrees.  Even the 2300 watt element had to run at full power to get above 200 degrees, the controller was not necessary.  This controller was pretty cool for me in that it could be configured for either 110 volt or 220 volt.

The final and sexy touch was to add the tail pipes for the exhaust.  It made for some great conversations. The smoke just poured out of those pipes.  There were many people that were curious about this contraption.  Mostly Italians, they just don't smoke meat like we do.

The last update came as I moved to Florida.  I was back in the states now and switched back to the 1500 watt element.  This is the biggest element you can get.  Sometimes I think we are overly cautious when it comes to safety in America.  I had to come up with another idea.

My first idea was to use the offset firebox that you would use on an offset barrel smoker like the one made by Charbroil.  I used stovepipe to pipe the heat and smoke into the barrel.  It worked, but it was awkward looking.  I think I also lost a lot of heat around the stovepipe.  So I needed to come up with something else.  So I started looking for options in a propane burner.  I came across the V-Burner from a company in Alabama... that is it.  I have great control on the heat and I use a large soup can to put the wood chunks in it.




I am extremely happy with it.  Below are some of the recent items I have made with my wine barrel smoker.  What is next?  Check back to find out.

The ALWAYS popular Bacon Xplosion

Smoked Chicken, upgrade from BeFeds

Pork Shoulder


Here are some youtube videos of the barrel in action.

Maiden Voyage

Smoking Salmon

Double Brisket Smoke I

Double Brisket Smoke II