One question I get a lot from folks stopping by this blog is: “How do I construct a BBQ smoker.”  Most of the time, folks are just not happy with the smokers they see in the home stores, or they want something with a bit more personality that what they’re finding there.

My Advice for Constructing Your Own Smoker? Go Retro-Baby

Custom built BBQs were all the rage back in the 1950s, before any weekend warrior could zip down to the local Mega-l0w-Mart and pick up a $100 grill.    As a retro-style guy myself, I am happy to see more and more Barbecue enthusiasts looking to go hands-on today in terms of building their own barbecues.

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan

Your Mission: Construct BBQ Smoker

First Step: Make a Plan, Stan

I know you’re ready to get started on your sweet home-built BBQ smoker.  However, before you start picking up cement, wood, mortar, and anything else you think you’ll need – you need to develop a plan for what you want in a backyard BBQ.

Do you want to go simple, or do you want the Taj Mahal of smokers?  Maybe you want something that’s a bit more than your garden variety fire pit but not exactly a competition ready rig.

The cost to construct your smoker should drive your plan to a large extent.   You can build a nice attractive fire pit with a basic metal grate, or you can drop some major cheddar on a gas or electric grill with several burners, storage cabinets, etc.

For my money, I’d probably opt for a simple wood or charcoal-fired barbecue.   Going too complex may get you into an economy of scale issue  – where it’d just be smarter to have the grill custom made.

DIY BBQ Smoker: Basics to Plan For

First things first – you’ll want to be sure you have selected a well-ventilated location for your smoker.  One of the ideas I’ve had lately is to see about setting a double barrel smoker like the Big Baby smoker into a brick base so that it takes on more of a stylish presence.

The masonry required to build the base for this sort of smoker setup can be performed with some basic know how, a simple masonry book, and some basic pre-made metal parts. You could most likely put it together on a Saturday afternoon with a couple of buddies and the promise of a case of beer.  Of course, the smoker itself might take another weekend and… darn… more beer.

Key Things to Consider When You Construct Your Smoker

• Location: Situate your barbecue in a place where there won’t be any danger from fire, and where you’ll be happy with it being for years to come.
• Look and Feel: You’re building your own smoker – so take time to be sure it matches the look and feel of your home and yard.  You want to be sure it fits within its surroundings.
• Usefulness: You may not only want to smoke meat, chicken or fish.  Consider your smoker’s flexibility factor, and decide if you also want it to be able to handle direct heat cooking and grilling.
• Year-Round Use: Your smoker is something you should be able to enjoy year-round.
• Maintenance: Keep your clean up options nice and simple, and make sure you can get to any smoker parts you may need to repair.  The last thing you want to have to do is smash through brick and mortar for a BBQ smoker repair job.

A very popular choice for building your own BBQ smoker is the Ugly Drum Smoker, or UDS.  Heck, I think even Darth Vader uses a 55 gallon drum smoker version!

Books and Other Resources We Like

Interestingly, there really aren’t many books for constructing BBQ smokers or taking a DIY Barbecue Smoker approach.   But, there are a few we like.  Take a look.  I think you’ll find them useful.