Mods to my Chargriller COS

[GreavesManchu]

Here's what I've done to my Chargriller 'till I get a welder and build a GF. Welded in the charcoal tray and sealed the seams in the side firebox. Took the charcoal tray out of the smoke chamber turned it over and attached it to the end over the opening from the fire box with a couple of small L-brackets; then I took two 3" wide pieces of sheet metal and laid them on each side of my new baffle. Next I took the lid off,, turned it around, and mounted threaded inserts to attach the hinge pins. I used a couple of those threaded barrel nuts with the prongs on them (used in woodworking), but cut the prongs off, drilled a cuople of pilot holes and used a step drill to get the barrel to fit. Quick tack with a gas torch and the lid was on. Next I took a piece of 3" copper down spout ( that's what I had) and stuffed it in the stack to extend down to grill level; now it's a reverse flow. For temerature control I use a ThermaPen smoke chamber probe ( good to over 2,200 degrees), and a meat probe. With the reverse flow temps are fairly even from end to end. My temp reader has dual inputs. I also have a HF welding blanket if it's windy or cold. I also put a 15 pound chunk of granite and loaf pan of water in smoke chamber under the baffle. Those help to regulate the temp and and humidity. It takes some baby sitting, and fiddling, just like Meathead says, but I can get some tasty Q from it. Packed right, I can cook two packer briskets or up to six sides of ribs.

Oh, and by the way, I'm new to the site, from the real N California, about 115 miles south of Oregon in Redding.

[Big T]

It sounds like you've turned it into a nice smoker.

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

Sounds like some nice mods

[Pennywise]

That sounds like a lot of work to make the chargriller a good smoker. I have one of these too (I bought the 5050 so my son could practice on the gas side) and it turned out some good bbq as an offset....but nothing like what I can do now with my current one.

Kudos man, I wouldn't have had the patience for that!

[Rodcrafter]

Sounds like you will fit right in.

Warning though; "No pics it never happened" I'm just telling you first. lol

[GreavesManchu]

Thanks for your kind words. It really didn't take much effort to improve the CharBroiler since I was starting at such a low bar, but the mods did make it useable. The biggest negatives are not much heat retention, difficult to keep steady temp more than about 45 min., and rust, which comes off in big flakes. I'll try for some pic later. Did Ic mention rust?