I was gifted a scrap pressure tank that is 50 gal, 18" diameter, 48" long, and 3/16" (.188") thick. This is a lot smaller than most of the propane tank smoker builds that I see here and on a google search, but is this tank big enough to justify spending any money and effort on?

Should also mention that I just purchased a small stick welder and figured that this might be a reasonable first project after teaching myself & practicing on scrap. This would be a project that I would likely give away in the future since it's big brother tank is still lying in wait until I can haul a trailer back out to Lubbock to pick it up.

Thoughts and/or comments?

use the 50 gallon tank as the firebox that you weld onto a bigger propane tank that will form the main cooking chamber for your pit.

That's a great suggestion! If the ideal size for a firebox is 1/3 the cooking volume then it would be just about perfect for a 150 gallon propane tank build.

Thanks!

I built one out of an old air tank my first year teaching shop, I'll see if my teaching partner can send me a pic of it. I built an "in the tube" fire box that worked pretty well.

ETA- nvm, found a pic on my Photobucket of it mid-build. The back wall of the firebox is even with the back edge of the flat spot/bean pot warmer. Lots of trial and error to get that pit to cook right, but it was a fun ongoing project with the kids.

Holy chimney!

The kids called it "el tren" because when you put a pot of beans on the warmer it looked like a train engine. That's actually a warming chamber that kept about a 50-75 degree temp diff from the main chamber which was handy for warming up sides (has room/racks for 6-13x9 pans), or getting smoke and slow heat on sausage without splitting the casings.

Aaron Franklin did a series for PBS on Texas BBQ. One of the episodes is on pit building where he shows his techniques for pit design and joining 2 cylinders of different sizes. It may be a good reference. You may be able to find it on the Austin KUTX pbs tv website. He may also have some similar stuff in one of his YouTube clips.