I need you guys' help on this one. I am looking to build my own bbq pit this fall/winter and really have no idea where to start looking for the parts needed. I know an old propane tank is the first and most important piece of the puzzle, but where does one start looking for a tank.

I'll sit back and listen because even as much as I love the ease of the pellet grill I have, I want to get back to burning real wood and drinking a lot more beer.

Look on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, any type of online classifieds and you can frequently find somebody with tanks for sale. Maybe check with a propane dealer in your county if they have any old tanks they've decommissioned.

If cutting into it yourself, remember to flood it with water and soap a few times first to make sure all the propane is out. You don't wanna end up on the local news….

For an overall design, I'd recommend looking at how guys like Cen-Tex smokers (owner posts on texags), milscale, and Moberg do theirs. You want a big stack on the end to get a good draw. Wider than you'd think you need. I think they use 6 inch diameter pipe on 250, 8 inch for 500 gallons, and 10 inch on a 1000 gallon pit. A lot of them use semi or fully insulated fireboxes if you want to get real fancy, but it's certainly not mandatory.

I guess most of the above advice is for if you're wanting a bigger sized pit that can still cook for family, but also bigger-ish crowds if you need to. You certainly could go smaller than a 250 gallon tank if you're just cooking for 5-10 people max every time.

This will be your friend

http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html

Make sure you use a calculator to get proper flow.

Aaron Franklin's book has a whole chapter on building a smoker. Lots of pictures and drawings with dimensions. And he did an episode on it in the show that used to come on PBS. Probably find that on youtube. I bought a 200 gal tank from one of the Bryan propane dealers for $50 about 10 years ago.

Oops I see the video already posted.

When I started my journey on a project like this, before my buddy gave me a smoker, I found that it was a hell of a lot cheaper to buy a used smoker. Everyone gets on these little smoking kicks, and most don't stick with it, and their 3,000 smoker ends up on facebook for 2500....then in 3 weeks 2200.....then you can start kicking the tires down to 1800.....and in another 2-3 weeks their wife will say "Sweet god, just get it out of here, take whatever he will give you for it." and you can lowball to 975 and load it up. Never underestimate the wife discount to your favor.

Yes, I want to build my own. Yes, I like that stuff. Yes, I also want to start cooking sooner than later and not add another project to my never ending list of antique tractor fixing.

Just something to think about.

Whatever you do, don't over think this. Remember, ancient people cooked pigs in the dirt. Franklin is a master of his craft. He doesn't make the best smoker, he makes a smoker he knows how to use like it's an appendage to his body. He knows his equipment and he knows it well. You could make him cook out of a barrel and he'd be great.

-about 25-30% of your pit needs to be fire box when using an old propane tank
-It's easier to shut air flow down than it is to create, your dampers and exhaust need to be bigger than you think
-You want your exhaust pipe to be low on the opposite end of the fire box so your heat isn't racing out of it


Those are my big three to get right when building a pit, the rest is just showing of your craftsmanship.

As far as sourcing a propane tank, call a propane company and see if they have any old tanks handy

I got the metal for mine from Green Guys Recycling in San Marcos

I've built a few out of old propane tanks. You can find them Facebook marketplace pretty regularly. As for cutting, what we typically do is remove all of the fittings, and put them in a brush pile and burn. Never had any issues. We tried filling with water and still had little explosions when cutting.

As for cutting doors, I use a hand plasma with a straight edge. I have seen people use cutting wheels on a grinder, but I wouldn't recommend if you have ever seen pictures of somenone's face when one breaks.

And as someone else mentioned, Feldon's Pit calculator is a good place to start on getting the right spec for firebox, smokestack, etc…

I have access to a CNC table that, I can help you cut plate parts if needed.

We built ours out of scrap pipe from the pipeline company's yard. It's thicker wall than propane tanks and we got it free.

Cutting the doors was the hardest part.

We've built a small trailer pit and three backyard smokers.

If you can, make the grill grates slide-outs.

Spend the money on good heavy duty wheels.

Plan your baffle system, we used vertical baffles with threaded controls. Some people like tuning plates.

Put a drain on it somewhere.

I'll add more as I drink my coffee

dahouse said:

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We built ours out of scrap pipe from the pipeline company's yard. It's thicker wall than propane tanks and we got it free.

Cutting the doors was the hardest part.

We've built a small trailer pit and three backyard smokers.

If you can, make the grill grates slide-outs.

Spend the money on good heavy duty wheels.

Plan your baffle system, we used vertical baffles with threaded controls. Some people like tuning plates.

Put a drain on it somewhere.

I'll add more as I drink my coffee

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This ^^^ 26" d. 48 long 3/8 thick

Here's the one my dad built about 25 years ago. A buddy told him he would give him some pipe if he built him a pit….this was the left overs

As much as I would love to have one that size, I'm only needing about half of that.

Thought of another one…

Add an upper set of grill grates. They can be half the width, but they'll come in handy.

In my trailer pit, I have to put in bricks to install temporary upper grates when I do big cooks.

Pics of the little trailer we built in 2008

To the OP - I did this sometime back and use the pit constantly. You don't need elaborate stuff - baffles, etc. Not sure where you are located, but I bought almost all my stuff in the scrap yard at Rose steel in Houston. Use pipeline pipe for the main pit, 1/4" plate for the firebox and pipe ends. You will need some other misc stuff like cold rolled for the hinges and handles and some expanded steel for the grills.

Yeah, you could probably buy a nice smoker cheaper, but what's the fun in that?

Your last statement is my thought exactly in why I want to do this. Luckily I have a BIL that can weld and has built some pretty nice fire pits and cookers so we are both pretty darn excited about taking this on.