Hobart oven upright smoker build

  • a plate at the bottom that will double as a heat deflector and grease catcher.

    I wonder if you could get something similar to the hark upright gas smoker, with the water tray that acts as a fat catcher.

  • I'd be worried about not having a seperate heat deflector. The fat try would get very hot and could produce some acrid smoke from the fat.



    Traeger - Weber Family Q - Ziggy Twin Burner - Charcoal Grill - Akorn Kamado - Hark Tri Fire - Jumbuck Pizza Oven - Go Anywhere - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Hibachi Grill - Anova Sous Vide x 2

  • I'd be worried about not having a seperate heat deflector. The fat try would get very hot and could produce some acrid smoke from the fat.

    Sorry Waz, I The pellet crucible will have a deflector like on a Traeger/GMG the tray above it would catch the grease and divert it but also "deflect" the heat up around the sides of it if that makes sense?


    I wonder if you could get something similar to the hark upright gas smoker, with the water tray that acts as a fat catcher.

    Good idea Narms, I have a large dish that I was thinking of using but may try a 1/1 Bain Marie pan

  • Finally the parts arrived today from Sydney to get this back on track. I ordered one of the newer Traeger Control Boards with the PID style control. It also has 2 x meat temp probes (which they forgot to put in the pacakge :( )

    So it's fit them and then build the shelving setup. Originally was going to go with a rak that held the 1/1 Baine Marie pans but as the would only fill around 2/3rds of each shelf level I'm thinking to go with custom made rack that fits into the smoker. It will work out at 600mm deep x 700mm wide so should a bucketful or two of food.

    Now the $64 question......... I'd be interested to hear how far apart you think the shelves should be? I'm leaning to 125mm but maybe 100 would be better? I have a round 1400mm of height to play with so will allow a healthy space at the bottom for drip trays and heat deflectors. Prbably use around 1000mm of the upper space for shelves.

    Cheers, Wayne

  • You know I'm turning up for a cook, what you have done here looks great, I want a play.



    Traeger - Weber Family Q - Ziggy Twin Burner - Charcoal Grill - Akorn Kamado - Hark Tri Fire - Jumbuck Pizza Oven - Go Anywhere - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Hibachi Grill - Anova Sous Vide x 2

  • I take it the cooking grates are slide in slide out? 120mm aint a lot but with the real estate available Im sure you could remove a shelf if doing taller cooks. The first pic posted has stainless racks and runners, do you have all that?

  • I take it the cooking grates are slide in slide out? 120mm aint a lot but with the real estate available Im sure you could remove a shelf if doing taller cooks. The first pic posted has stainless racks and runners, do you have all that?

    Yes the grates will be removable and can drop one out when needed.
    I didnt score the racks which is a shame but they are built to take the 1/1 pans so a fair bit smaller than what will fit on a full width shelf

    Cheers,Wayne

  • Ok, I was just thinking about say trying to turn a load of wings or the like. The kamado double grill is 100 high and a pain to work under hot.
    My larger bain marie tray is 100mm high an Id want at least a inch clearance to mess with it while hot
    not trying to insult you but remember to include the shelf thickness when spacing. Seen many a fabricator stuff that up...

  • Had a bit of time spare finally and made a heap of progress on the Hobark. I decided to move the controller up onto the main body of the Hobart. Had to make up extension cabling to get it to reach and have to admit was a bit toey that I had everything hooked up the right way.

    Then onto the welder to make up the shelf racks.


    Chris from UG came up with a nice heat deflector for me to try out. Works like a dream :) Many thanks to you UG you've been terrific helping me with this build. :clap:

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    • Official Post

    Had a bit of a cook up for Harmony's 18th. Apart from a test run this is the first cook up.

    We had around 90 drumsticks, 4 X 2.5 kg pork roasts, 4 X 2.5 kg beef roasts, a lamb shoulder and chucked a couple of chooks in as well.

    Pretty pleased with the way it went. Cooked everything at 150c and has all come out pretty well.

    Lit it up at 9.30 and turned off at 5.30 during that it burnt around 6.75 kg of pellets. So happy with the consumption.

    I will pop up a few pics.

    Cheers, Wayne


    Meat ready to prep

    4 roasts fit on each shelf easily

    Peeling the skin off chicken legs takes time

    A bit of a dust with Ribracks Chook Rub

    Cut a porkie in half to check

    Ditto for the bolar Blade roast

    Drummies in the smoker

    Popped a lamb shoulder in as well for tea tonight

    • Official Post

    Wow what a cook. Looks awesome.

    Any niggly little things to fix on the smoker ?

    Not really, she held temp well over the day and doesnt use as much pellets as i originally thought it would. I'll probably make a bit more of an adjustable vent/chimney and perhaps the drip tray that Wazza mentioned could be on the cards. it didnt really give off crap smoke from the one I had in there but I'll look at it along the way.

    Cheers, Wayne

  • The Hobark ended up being just a bit too big for the cooks that I've been doing. :)

    I tried using it for a couple of BBQ Comps but found that cooking the 4 diferent meats and opening and closing the door continuously had it struggling to get back to temp quickly enough.

    So it's been passed on to a mate that does a bit of catering. Works really well for him as he fills it up with the same type of meat and cooks them without having to open the door.

    Sizewise on the 6 shelves it can hold either 12 full packer briskets, 36 Pork Collar Butts or a stupid amount of Lamb Shanks, Chicken Drummies/Wings etc.

    I've managed to find a replacement for it though. An old commercial Sstainless steel fridge. It's a bit smaller (and lighter) but still a generous size. I have started on the build and will kick off another thread on how it goes,

    Cheers, Wayne

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