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  • The charcoal basket

    One of the biggest improvements/mods you can do for most any charcoal smoker is make a coal basket. It helps air flow thru the coals, and really cuts down on "ash choke"- where built up ash smothers the coals. Most are made out of expanded metal, and stand a bit up off the standard coal grate.


    Mr. Solar has some construction details for a custom basket to pass along below:

    This idea will work with any type firebox.

    Remember that when you measure the top inside diam of your firebox, that you keep in mind, that as you go deeper in to the firebox, the curved radius as you measure down will make your measurements less. That’s why I made a cardboard template first; because the price of a piece of 24”x24” expanded metal from Home Depot costs about $20; so you don’t want to screw this part up.

    First thing I did was fab a template out of cardboard and fit it in the fire box. I roughly measured the inside diam and figured I'd add 3" for the sides, and ended up with something like this.



    Then tape up the sides and see how well it fits, you can use the mounting brackets in the firebox that were for the grill racks.





    After you find a good fitting template, carefully take it apart and lay it on your sheet of expanded metal.



    Then trace out your pattern and use whatever you have that can make clean cuts. I used a 4" die grinder with a diamond blade that worked very well. Don't forget the ear and eye protection!!





    Then if you're lucky enough to have access to a Press Brake, bend the sides up on your lines. If you're like the rest of us you'll have to use some muscle and a bit of backyard engineering. I used a couple pieces of plywood and a gloved hand to bend the sides.



    You'll have to work at it a while because ¾" expanded metal is really tough to bend, if you don't bend it right on your "line" you'll end up with a bowl instead of a basket.



    Once you get the sides bent, use "L" brackets and nuts, bolts and washers to fasten the sides, Once the sides are secure I flipped the basket upside down and tweaked the bottom by lightly pushing on it with my foot. Then test fit.



    Should look similar to this when you're done.




    Here is a update 8/31/13 on "solar's" basket: It's been many years and the basket was the best mod I have done !

    Here's a pic of the basket after a long smoke. I'm letting it burnout, I used one bag of 10lb lump charcoal and it lasted over 6 hours.




    IMPORTANT WORD TO THE WISE!!

    Make sure you run a couple batches of charcoal through your basket to burn off the machine oils and such before you add any food to your smoker. It'll smell the first 30 minutes or so then go away.
    __________________


    Nicely done Solar!
    points


    Gypsyseagod purchased a grill basket, suitable for smaller smokers like a vertical:


    i bought a grill basket for my brink vertical. it fit perfectly & raises the fuel above the airflow.the coal pan that comes standard has no holes & sits below the airflow which is virtually worthless but now it sits in the very bottom to catch the ash.



    Originally posted by Kingudaroad
    Great tutorial but a question.

    Why bolt it when it was so hard to bend in the first place?
    You'd be surprised how the metal can soften up after a few 800° days. Expanded metal is usually pretty "cold worked" (hardend) by it's manufacturing process. Prolonged high heat will remove this "stiffness".

    Don't want it dumping a load of hot coals when ya grab it one day!


    What Richtee said, and if you don't have a press brake, you can't get clean bends and the sides tend to want to return to their natural flat state. If you look at the picture of the basket that has the sides bent but no brackets, you'll see the corners are pulling away from each other. The "L" brackets keep the corners from pulling away.

    BBQ Bubba, the sides are the size they are because the basket isn't "square" one side is about 2" longer than the other side. I would've made them higher, but that was all the expanded metal I had, but for my SnP, the basket holds plenty of charcoal. It's a huge inprovement from the old rack and shaker basket.
    Last edited by DDave; 09-17-2017, 11:20 AM.
    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Brinkmann Smokin' Pit Deluxe: heavy gauge, modified
    Weber 22.5 Gold
    Weber Smokie Joe

    "Racing Cars and Smokin' Q, what else is there to do ?"

  • #2
    I used the same basic design but added a bend at the top to hang on the lip inside my FB. I also had access to a welder and I have a brake so I tack welded the corners and bent everything in the brake.



    I also made a chip/chunk pan out of some 16 ga flat steel and bent it up in the brake.



    Basket and pan in FB before the burn in.



    Works great so far. Thanks for the plans Solar.
    Last edited by DDave; 09-17-2017, 11:20 AM.
    Smoke n Pit

    ECB

    T-bone Grill Co.
    flat top grill

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    • #3
      i forgot to mention that the 1 i bought also fits the brinkman smoke-n-pit.
      brink vertical charcoal(the carp)
      18" old smokey charcoal grill/smoker
      cast iron Hibachi
      22" Kettle w/ "Smoke-EZ" styled riser extension
      & rotisserator
      12x7 wells cargo vending trailer(mods in progress)
      stuffer,slicer & more carp than i can fit in it...
      Marshall amps & various awesome guitars,drums,P.A.,etc.recording studio.....

      Blues-N-Cues Concessions & Catering
      http://blues-n-cuesbbq.com/
      my music recordings-
      http://www.reverbnation.com/rlcltd





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      • #4
        Originally posted by solar View Post
        I bought a grill basket for my brink vertical. it fit perfectly & raises the fuel above the airflow.the coal pan that comes standard has no holes & sits below the airflow which is virtually worthless but now it sits in the very bottom to catch the ash.

        This grill basket is the easiest and cheapest mod ($9.99 at lowes) I have used. All my problems with the brinkmann Vertical were cured when I got this basket. I found I used less fuel as well.
        "I'm the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as the bastards are going."
        PFC Martin, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, Battle of the Buldge

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        • #5
          seafood basket mod

          yesterday i picked up my latest/newest smoker... the brinkmann vertical. and took the advice posted here regarding the seafood basket/coal basket. i had some measurements and lo and behold, the basket i purchased (hope depot, 10 bucks) slid right onto the rack nice n snug.. as if it was designed for this specific model. absolute perfect fit.

          I'm going to break it in tonite (burn off any machine oil, etc). if i remember to, i'll take pics, but thank you for the advice.... it was a perfect fit.

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          • #6
            Another satisfied member, tell em where ya found the info, just not how much ya paid for it!

            Great job fellas.
            Lang 60 Mobile deluxe




            Captain-N-Smoke BBQ Team(retired)
            ____________________________________________
            Takes allot of work and an open mind to make good sense.
            Praise the Lord and pass the Cannabis.

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            • #7
              Believe it or not I just purchased from Lowels a stainless grill wok. Is fully perforated all sides and bottom. I put it in the firebox of my Lang and fit was perfect. The purpose was to contain coals from Lump when I low smoke bacon like I am today. So far I am pleased with the results. It contains the lump, allows me to maintain low even temps with just a stick of Pecan at a time and the larger expanded metal grate for pure stick burning like I usually do that is standard isn't letting the smaller embers fall to bottom until they are fine ash.
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