Good progress on the roadside gate

Yesterday we completed the installation of the metal gate posts for the roadside gates at the Turnditch Orchard. We'd already dug the hole for the right hand side post and lined the bottom with a pad of concrete, but this was to be the acid test of whether we'd got everything in the right position. The gateway is at the top of a sloping ramp leading from the field to the road. At the gateway the ground slopes in two different directions. As we have two gate leaves meeting in the middle it is essential their support posts are accurately aligned in terms of height of the hinges and the vertical aspect of the posts.

When we came to complete the work it was clear that all of the careful pre-preparation has paid off. The volunteer team lifted the heavy metal post into the hole and we commenced the check measurements. After a couple of sideways shuffles of the post we had exactly 12 feet between the posts and they were perfectly level and aligned. The volunteers had not seen the magic of postcrete in action before this installation. We (the volunteers' leader sent a pensioner down the ladder to the river) grabbed a couple of buckets of water from the river and filled the post hole approximately quarter deep with water then poured four bags of postcrete powder in the hole around the post. Using a scrap piece of timber we tamped down the concrete making sure the concrete mix was thoroughly dampened as we poured. Within ten minutes the post was held firmly in place and accurately positioned.

We'll leave the gate post concrete to harden for a couple of days before we mount the gates on their hinges.

We've now turned out thoughts to where we should build the barbecue. I'll be double checking to see whether I need planning permission. The intention is to allow local people to come on to the orchard and make use of the barbecue.

We are currently planning to locate it at the foot of the embankment approximately half way along the orchard. The soil at this location seems to be quite poor and fruit trees and other vegetation does not thrive.

Progress on the Drum Smoker

We're waiting for the last few parts to arrive before we fully assemble the drum smoker. We have most of the parts already including the metal shelves. We'd looked at buying a BBQ/Smoker, but for that size (57cm diameter) the prices are ridiculous at £400 for a Weber, a price which allows for a discount of 20% off list price. 

After some thought we asked a local fabricating company (Twiggs) to cut some discs of the correct diameter from flattened expanded mild steel. The cost was not excessive and the work was done promptly by Twiggs. In the picture below you can see one of the discs standing beside the smoker.

The thick hide gloves are essential for handling the grill shelves as they have razor sharp edges from the manufacturing process. The grids are mounted within the drum to form three shelves, the lowest being the charcoal level. They are each supported on three 10 cm bolts inserted through the drum walls. This arrangement seems to be sufficiently robust to support a substantial cooking load.

Each of the upper two shelves will provide approximately one square metre of cooking area.

We've also started the process of installing the air vents at the lower end of the drum. These are fabricated from brass 22mm plumbing fittings mounted through the drum wall. The design will allow the air flow into the drum to be adjusted during the cooking/smoking process. Thus providing temperature control by restricting the amount of air available to the charcoal. In operation the lid will be placed on the top of the drum. It will be fitted with an adjustable smoke vent.

Edit 18th Aug 2014: We've built the smoker, with the exception of the thermometers. Those were ordered over the internet, have been despatched and are expected any day now. We've undergone a first test firing with a small load of charcoal and all seems well.

Building an Ugly Drum Smoker.

We're building an Ugly Drum Smoker/Barbecue (UDS) on the orchard site from an used 50 gallon steel drum. We'll use this to cook pork and beef "low and slow over charcoal" in the American style for guests at the orchard. If you've not tasted this type of food before let me assure you it is delicious and the meat is tender and soft.

The UDS will be used elsewhere in support of charity fund raising events and also for our family events. Cooking times of 5 - 10 hours are not unusual, but it is well worth the wait. It is possible to buy these smokers ready made, but they tend to be very expensive except for the small ones. 

The drum was delivered a couple of days ago. It had been previously used to transport sour cherry juice. It was in good condition, washed clean and no rust. However the first step of the process in building a smoker/barbecue is to strip the original paint from the drum and replace it with heat resisting paint. The original paint would not withstand the barbecue heat and would taint the food being cooked in the unit. The most easy way to achieve this is to light a hot fire in the drum and burn off the paint.

In the picture above you can see the drum was originally painted green on the outside and a clear protective lacquer inside the drum. We piled in some cardboard, scrap timber and applied a lighted match to set the fire in motion. We then left the site for a few hours to allow time for the fire to burn out. On our return most of the paint had burned off the surface of the drum, but we took also a paraffin flame gun to burn off any remaining paint.

Once the steel drum had cooled down we set to work with Aluminium Oxide sandpaper. It took an hour's hard manual work to clean off the paint residue on the outside of the drum. We hand sanded right down to the shiny bare steel. When the surface had been prepared we sprayed three coats of black heat resisting stove paint over the outside of the drum. The inside needs no further preparation or cleaning at this stage of the construction.

Reading the instructions on the spray can revealed we had to heat the paint to cure it to the final finish. This required we heat the drum to an operational temperature and maintain it for at least an hour. We fixed this by placing a bag of quick lighting charcoal on the ground, lighting it and leaving it until the charcoal was burning well. We tipped the drum over the fire (mouth down) so the heat from the charcoal would heat the drum to an operational temperature. and thus cure the paint. A couple of supporting bricks helped ensure an air gap to feed the fire.

Once we'd made sure the fire was going well and the drum achieving a working temperature, we left and will visit the site tomorrow morning. The quality of paint finish on the drum was very good.

Turnditch Orchard Barbecue Sauce

I threw together a barbecue sauce for a BBQ in the orchard today. It was gorgeous, so I must record it before I forget the details.

3 English mustard sachets 

4 Tomato Ketchup sachets

1 glup of Rapeseed Oil

1 glup of Sherry Vinegar

5 shakes of  Lee & Perrins Worcester sauce

1 sachet of Golden Syrup Maple

1 pinch of Cumin powder

2 sachets of salt

1 sachet of ground black pepper

1 half tube of tomato puree

1 small glass of cloudy pear juice

1 half palm full of dried mixed herbs

1 half palm full of demerara sugar

Place all in a glass bowl and sloosh it around with a fork until the sugar and golden syrup have dissolved. and you are ready to go. Use it as a marinade, or coat  with the sauce the meat just before barbecuing slowly.

For the purpose of this recipe; sachets means those small ones designed for catering/cafe dining tables.

We're building an Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS) from a used 50 gallon steel barrel. The UDS will see service in the orchard as we use it to slowly cook pork shoulder, pork ribs and beef brisket over charcoal. In this context slow means several hours. The sauce will help to add flavour to the food.