PIC 8-slot side racks mod

Great idea TN. Thanks for the pic.

Ingenuity and talent. Nice job.

Oh boy, I can already see TN Q searching, looking, and planning on what to use for extra shelves....hope the house oven shelves work without a little modification, ya know!!!

Nice work.

the house oven shelves.


My wife would hate that.hate.

Cool Mod!! Let's see, looks like 8 lbs of smoked almonds on one smoke... OR a HUMONGUS batch of smoked salmon....

Is the channel aluminum or steel? I found aluminum listed at Lowes but I was thinking I read some place in the past where aluminum might react with certain foods in the smoker.

Thoughts from anyone?

I used the aluminum channel from Lowes. I would have used steel if it we locally available but alas it isn't. I'm just a tiny bit concerned about potential galvanic action of the dissimilar metals, but considering the smoker's steamy oily environment everything will be soon coated with a protective coating that I feel this is very minimal. Same with any potential food contact, the smoky oily coating will insulate the channel form any remote contact with food being they are side channels and the food rarely makes contact. I think you run more of a risk from potential aluminum contamination with foiling than even remotely possible with the use of aluminum channels.

Closer spacing necessitates a bit more attention to clearing any individual temperature probes, but even without additional shelves, I really like the idea for the added flexibility to adjust the distance between shelves based on size of the items being smoked.

OTOH, I'm a bit less confident about that oily smoky coating developing in time to preclude the aluminum from pitting (galvanic reactions aside). My old Masterbuilt smoker is history because it's non-stainless interior was so pitted and stained it was revolting to view and impossible to restore (the latter being unnecessary with a CS).

For corrosion resistance (especially due to salt in various rubs), I'd suggest looking for some Type 316 Stainless U-Channel stock. Unfortunately, my regular online source for metals didn't list anything matching, so it would take a bit more searching to locate.

I'm really not concerned about the metals or contamination. The original rails aren't 316 stainless so I'm not sure that using 316 stainless would make much difference. I wanted the flexibility and the placement of the rails as I have them do not interfere with the CS probe with the shelves in any of the available positions. I'll keep an eye on the connection points of the mod and should I notice issues it is a simple matter to disassemble. Meanwhile I will enjoy the flexibility. Meanwhile, perhaps CS will develop standard side rails with added flexibility.