The great smoker design debate

Custom manufactured BBQ Pits, Do-it-Yourself projects, parts and ideas.

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Re: The great smoker design debate

Postby Rambo » Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:40 am

That is unique
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Re: The great smoker design debate

Postby rms827 » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:27 am

PinoyPitmaster wrote:What do you guys think about a smoker with a separate firebox directly beneath (vs offset) the cook chamber with baffles and tuning plates? It would seem this would allow me to use entire grill space vs an offset


Seems like it should work in theory. That's how pellet smokers work. Some of the more expensive ones have baffles and tuning plates also so that they can sear, etc... The only issue I could see (keeping in mind that I'm hardly an expert on stick burners) is keeping temps low enough for slow cooking. The fire pot on pellet burners is pretty small, even on a big unit like my Rec-Tec 680.
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The great smoker design debate

Postby PinoyPitmaster » Sun Aug 05, 2018 3:20 am

rms827 wrote:[quote="PinoyPitmaster"]What do you guys think about a smoker with a separate firebox directly beneath (vs offset) the cook chamber with baffles and tuning plates? It would seem this would allow me to use entire grill space vs an offset


Seems like it should work in theory. That's how pellet smokers work. Some of the more expensive ones have baffles and tuning plates also so that they can sear, etc... The only issue I could see (keeping in mind that I'm hardly an expert on stick burners) is keeping temps low enough for slow cooking. The fire pot on pellet burners is pretty small, even on a big unit like my Rec-Tec 680.[/quote]

As of July 24,2018, I now know it works as I built it. Underneath firebox is less footprint but negative as it may raise your height to grilltop. I’m not saying it is better but it is better for me. Look at 2guysbbq above. if that firebox was traditional offset it probably wouldn’t fit on his patio! Imagine moving hexagon backend and move to side! That would be 1 long pit!

I am not a professional welder or pitmaker but After building my pit and probably over 200 man hrs of cutting and welding i feel the reason for tradition and why all these pitmakers make an offset cylinder style pit is time to build

I’m only one opinion but I believe the offset cylinder is the cheapest, easiest and quickest build not necessarily the best design.

With a pro welder/ fabricator they can probably churn out 2-3 a day.

I’m sure it can get more complicated and this is not meant as a slight for offset lovers as i once loved these and currently have one too(!on Craigslist now) but there are better designs for bbq pits in my opinion.

Tell your friend that respecting tradition but questioning tradition is how America was built and how things are made better. I asked the same type questions and why I moved away from the traditional offset.



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Re: The great smoker design debate

Postby wBuddy » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:46 am

Hi folks, im planning to build my own smoker. would very much appreciate any input / critics on this design, especially on the slope on the bottom plate of the cookchamber, i know its not mainstream.

thanks
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Re: The great smoker design debate

Postby gjpeck10 » Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:14 pm

I am very new to this forum, as of like a minute ago, and not terribly sure how to do this, but I could use some advice. I jumped on a team that is part of the Knights of Columbus and we smoke meats to raise money for our activities and the church. The team was donated a large reverse flow barrel smoker and a design team from the Knights modified the smoker to basically "do everything". A vertical rib box was added to the opposite end of the barrel (from the fire box) with another chimney stack, and a hatch opening at the end of the barrel into the rib box. You may already see where I am going with this. I have been having a heck of a time operating the smoker. We put 20 birds on the barrel and 12-16 ribs on the rack for a major smoke and I can never get the rib box temp up above 185'F at the middle gauge (four rack rib box can fit 4-5 ribs on each rack). Bottom of the rib box where the hatch is does get over 200'F ambient, but four racks up temps are maybe 160'F. I end up having to pull the top racks or ribs off and putting them on the bottom rack and rotating. Seems only way to get any adequate flow to the rib box is to close off the barrel chimney and kill the reverse flow over the birds. We did add a vent to the door of the firebox for more airflow, which has helped, but mainly on the barrel, not rib box. After seven smokes operating this thing, I am more than convinced we need to modify this and put a small firebox on the rib box side and close off the hatch to smoke the birds and ribs separate, and stop trying to rob peter to pay paul. The engineer who provided the design modifications is absolutely convinced that we are just not operating the smoker correctly and has done all the flow calcs. I have a photo, but havent figured out how to upload. Please help!
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Re: The great smoker design debate

Postby fishwater_98 » Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:26 pm

My smoker has the fire box on the back and it’s my favorite smoker I have ever used, and I borrowed it from a family friend multiple times before actually buying it. I can control the smoke stack dampers Individually on both stacks, from the base of the stack inside the cooking chamber on not from the top of the stack. Also the the firebox has a damper on the bottom that runs the whole length and not just an opening on one side to control the whole box.
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Re: The great smoker design debate

Postby TwoGuysBBQ » Thu Dec 20, 2018 9:07 pm

That’s a nice smoker there MR. Fish

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