The Texas BBQ Forum

How's it going, new to this site and first time reaching out on a forum. I got my hands on a 80 gallon compressor and going to be building a reverse flow smoker really soon. Have just been doing my research before tackling this project. So based on other people's experiences seems like there's always a hot spot on the firebox end. Expected. I've seen some people doing a heat deflector to change that but seems like temps can still be high on that end. I was thinking about not pushing the firebox into the cooking chamber and making a square tubing out of 1/4 metal that will connect the fb to the cc. My thoughts is since the fb isn't tucked into the cc I will eliminate the hot spot getting more even temps across the chamber but what are your thoughts and opinions if this will actually allow smoke and heat to travel through the chamber as its supposed to.

You have a luxury that larger builds do not have and that is the length so it may work you also are working with a shorter chamber so it may be hard to control anyway. But keep in mind that the R/F design relies on the radiant heat from the plate for most of its cooking efficiency. Once you take this away you are basically creating a cooler smoker and to achieve temps to 250°/275° may require a larger fire and ultimately heat the area where your connection mates anyway.
I have been cooking on offsets for over 30 years bot reverse flow and tuning plates and I will tell you the phrase "Even temps" is abused way too much. Myself if my cookers are running 30° to 50° one way or another on any given day I am good with this and adjust. I have also measured grate temps in cookers where the doors said even and the digital grates said huge differences.

Makes sense. Sounds like it would be a fuel hog! Thanks for the info. I've never had a smoker so it's all new to me. The most I smoke is a tri tip on my charcoal grill which comes out great but I want to expand from that. I've been checking out some calculators for my build and it seems like another language so hopefully once I get in there and start taking measurements it'll all make sense haha