Newb trying to start LARGE -- need some advice

lazarus · Aug 1, 2011

Hello all. I have read this entire forum, and there's some GREAT stuff here.

If possible, I would appreciate some advice.

I have a 48" X 7' fat 550 gal propane tank.

I am planning a double-door RF smoker with 2 racks behind each door, leaving 10" between the upper & lower racks.

The doors will be 30' wide and be on full-length 3/4" pipe hinge

The racks will slide out.

I had planned to use 4' pipe stack

I plan to use a 24(d)x24(w)x24(h) 1/4" steel firebox (front opening) with brick on the bottom and a grate 4' above the brick

the rf plate is this design (---v---) and will probably be 1/4" as well.

I burn hickory wood (and a little oak) exclusively. no charcoal

All on a home-built trailer.

Any advice to improve/add to this design would be appreciated

Thanks

alblancher · Aug 1, 2011

Welcome to the forum, sorry no one has commented on your smoker design yet. I can't help you, unless we where building the smoker out of wood. Maybe this bump will help out a bit for you.

venture · Aug 1, 2011

We have a few fabricators here. Hopefully some will come along to give you input.

In the meantime some pics might stimulate interest. Even though this comes from a QVIEW impaired smoker. LOL

Good luck and good smoking.

SmokinAl · Aug 2, 2011

Glad to have you with us!

meateater · Aug 2, 2011

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

lazarus · Aug 2, 2011

Thanks for the kind words.

Nothing to photograph yet. Tank will arrive Thursday and will go from there.

Bought a brinkman cimarron today for $200 to tide me over until the build is done ;-)

lazarus · Aug 2, 2011

Here's a shot of my last smoker.

alelover · Aug 2, 2011

Tons of knowledge here and great folks who share it. Pics or drawings would be good. Do you have fab experience? Can you cut, grind and weld half way decently? Your design sounds OK from what I can tell. I think there are a few on here that kinda fit that description.

roller · Aug 2, 2011

Welcome....

oldschoolbbq · Aug 2, 2011

Lazarus,I too,am a stick burner and have an off set ...well Pictures tell more than words...

I belive this will be close to your design;this has been baffled and plated. Meaning a 45*angle covers the "throat" of the cooking chamber to appox.6" from the cooking grate, then there are plates (starting at the Baffle)running the length of the cooking chamber(these are each seperate and 8" wide.This is your tuning plates set-up.

The idea is to have your heat to enter the cooking chamber under the plates. Two or more good reliable thermometers are needed, this is to help conduct the heat further down the cooking chamber.It may take you a while to finger it out but you can get a very even temp. from end to end or set a hot spot for poultry or whatnot.

It doesen't look like it ,but there is 4" under the firegrate(and I use the brick ballasting in my SFB

AND along the bottom of my cooking chamber on an enlongated fire grate then doubled under my upright cabinet .This way I can send more heat up that if I need.

What you have going looks good,and will work well for you;but IMHO plating is the way to go,I love it and can do more at one time.

Here is Brunard,my pre-burn barrel for those days you want to play with fire

and just scoop in embers into the SFB.

I hope I have helped and if you need,PM me.

have fun and...

oldschoolbbq · Aug 2, 2011

And...

to the community.

Stan...................

lazarus · Aug 3, 2011

Thankks, Stan. Can you describe the tuning plate(s) setup?

is it like an RF plate in sections that rests on angle iron welded to the side, allowing me to open up a section to make a hotspot?

I have no fab experience, but do know a welder that is great and has made several smokers. I am, however, an electrician, so I can wire the lights ;-)

THANKS!

lazarus · Aug 3, 2011

BTW, SmokinAl,

I used to head for Sebring every week when my friend, Paul Mayhew, lived there. I lived in Lakeland. Spent a lot of time in Highland Hammocks wit a cooler ;-)

SmokinAl · Aug 3, 2011

Lazarus said:
BTW, SmokinAl,

I used to head for Sebring every week when my friend, Paul Mayhew, lived there. I lived in Lakeland. Spent a lot of time in Highland Hammocks wit a cooler ;-)

That's a good place to be!

hardslicer · Aug 3, 2011

Welcome....your gonna love this site.......

lazarus · Aug 4, 2011

This is a working drawing for my build based on what I have read here.

Can someone tell me if:

The firebox is right size?
the firebox opening is enough?
the rack spacing is ok?
tuning plate/baffle is right distance from bottom?

I appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thanks!

thanks

mag409 · Aug 4, 2011

I don't know much, but from my research the area under the baffle plate should be the same or larger then your firebox to cook chamber opening. You are undersized on your firebox if you plan on using the full 48x84 tank. You want your firebox to be 1/3 the volume of your cook chamber. According to the BBQ calculator you need at least a 37" cubic firebox. Have you used the BBQ calculator? Do a search for pit calculator to find it.

lazarus · Aug 5, 2011

Hi mag409,

Thanks! Good idea. I will probably go wit a 34wx28h firebox. a little undersized, but I want to minimize the drop so as to keep from grounding the trailer or getting the cook area too tall off the ground.

The calculator excel sheet is so busy I had trouble using it. too many places to enter data and I couldn't tell if I had the right value.

About baffle/tuning [plates:

My welder says they will be about 30" from side to side with the current drawing (above), and that 1/4" steel will warp when cut and when used to cook. This leads me to think that a solid RF plate might be more stable.

What has been the experience of others?

Thanks!

lazarus · Aug 5, 2011

Here are new drawings modified with a bigger firebox

Thanks everyone for

mag409 · Aug 5, 2011

You may get some movement from the plate at 30" wide while cooking, but your temps are gonna be below 400F so the movement at the baffle plate will be barely visible to the eye. If your concerned about it run a piece of angle lengthwise down the center of the baffle and have it installed with 1" welds on a 2" center. By welding in sections you will minimize the stress added by fully welding it and also creat a nice stiffener.

Again, from my own research there are some discussions and posts regarding the area at the end of the baffle plate. The gap should be equal to the stack cross section plus 10%. Your using a 6" stack so your cross sectional area is 28.26sqin + 10% = 31.06 sqin. So if your baffle is 30" wide, you are only going to want a 1" gap at the end of your baffle plate and tank give or take. Given your tank is round you should be safe to run the baffle to the end of the square of the tank and leave the curved area open. This is what I did on mine and it has been working great..

Only other thing I see is your drawing dimensions aren't adding up so you may want to go back and check them out. If you add up all of the vertical dimensions you only have 42" accounted for. You still have 6" in there to work with.

Looking like a nice unit in the works.

Newb trying to start LARGE -- need some advice

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