Reverse Flow for dummies

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mmmmeaty

Newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2012
9
10
South Kansas City
Hi everybody, names mike and this is my first attempt at building a reverse flow smoker (hopefully not in over my head). Found a propane tank for the right price and the rest of the material is probably laying around somewhere. Ive been following some of the other builds on here and definietely more complex than I had Originally thought. Oh well heres what i have so far.

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I have all my calculations as far as what my pit size is, what size the chimeny and firebox dimensions are, and air intake should be.

I guess some of my questions are, as far as the chamber underneath the pit...what size should that be? Are there any benefits to a round firebox vs a square other than the looks. My last question, for now, is there anything I can do with those 2 100 lb propane tank as they are to small for my firebox, they have a diameter of 14" with a length of 36". Thanks for all your help in advance.
 
Alright guys sorry its been a little while but i have since decided to go a different route. Since it was my first build and not being a great welder I wanted to start a little smaller to see how things would go. So instead of making a huge RF style i came up with this.

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I didnt want all the heat to run straight thru so I decided this plate would help distribute it just a little

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I havent came up with a good way to adjust this yet and I am not even sure its in the right spot on the smoker itself. The idea behind this damper was to let heat escape if my fir started to get away from me.

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And here it is, after 16 hrs working on it this is what I came up with, For my first build I am extremely pleased at how easy the temperature is to control, and how evenly it actually cooks. Not bad for only have about 100 dollars in this project.

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My only question is should I put another damper on top of the firebox above the door on the the back to let heat out rapidly if Im a case deep after an all nighter of smoking? Any advice would be greatly appriciated.
 
Hard to tell how it performs, mainly because Im as new at this as anybody just signing up. It Does hold heat relatively easy, and it seems to draw smoke well, but again Im inexperienced. I have put a pork butt on there a little bit of chicken and tomorrow bright and early plan on doing my first brisket. I will let everybody know how that turns out.
 
Nice rig your came up. Keep innovating. This is similar to my smoker. You might want to extend the plate inside to a few inches from each end and you have a Reverse flow kinda. You have the stack in the right place for an RF of this configuration. I believe that this design uses the fuel more efficiently, fire up from the bottom with less loss. This allows you to damp down the fire to last longer with the same amount of fuel. I put a 40 lb bag of mesquite charcoal and it lasts 6 hours at 230 to 250. Now for some Que view! 
 
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