Need help with other mods

golfpro2301 · Sep 20, 2012

I have changed my original charcoal design and incorporated a char griller SFB. I mounted it all on a rolling platform. I insulated the chamber with three layers of reflectix. I know its not the best but i wanted it done quickly and couldn't think of anything else to use. I cut the hole in the firebox and the size of the stack to meet what the calculator said. I am practicing for my first comp which includes chicken, pork, and ribs. I usually smoke around the 240-250 range but I know this will produce rubber skin on the chicken thighs. So I decided to start practicing cooking at higher temps around 275-280. I am hoping this will give me a more tender skin on the the thighs. On to the problems I am having.

1. Once I get it to 275* it maintains that temp for a while with me only adding a few pieces of charcoal about every 15 min. Once it gets past 3 hours it is hard to keep the temp up in the range. it tends to fall to around 255-265. I am thinking it is due to the older charcoal filling up the bottom and not letting oxygen to get to the new charcoal.

2. I see a lot of smokers on here adding baffles inside the chamber to even out cooking temps. Is this necessary on a vertical cooking chamber?

3. Any material I can use to insulate the firebox.

Any other mods you think might help would be great. The comp is in one month and I am trying to get in as much practice as possible.

Opening from inside SFB into cooking chamber

IMAG0550.jpg

golfpro2301
Sep 20, 2012

Here is the complete setup. There are two doors on the cooking chamber but I used silicone and screws to keep the bottom permanently shut.

IMAG0553.jpg

golfpro2301
Sep 20, 2012

ribwizzard · Sep 20, 2012

In my opinion,with the firebox of to the side, you really should not need baffles. Your not using the bottom section of the original box any more, right?

Are all the other vents sealed up air tight now, with just the firebox dampner and the exhaust stack open now?

Tell me how your setting up the charcoal, Is it hard to get it to 275, or does it take forever?

golfpro2301 · Sep 20, 2012

Rib wizzard,

The only thing I am using the bottom for is for a water pan. I can put my first shelf right at the top of the bottom door you see in the picture. There is a vent on the bottom left of the original smoker. I keep this closed at all times. The only other vents are the exaust stack and the air vent on the bottom right side of the SFB. As far as reaching temp goes it is very easy to get up to 275* even higher. I use half a lit chimney and pour onto 3/4 unlit chimney. I put my wood in foil packets because they have been catching fire and causing some temp spikes. The temp is easy to control for about the first 2 hours but then it is hard to maintain higher than 260*. I noticed that after a few hours that the spacing under the charcoal great is getting clogged with old ash (see picture below). I am thinking that this is preventing air from getting to the hot fresh coals. The SFB came with two grilling grates. I thought about using these as the grates to rest the coals on. This would give me about 4 inches from the charcoal grate to the bottom of the chip pan instead of the current setup which only has about 1 1/4 inch.

Hopefully this helps

IMAG0555.jpg

golfpro2301
Sep 20, 2012

ribwizzard · Sep 25, 2012

Check out the fire baskets on some of the posts on this site, just an ideal, but along with raising the grate , it might help extend the burn time.

I wrestled around with a little smoker like that a many years back, I actually turned the cooking chamber horizontal and used an oven rack to make a new grate out of. Just attached the two doors together with the cross member cut loose and pop rivoted them into one big door that folded down. I even cut some plywood and placed it inside the top to hold in the heat better. Id start with charcoal and then switch over to chunks of hickory. Made some good ribs on that thing.

daveomak · Sep 25, 2012

GP, morning.... From the picture, I do believe you have found the problem....Raise the grates... more room for ash and improved air flow... A basket that holds more coals will allow for longer smokes without the need to add more charcoal..... Dave

golfpro2301 · Sep 26, 2012

After looking at many posts on baskets I want to make a maze type basket. I do not have access to a welder so I know that is going to make it more difficult. Is it possible to make one out of nuts and bolts? if so is there anyone that can point me in the right direction. I do live in Jacksonville, Fl so if anyone knows a person here that could make it that would be a big help.

JckDanls 07 · Sep 26, 2012

I wouldn't do the maze deal for charcoal.. others have tried and ended up changing back to just a plain ol basket... you wanna keep the basket about 3" or so from the bottom for ashes and air ...

ribwizzard · Sep 27, 2012

You dont need a welder to make the basket, just use some expanded metal (local hardware store or tractor supply usually sells small pieces, and you can tie it together with bailing wire or hog rings.

Just make as many bends instead of cuts, you can use the edge of a workbench to make the bend , clamp it down right where you want it and work the edge with a hamer to get a nice sharp bend.

I have heard good things about the maze style baskets, I dont use charcoal, but if I did, I wouldnt let other peoples failures keep me from trying it. The principle seams sound, and with experimentation and tweaking , I think it would work. Adding more room under the basket for ashes deffinitly will help as well.

ribwizzard · Sep 27, 2012

Is the bootom of the cooking chamber sealed up? Just looking at the one pic and it looks open?

Also, have you tried cooking with out the water pan? The hardest thing to overcome on these little smokers is the thin metal they are made of, it just wont hold the heat in. Looking at the pic of your coals, looks like you went through an allful lot of charcoal.

I think with that side firebox, most of the heat from your coals is getting wasted just transfering through the metal .

I would get some high temp sealent and seal up all of the vents instead of just closing them, Install some on the doors if they dont have anykind of seal, Think about insulating the cooking chamber to hold in what heat you are getting from the side firebox, and try it with out the water pan.

IMAG0550.jpg

golfpro2301
Sep 20, 2012

golfpro2301 · Sep 28, 2012

Wizzard,

Yes I sealed up the bottom. That open space was where the propane burner was and then my coffee pot elements. I put some sheet metal in there and then have a 12"X12" paving stone on top of that. I know its not the best insulation but I have 2 layers of reflectix around the cooking chamber and it does help. The first time I ran it I used regular old Kingsford. I now know that is a bad idea from what I have read. I am off work monday so I am able to do some work to it. I will seal up all holes on the SFB and make a charcoal basket. I tried using a bead of silione to seal up the door to the SFB but it is to hard to get perfect. I used the medium sized BGE seal on the cooking chamber door. I might try this on the SFB door as well.

sargeaf · Sep 28, 2012

I am not able to answer your question, but wanted to comment I too have a SFB and have that same problem. The first time I tried it with my grill, I was able to cook ribs fairly good (my family loved them). but since then I have not been able to repeat that process. My last problem was the buttermilk turkey. the skin on the outside was hard and dry and the meat inside was still un-cooked. I did this for 5 hours and gave up. The temp was hard to maintain. Last week I tried chicken and same results, could not get the temp above 250 and the skin turn out rubber. I moved the charcoal to the main grill for more indirect. saved a few, but the damage to the skin was already done. I like to use my SFB more, but until I find a way to keep the temp even for a long time I will have to use my gas smoker like the one you converted for awhile.

ribwizzard · Sep 28, 2012

Thats what is so funny about these small smokers and using charcoal.

I can go buy one of those cheap R2D2 smokers and a fresh bag of Kingsford and some hickory chips and make one of the best Turkeys you ever had. But a week later, the humidity will have killed the Kinsford, and if that R2D2 got bumped by the lawnmower or a Lizzard jumped on it too hard, it wont ever cook the same.

ribwizzard · Sep 28, 2012

Did you use the trick of using saran wrap when making the seal out of high temp sealant? Tape saran wrap to the side you dont want it to stick to, run a bead of sealant and close the door and let it dry.

thsmormonsmokes · Sep 28, 2012

I'd echo what Dave said. Get your coals up off the ashes. Especially if you're using briquettes. They leave really dense ash that doesn't allow for air movement terribly well.

Expanded metal seems to be the material of choice, though I'm sure there are other options. You can just cut 4 pieces for the size you want, then wire it together with tie wire if you're welding challenged like I am. I did that last year and it's worked like a charm. Cut the bottom of your basket to the right size and it will sit nicely on the rail that supports the ash pan. I put some flat iron to extend the base just to be sure it'd stay put:

I've never tried the maze idea, but that just sounds like a variation of the Minion Method to me. Here's how I set mine up:

D372B27C-B8E3-4506-9D84-4AAA45ACC209-7714-00000C4C

thsmormonsmokes
Sep 28, 2012

Dump your hot coals in the can and pull the can out. I put it opposite the air intake, figuring that it would give me a longer burn if the fire is going opposite the flow of air. I think I got a solid 6, maybe 7 hours out of this initial basket set up, but I can't remember for sure.

sargeaf · Sep 29, 2012

I will have to try that. That really looks like a neat ideal.

golfpro2301 · Oct 1, 2012

I made a charcoal basket out of 1/2" 13GA expanded steel. I decided to throw two bricks in the middle to make a maze out of it. I decided this would be easy because I could remove them and use a full basket if I wanted to. The basket is 6" deep with 4 inches between the bottom of the basket and the charcoal pan. I filled up the maze to the top of the basket and dumped a full lit chimney opposite of the air damper on the SFB. It worked really well but it burned wat too hot. I had the damper closed the entire time and the temp stayed in the 290-310 range. It took the maze 3 1/2 hours before it completely lit the other end of the maze. Taking over 3 hours to reach the end at the temp I think is pretty good. For those who have the maze setup how full do you fill the basket? do you think if I fill it full at the start them thin it out to only a few inches at the end it would keep it at 230-250 and maybe take 4-5 hours to reach the end?

golfpro2301 · Oct 1, 2012

Sorry forgot to post a picture. The picture was taken just shy of the 3 hour mark

IMAG0569.jpg

golfpro2301
Oct 1, 2012

golfpro2301 · Oct 3, 2012

Was bored this morning so I decided to give the smokers a good cleaning. In the process of cleaning the SFB I noticed the BGE gasket I used around the door to seal leaks melted. The whole gasket was no longer a gasket at all and just flaked off when I touched it. I thought these were supposed to be rated at over 1000*. It worked really well but having to replace them constantly would be exspensive so I used a lot of silicone around the lid and used the cling wrap trick. It looks like it worked but I am worried of that melting too. Anyone experience this before?

ribwizzard · Oct 4, 2012

i never used a seal on the firebox, just the cooking chamber.

How full was your cooking chamber with the temp staying that high?

golfpro2301 · Oct 5, 2012

Ribwizzard I never thought about that. I was just concerned abot the heat. I didnt have anything in the cooking chamber. I was just seeing how long it would take the maze to burn thru and at what temp. I usually put a water pan in the bottom on top of a concrete paver. what do you think the temp would have been if I loaded it with a few slabs and thighs?

Need help with other mods

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