Hey there everybody,
I'm new to smoking but I've been grilling for years. I'm a student of the "Santa Maria Style" bbqs. I've been raised on burning Oak and grilling tri-tip. I've recently tried my hand at ribs and pork shoulders. I'll admit I've grilled the ribs and put the shoulder in a slow cooker. Let the hazing begin. Anyways I've finally decided to build a horizontal reverse flow smoker.
I am an agriculture teacher. I teach welding and construction classes. So I discussed this new endeavor with my fellow colleagues and we came up with a simple plan for the smoker. 55 gallon drum for the cooking chamber. a 12 x 12 x 18 fire box. The fire box will be mounted so that it will be below the cooking chamber by about 2/3rds. Does that make sense? We discussed putting a perforated piece of metal just above the opening from the fire box on the bottom of the cooking chamber. It will stop short by about 6 inches. I researched this and I think it is called the baffle??? Help me out here. One rack of expanded metal in the center of the cooking chamber with another half rack/shelf mounted about 6-8 inches above that. The smoke exhaust will be mounted above the fire box.
My hope is to one: build my own smoker that will bring years of enjoyment to my family and Two: be able to smoke pork shoulder and pork ribs. I have 4 young kids and they love BBQ!! I am redneck and we grill every chance we can get. I've wanted a smoker for years but couldn't bring myself to buy one.
Well this is why I joined this forum. I'm looking for advice and insight. Any advice is welcome. I'll post pics as we get started.
Thanks
I'm new to smoking but I've been grilling for years. I'm a student of the "Santa Maria Style" bbqs. I've been raised on burning Oak and grilling tri-tip. I've recently tried my hand at ribs and pork shoulders. I'll admit I've grilled the ribs and put the shoulder in a slow cooker. Let the hazing begin. Anyways I've finally decided to build a horizontal reverse flow smoker.
I am an agriculture teacher. I teach welding and construction classes. So I discussed this new endeavor with my fellow colleagues and we came up with a simple plan for the smoker. 55 gallon drum for the cooking chamber. a 12 x 12 x 18 fire box. The fire box will be mounted so that it will be below the cooking chamber by about 2/3rds. Does that make sense? We discussed putting a perforated piece of metal just above the opening from the fire box on the bottom of the cooking chamber. It will stop short by about 6 inches. I researched this and I think it is called the baffle??? Help me out here. One rack of expanded metal in the center of the cooking chamber with another half rack/shelf mounted about 6-8 inches above that. The smoke exhaust will be mounted above the fire box.
My hope is to one: build my own smoker that will bring years of enjoyment to my family and Two: be able to smoke pork shoulder and pork ribs. I have 4 young kids and they love BBQ!! I am redneck and we grill every chance we can get. I've wanted a smoker for years but couldn't bring myself to buy one.
Well this is why I joined this forum. I'm looking for advice and insight. Any advice is welcome. I'll post pics as we get started.
Thanks