100 RF Smoker mod NEED Design HELP!

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rmenasco

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 5, 2013
15
10
Charlottesville VA
Hey all! I joined about a week ago and i am hooked on this site. There is so much great information. My father built me this smoker about 6 months ago, and it has been working alright, but from this site I have learned that the fire-box is way under-sized as well as the smoke stack. I'd like to turn this into a Reverse Flow smoker, which i think will be pretty simple by adding a larger fire-box, RF plate, and a larger smoke stack on the opposite side. 

I also use the smoker for a grill and wanted to see if anyone has ever added grates above the RF plate so they can still grill? I assume that I would also have to add some simple circular air vents in the front and back for the charcoal, etc. 

Thoughts?

 


 
Morning and welcome to the forum......  Combo grill/smokers usually do not work out well.....   You end up with both being mediocre at best....    We can help you make a great smoker..   Dave
 
Just an ideal.  Divide the cooking chamber in half with a bulkhead and use the back half as a smoker and the front as a charcoal grill.

This would keep you from having to replace the firebox. When not using the front half as a charcoal grill, it could be a great warm box.
 
Just an ideal.  Divide the cooking chamber in half with a bulkhead and use the back half as a smoker and the front as a charcoal grill.

This would keep you from having to replace the firebox. When not using the front half as a charcoal grill, it could be a great warm box.
And the genius shows itself again.....   I like that idea.... 
 
I PM'd him about a week or two ago... No luck. It looks like someone else on that thread also got the CAD file from boom and i tried contacting him but haven't had any luck either. 
 
Dave - 

I thought of a great idea on my way home... What if i install two pieces of angle iron to hold tuner plates and water boxes? Then flip the smoke stack around? 

Do you think that would work? Then i could remove everything if i wanted to use it as a grill? 

 
rmenasco, morning.....    If you are building a RF smoker, a disposable aluminum pan can be set inside the cook chamber, at the opposite end from the FB, for moisture....   Trying to make a "multi use" smoker is difficult at best....  usually, neither cooks as good as a single use unit....    

I have a weber charcoal grill, gas grill, 3 electric smokers......   each has it's job to do and does them very well...  I can't imagine having one unit to cold smoke fish and bacon and cheese, then a unit to sear a steak at 700 deg, and then smoke a brisket or butt for 12-20 hours...  That could be just me.... I'm weird that way.......

Dave  
 
I thought of a great idea on my way home... What if i install two pieces of angle iron to hold tuner plates and water boxes? Then flip the smoke stack around?
You may have just used the wrong term., but I don't want to see you make a mistake, so let me just make your clear on this..
  • Tuner plates are used in a regular offset smoker, these are usually 4' to 10' wide flat plates under the cooking grate used to distribute the heat more evenly. The heat still comes through the gaps between the plates and the exhaust pipe will still be on the opposite end from the firebox.
  • Reverse flow plate can either be a flat plate or a dished water pan, but the key thing is its solid with no air gaps. The heated air has to travel all the way to the end of the plate before it can rise before it turns around and heads back towards the exhaust pipe located at the firebox end of the cook chamber. There can be some slight leakage around the plate, but your really going to want 95% of the heated air making it all the way to the end of the plate for this type of smoker to breath and perform properly.
With that said and we are clear on terminology;

I like my original suggestion, its easy and makes for a real nice smoker/grill/ combo unit.  You could even put a couple pipe burners on that end as well.

But for each their own and if you really want to do a removable charcoal pan, water pan, etc, plate of some sort. My best suggestion would be to keep it a normal offset smoker and just add some tuning plates.   Tuning plates would be much easier to remove than what you would need for a reverse flow plate in that size smoker to make it worth while. And they would be easier to store when not in use.
 
Finished the build... Added a 6" stack, a new firebox , 3/16" RF plates and a drain. I used boomhowers design for the firebox. Thanks Boomhower! 

I cooked for 80 people at my work last weekend for our 4th of July party 4 butts (32lbs total) and 8 large chickens brined in water, salt, and A1 rub. I used the Soflaque finishing sauce and that really makes the pork awesome. Everyone said that it was amazing... 

 
 

  

 
 
It did great holding temps. First time I loaded the firebox I added to mich wood and the temp was over 500. I'm getting better at keeping it in the 250 range with adding a split every 45 min or so.

I'm interested in a minion basket for it, but wondering if it would get hot enough
 
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