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:welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you joined us! We have over 50,000 members now who just love to share what they know. You've come to the best place on the net to learn and share everything Q!!!
 
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to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! 

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

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If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
Thanks Kat

I have done mostly wings and sausage but I am attempting ribs this weekend and hoping all go's well. Any tips?  I will post some pics to
 
I do the St. Louis style....and do about 2-3 hours on the smoker....about 2 in foil...and if they are not done...about 45 minutes---to an hour back on the smoker.  I like my to fall off the bones.  In the foil....I use some extra brown sugar...a little bit of honey...and some of the Blue squeeze bottle of Parkay margarine.

They don't fail me that way. And the Family likes them.

Kat
 
Welcome to the forums!  Nice smoker!  This is the best place I know for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc.  There are plenty of friendly, knowledgeable folks here who really enjoy helping one another.  Looking forward to your input here, and just ask when you need anything...someone here will surely have the answer.

Red
 
Thanks. It is made from pipe .375 wall. Grill is 40" x 24" the fire box is 18" x .375 1/4" end walls
 
20130920_185141.jpg

20130920_185141.jpg

that's what it looks like after a few hours of elbow grease and some paint. I installed a thermometer in the lid on the smoke stack side and used a oven thermometer on the grill near the fire box. I ran another dry run and was surprised how the two thermometers ran within 10 degrees of one another. Tomorrow I am cooking 28 lbs of ribs, two whole chickens and some sausage. Wish me luck! This is my first smoke with multiple meats. I have on the other hand smoked 100lbs of ribs in a cook off before. I found some great tips on this site about cooking different meats and planning a finishing time so all meats are ready at the same time. I hope. Well it will be fun and the beers will be cold. Dose anyone recommend sticking a beer can in the chickens? I thought I might try that to.
 
New smoker looks great! Not assuming you haven't already done this, as you are obviously  handy with a torch and grinder. When i did my first custom smoker, which is very similar to the one you have here, I left out a heat diverter for the cooking chamber which gave me a hot spot right where the firebox attached. If you don't have one and it becomes an issue, I'll be happy to share how we addressed it.

Beer can chicken is great! you can also take some heavy shears and cut the backbone out. Then when you can see the chest cavity pull out the breastbone. This will make a whole chicken lay completely flat. It helps it to cook evenly and I  have had great results this way.. Probe it and remove at 165 internal temp in the breast.  Either way it will be good!

Good Luck
 
I would love to know about the diverter. First smoker I havr made or owned so the more feedback the better. My boss had a horizon off set and I used it to model mine I just made it biggger and with heavier material. Every piece can from a scrap bin at a cost of $8.44 for both the handle springs. $30 in paint and a few thermometers.
 
This is just my experience so anyone else that reads can chime in... Two options for what you have are to put 1/4" plate in the bottom of the cooking chamber that meets the right hand  wall just above where the firebox opens into the cooking chamber. This plate will be below your cooking grate and will run 3/4 of the length of the cooking chamber.. This forces the heat from the firebox below this plate so it can't come out of the firebox and go straight up making a hot spot. Have about a 15 degree bend in the middle of the plate if you can, it helps in cleaning and the drippings running off.( This is the heat diverter) you can install a 2" ball valve if you like in the bottom of the cooking chamber for cleaning purposes - it makes it a LOT easier to rinse out the cooking chamber and have it run out the ball valve when needed. In the drawing below the made the plate a water pan that runs down to the ball valve.It's all in what you want...  Option two is make true reverse flow smoker. What you have already built looks like a great set up if you decide to do this .. I've included a crude drawing i hope it comes though.. Basically you would move you smoke stack to the right hand side(same side as the firebox)  This makes the smoke and heat from the firebox travel under the plate ( which is below your cooking grate) to the end of the smoker, up, and then the smoke stack draws it back across your meat and out the stack.  This makes a super consistent  temp while you are cooking. Again, what you have built looks great and will do a great job . These are just a couple of things I have incorporated into mine and I love the reverse flow. Hope this helps some !

Good Luck!

 
ReverseFlowHorizontalSmoker-Cooker_cropped.bmp
 
 
I appreciate the reply. I didn't put pictures of the inside of my smoker, but there is a heat plate exactly as you described. My drain valve is on the other end though. I put some expanded metal on the opposite end as the firebox to avoid something being dropped down there, but it doesn't impeded heat flow. Once the cooker is hot, it stays hot for a long time, but seems like it takes quite a bit to get it there. I saw where some guys are using up to 20 pounds of charcole initially. I maybe need to start out with a lot more charcole and then add wood. I have only cooked three times with this cooker. I believe I saw that picture of a reverse flow smoker before and got the idea from that. I threw a picture on here of the inside before I put the pull-out grill in.
image.jpg

image.jpg

 
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