Water tank RF Smoker

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chef phil

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 9, 2013
9
10
So I found this tank on CL for 50. bucks and put it out back. Then I found a home made fire place insert for 20. bucks. It was made out of 1/4 inch plate. I'll bet you all know where this is going.

It's not entirely complete but here's some photos.











 
There's also a top shelf that's not pictured yet

Still needs

Damper on top of the 4" flue

A couple of thermometers on the door.

Some meat... Beer and I call it good
 
Looks like you got it sealed up pretty well, doesn't seem to be leaking much smoke out of the door. Did you throw a couple of biscuits in it to see how it's heating up?
 
Not yet. I used fiberglass rope around the door. I may also throw a couple of horizontal clamps on it. It gets hot enough not to touch.
 
So I have run it a couple of times for about four hours to cure it and to tweak the door to make a snug fit. I also fitted two thermometers a foot from each end. the fire side is at about 285 and the far side is steady at 225. I'll take it. 

Next I need to run some poultry to get a feel for things. 
 
Chef Phil,
Good morning! IMHO 60 deg. difference from fire box end to other end is quite a bit for a RF pit.
Did u use any of the calculators to figure out your fire box to cook chamber opening, air inlet to fire box, stack size and height? If the FB to CC opening is not correct, to small, then the air flow in the pit could be to restricted causing the extra heat at the FB end. Same with wrong size air inlet or stack size.
If the above is not the case and you are not happy with that much differance end to end you may want to install a heat shield plate below your RF plate here is a picture that Dave Omak drew up for someone else with the same problem.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/content/type/61/id/350787
All of that said some people like to have different temps thru there pit to allow for cooking different meats at he same time.
Good luck with your pit!!
Keep Smokin!!
Wolf
 
Well at this point it's all welded down. The RF plate is also set to be a water pan with a drain pipe set up. The smoker is fairly large so the different meats idea will work for me.
 
I'll be smoking some test chickens tomorrow with seasoned mulberry. We will see what what happens.
 
Thanksgiving turkey was great. I boned a 22lb. turkey whole and marinated it in fresh herbs, garlic, citrus with lots of black pepper. It came out like turkey pastrami. Delicious. I also rotisseried one for the folks that must have traditional. I brined it for two days. It came out perfect. 
 
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