new smokehouse build
- Thread starter joshua brede
- Start date
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A couple other things. Your pipe run is pretty long. You're going I loose a bunch of heat before it gets to the smoker. Another thing it appears that your pipe is level. It would help if there was an incline towards the smoke shack, heat rises. Can you lower the firebox or change where the pipe goes into the smoker?
For the air going into the firebox. That's going to be some experimenting you're going to need to work on. One thing I don't like is how you have to top load your fuel. Every time you open the lid you are going to loose the nlk of your heat. A side load allows you to load and the bulk of the heat remains in the the pipe and fire box.can you rotate the fire box?
For the air going into the firebox. That's going to be some experimenting you're going to need to work on. One thing I don't like is how you have to top load your fuel. Every time you open the lid you are going to loose the nlk of your heat. A side load allows you to load and the bulk of the heat remains in the the pipe and fire box.can you rotate the fire box?
Thank you. Your exactly right with the pipe length. Its 5ft away and I'm losing 350 degrees in that 5ft. I'm gonna take 2.5ft off the pipe which will give me 200 degree warmer temp going into the smokehouse. I drilled my holes out to 7/8 and worked substantially better but I'm still choking the wood. Bit we got the house 40 degrees warmer that way. Tomorrow will add 12 more 7/8 holes for in the 6in exhaust and cut 2.5ft out of the length of the 6in.
Well here's where I'm at. Shortened the firebox exhaust pipe up and added 6 more holes. Worked substantially better in the firebox. I could keep a nice flame in there without a lot of wood in it. I got the smoker to 150 degrees which is substantially more than before but not quite what I want. I believe i'm still choking the wood with the exhaust because it smokes way to heavy when I add more logs to it. Tomorrow I'm gonna add 6 more holes to the firebox exhaust pipe and bore the 30 holes that I have out to 1in. From my calculations my exhaust will be double the size of my intakes and should help speed the fires heat transfer to the smokehouse.
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You may want to consider adding an exhaust on the smoke shack itself. The gaps you have may not be enough.
I'd also insulate the pipe from the firebox to the shack. Or shorten the pipe even more.
Is your goal to reach cooking temps? Do you plan on cold smoking too?
I'd also insulate the pipe from the firebox to the shack. Or shorten the pipe even more.
Is your goal to reach cooking temps? Do you plan on cold smoking too?
molemann
Newbie
- Dec 7, 2015
- 2
- 10
First off, it looks pretty cold where u are. It seems that u will be overworking to keep the smoker in sync. I would suggest that u put draft vents in the smoke house and try and seal it up from all the drafts. U want to produce a positive airflow from the fire box thru the smoker. Otherwise ur pressure differentials go into limbo. Also, a controllable smoke stack wouldn't hurt.
I guess it depends on how much labor u are willing to put in every time u smoke. It all looks great but I think u are over engineering ur smoke tube, also. Plus, if u ever want to cold smoke u will have to re-configure ur tube. Lengthwise.
I guess what I am really trying to say is, u have done so much work on this project that by ignoring the "gaps in the slats" and regulating the airflow from the smoker, it will probably drive u nuts as things swell and shrink with mother nature.
2 many variables.
I am a total newbie to ur site, but have been at this for more years than I care to think about and I am always scratching my head but this site is a treasure trove.
I guess it depends on how much labor u are willing to put in every time u smoke. It all looks great but I think u are over engineering ur smoke tube, also. Plus, if u ever want to cold smoke u will have to re-configure ur tube. Lengthwise.
I guess what I am really trying to say is, u have done so much work on this project that by ignoring the "gaps in the slats" and regulating the airflow from the smoker, it will probably drive u nuts as things swell and shrink with mother nature.
2 many variables.
I am a total newbie to ur site, but have been at this for more years than I care to think about and I am always scratching my head but this site is a treasure trove.
I would like to have the option to hit 200 if i need to. And yes would like to cold smoke also. Most of my processing is done in December or January. -20 to+20.
Dave your exactly right. With the holes that i have in my firebox exhaust I'm only using 40% of the volume of my 6in. So im gonna drill more out until I hit 70%. Because with more air running through the pipe faster I should be able to achieve warmer temperatures in the house. Especially since my exhaust is still choking my firebox.
And yes I am over engineering this whole entire thing because that's what I do. Haha. I like the idea of not rushing the heat out the top of the smokehouse and using the wood gaps for the exhaust. But that could change with little work. And im not even tuning this thing yet just trying to achieve 200 degrees. Once i hit that I will start working on controlling it. Been gone all weekend and am gonna do another burn on it tonight but gotta clean 10in of snow off first. Will post how it works.
Dave your exactly right. With the holes that i have in my firebox exhaust I'm only using 40% of the volume of my 6in. So im gonna drill more out until I hit 70%. Because with more air running through the pipe faster I should be able to achieve warmer temperatures in the house. Especially since my exhaust is still choking my firebox.
And yes I am over engineering this whole entire thing because that's what I do. Haha. I like the idea of not rushing the heat out the top of the smokehouse and using the wood gaps for the exhaust. But that could change with little work. And im not even tuning this thing yet just trying to achieve 200 degrees. Once i hit that I will start working on controlling it. Been gone all weekend and am gonna do another burn on it tonight but gotta clean 10in of snow off first. Will post how it works.
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Ok so I did another run last night with great results for the heating of the house. I got it up to 220 with the modifications I did and stopped there because that's higher than I ever want to get. Happy with that. Because it was 10 degrees outside and there was a 15mph wind. Smokehouse varied in temperature up to 30 degrees lower on the windy side. I'm assuming that will be fairly normal? Or do I give in and plug all the cracks on the sides of the house and leaving the roof alone? If it gets down to plugging the roof cracks and adding a chimney if I were to use 4 chimneys instead of one would that even the heat through the house better?
My other issue is the smoke. It's thick. Probably 20xs more than you would want in there. Is it possible that my firebox exhaust still doesn't have enough holes in it? I'm at about 70 percent of its capacity.
Im just asking questions and take everybody's advice into account. I keep reposting how its going in case anybody else is thinking of doing the same thing. Thanks everybody for any suggestions
My other issue is the smoke. It's thick. Probably 20xs more than you would want in there. Is it possible that my firebox exhaust still doesn't have enough holes in it? I'm at about 70 percent of its capacity.
Im just asking questions and take everybody's advice into account. I keep reposting how its going in case anybody else is thinking of doing the same thing. Thanks everybody for any suggestions
I'm not sure of what your intake setup is.... but smokers like RF's and UDS, seem to work best when the intake is restricted and flow through the FB and CC are pretty much free flowing.... About the temp difference in the smokehouse.... Could you try battens on every other gap in the boards the reduce the exhaust.... Maybe batten all of the lower 1/3 of the gaps... The gaps could be letting in air due to the chimney effect of the smokehouse... If and when you find an acceptable "balance", it will be worth the time...
Dave
Dave
That's a great idea! I'm gonna try that because I do like the idea of leaving the chimney off to help heat more evenly. Im also gonna open my exhaust up so it can free flow instead of being restricted. The only reason I was trying that is so I could possibly cold smoke also. In the summer if I wanted to. But the plain fact is usually always do it in the winter months and need it working soon. Gonna be using my tiny propane smoker which will take me 15 loads of 8 hours a piece pretty quick.
Pictures I have seen of 'Old time" cold smokers.... The fire box leaves the door open so heat can escape and the chimney effect sucks the smoke into the smokehouse... Thus cooling the smoke... I have also seen the transfer pipes vented to the atmosphere, on the top side, to vent heat while still allowing some smoke and some heat... Folks have come up with a myriad of solutions to smoke stuff...
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