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First smoker build reverse flow any suggestions????

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crazychris353

crazychris353

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jun 27, 2017
54
10
Brooksville FL
Building my first smoker,would love to hear any ideas,or suggestions.
Im going with 30in pipe 3/8 thick 52in long for the reverse flow cooking chamber. The firebox is goingto be 24in pipe 3/8 thick 36 inch long. Sitting on top of the fire box im going to put a vertical direct flow cooking chamber 24 in pipe not sure how tall im going to make it..
The hole connecting the firebox to reverse flow cooking chamberis 10 in is that big enough?
As for the vertical cooking chamber im going with a 8 in hole.
20170627_213301.jpg

20170627_213301.jpg

 
Looks like your'e off to a great start Chris.
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I am guess in on the 10" ho;e your'e reffering to the firebox to cooking chamber if so that may be a bit small you may want to raise the firebox.

I ran your numbers and this is what i came up with.

My email is attached to the help tab on the calculator if you have any on the fly questions I get to them pretty quick.

Link to BBQ Pit Calculator

Here is another link to a calculator that is used of of your numbers that will calculate the firebox to cooking chamber. By adding a 2" grease bridge it brought your width to 14.125' wide.

Without the bridge 11.125" wide.

http://planetcalc.com/5155/

Your connector to the vertical being 8" is going to work fine in my opinion. 

For your door cut on the main chamber I would go 6.5" below 12:00 and the bottom cut 1" below 3:00. 

For your R/F plate I would shoot for around 4.5" below the top grate with a 1" fall from the firebox.

I hope this helps. :)
 
And could you please explain to me what you mean about the 1" fall from tge firebox its my first one and i dont exactly understand
 
You want your plate to slope away from the firebox to force the juices to the drain at the end of your plate.
The reverse flow relies on radiant heat for most of the cooking so if your plate is too far away you are forcing the cooker to work harder. Think of your hand over a hot plate the further away the cooler it gets. By the time the heat/smoke travels to the end and makes the turn it is starting to cool a closer plate helps keep the heat going.
 
Chris, morning....  The FB/CC opening should be about 61 Sq. In....  The reverse flow plate adds friction and slows the heat/smoke flow through the smoker..  The smoke has to travel twice as far and make a 180 deg flow change at the end of the RF plate...  Thus the need for more room so adequate flow is not interrupted and friction to flow is reduced....

The FB/CC opening football shape should be 15 5/8 long and 6" wide to get to that 61 sq. in. opening..

Check out the tutorial below...   just click on the link... 

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/reverse-flow-smoker-how-to-calculate-build-tutorial

Yes I used the FB to calculate the opening..  stupid me.....

142 sq. in for the FB/CC opening...  under the RF plate and at the end of the RF plate...

The RF plate should be 10.5" above the bottom of the CC and should be 28" wide to fit...

The football shape cut out should be 10.5" high and 19.5 long...
 
Last edited:
Chris I apologize I put the wrong number in the throat calculator.

Your 30" x 52" cooking chamber with a 24" x 36" firebox needs a firebox to cooking chamber opening of 130.28 Sq. in.

Based on this the throat calculator measured a football opening of 20.875 wide x 10.306 tall. This is utilizing a 2" grease bridge.

What ever you decide the opening opposite the firebox needs to equal or be greater than your firebox to cooking chamber opening.
 
I make my plate an extension of the top of the firebox I do not want the plate above the opening because that causes the heat/smoke to be forced down and into the tunnel.
I prefer the plate to be 4.5" below the top of my lowest grate. With the 1" fall that sets the play 5.5" below the grate at the end opposite the firebox.
I can draw this out for you if you like but it will be this evening as I am answering these questions on my phone away from my computer.
 
That would b great and do I have to pitch it because I was thinking of putting a drain and a 2 inch lip at the end of r/f plate so I can hold water on top while smoking
 
You do not have to pitch the plate it is something that I do because I run my Cookers level.
As for the water in the pan let me suggest you not do that because as I mentioned earlier the design relies on radiant heat for most of its heat source. If you add water you cool the plate and the cooker will require more heat through the firebox causing more fuel usage.
The natural meat juices is all the moisture you will need in the cooker. Just a suggestion though.
 
Do you have any baffles in between the firebox and cooking chamber?

I was thinking because im putting a vertical smoker im going to put a plate at the end of the r/f plate and put a valve handle to pull ut open and push it open
 
Last edited:
So you want to be able to close off the horizontal and just use the vertical at times?
I love stick welding it's all I do. :)
 
Last edited:
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