Tomorrow starts the fabrication of the smallest

mrblack947 · Mar 20, 2010

Reverse flow portable (not trailer) smoker I have seen yet.
Well at least in here anyways.

17 gallon cook chamber and 7 gallon fire box. Round and round.

Hoping to be able to incorperate some form of a water chamber into it as well.

I have done a lot of reading and I think I have most of the sizes and dimensions figured out. The only one I am unsure of is how much gap there should be to the reverse flow plate to the opposite end of the cook chamber?

Any info on that would be of great help.

First pics should be up tomorrow evening.

graybeard · Mar 20, 2010

I should wait for the pictures butt I'm thinking 3 to 4 inches. Give us the total cooking area.

beard

mrblack947 · Mar 20, 2010

Thanks beard

Cooking area will be 15"x16"

graybeard · Mar 20, 2010

That's an interesting size and shape! Gotta see some pictures butt now I'm thinking 2 inches?

beard

t-bone tim · Mar 20, 2010

I believe this smoker is the smallest in here , least that I 've seen

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=64702

mrblack947 · Mar 20, 2010

EDIT

Thanks for the link T bone. After reading more into that thread, he is the guy that inspired this whole project for me from a youtube video of his. He also has one which you may have seen that is about twice that size.

At least I know I am not completely crazy.

smokin' dick · Mar 20, 2010

Not completely, but partially is certainly helpful in this hobby. Good luck with your build. I have one of these tiny smokers and it is a lot of fun. The cooking grate is 6" x 14" and the space at the end of the baffle is about 2". Of course
the end of the bottle is sort of pointed so accurate measurement is difficult.

mrblack947 · Mar 20, 2010

This was step 1 that I started last Sunday.

I removed the firebox off my old not so trusty Brinkmann from it's cook chamber.

I then welded up the hole and made a new vent which replicated what was in the firebox. Basically converting it into a fancy weber type charcoal grill.

I have used it a couple times since then and I think it makes a better hotter grill now. It seemed like the SnP was not a good smoker or a good grill. Just kinda half assed both jobs.

Keep in mind the old firebox is going to be my new cookchamber on the portable unit.

At least I think it is going to be somewhat portable. lol

bbally · Mar 20, 2010

The square inches of opening at the end of a reverse flow plate shall equal the square inches of opening of the Exhaust port when calculated at sealevel. For every thousand feet above sealevel one should drop 3/8 of an inch of opening (assumes mostly rectangular shape on the fold back slot.) If you are above 5000 feet in elevation, PM your draft and exhaust require different calculations to hold temp.

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

Got solid 8 hours of fabrication in today on the little big unit.

I am open to any and all suggestions so long as I don't have to undo anything lol.

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

Thanks for the info bb.

So if I do a 3 inch exhaust pipe at sea level I would be looking at 7 square inches? is that right? That is a pretty small gap.

bbally · Mar 21, 2010

7.06858 would be exact.

Small yes, but the idea is to have total IR transfer to the plate, and cooler smoke rolling past the meat.

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

Obvious things left to do,

Exhaust pipe,
Any advice on whether I should put it on the end of the cook chamber and if so how close to food grate level? or should I put it on the back side of the cook chamber (rounded part) and if so should I drop it down inside down near food level?

The reverse flow plate,
I am planning on using the dimensions and air gaps advised by bbally. My plan is to incorperate the design of reverse flow plate / water pan with a ball valve drain. Is this a good idea?

Finish making a functional fire box door with a vent system. I am going to use the end cap on the tank as a door instead of a swing open door like on the cook chamber.

I want to construct a firebox basket out of some heavy expanded steel.

Fabricate the racks. I will either look for a cast iron grate of approx size or make something out of heavy expanded steel.

Need some sore of skid shoes for the legs.

Need a good thermometer.

Thanks for the help guys.

graybeard · Mar 21, 2010

I just thought of a GRATE name for yer new smoker Steve, ONE-BUTT-ER!

beard

duck killer 1 · Mar 21, 2010

it sounds like the language in your post ( ie the word "shall") came from a set of blue prints. is there a list of these little "rulz" somewhere that i could get ahold of? the calculator spreadsheet is great but to have the information that was used when the calculator was created would be great!

duck killer 1 · Mar 21, 2010

by the way MRBLACK947, the tank your using for your fire box is exactly the tank i used when building mine (in my signature pic). i used 2 of those tanks and cut the one for the firebox in half. the other i used the whole thing for my firebox. 12"x20". the powder coating on them things was murder to get off! i wound up doing 2 rounds of paint/ epoxy stripper and a scraper and a wire wheel to get down to bare metal. good luck with your build! lookin good so far, nice welds too!

mrblack947 · Mar 21, 2010

Thanks duck. I am just your average basically self tought garage welder. :D

I have made some more progress today building the baffle/waterpan.

It is hard to make out but I bent the plate (that was fun) 1 inch down in the middle so it will have a nice low spot to double was the water pan. I put a 1" damn at the cooking end. It should hold more than enough water.

I am also going to put in a half inch drain pipe with a ball valve on it that I picked up today.

I also scored some nice cast iron grates from home of da po

Tomorrow starts the fabrication of the smallest

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