Long Time Smoker, First Time Welder (250 gal RF)

irvvfsmokn said:

Just wondering if u have more photos of the fabrication of your smoker. I am currently turning a 1000 gal tank into a reverse flow smoker that will be used for large events I like a lot of what you did with the smoker. Any suggestions of does and don'ts would be great.

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Hey irvvfsmokin,

I do have more photos. They don't show every step of the process but they might be helpful. Send me a private message with your email address and I will send you some of them. I'll be honest with you, I had no written plans for this build. All I had was 10 years of photos and thoughts in my head about what MY smoker would look like when I finally got to build it. I traveled the entire state of Texas as a Sales Manager for Valspar Paint so I came across lots of ideas. The best thing I did was stumble across SMF. I followed several builds on this website and I asked questions when I didn't understand something. I followed builds from Raptor, Diesel, and Aquasport very closely as they were doing exactly what I wanted.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/96622/it-s-time-for-my-250-build/40#post_547743

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/91142/250-gallon-propane-tank

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/89989/250-gal-reverse-flow-build-started

The removable bracket for the top shelves is probably my only original idea. I wanted to have the flexibility to go for size (whole hog) or volume. Other than that I have taken everything else from these other guys. This website is a great resource and full of great people.

Got a few things done this past weekend.

2 vents installed. 1 on each side of firebox. 3"x8"



Smoke stack put in place. 28" extends outside the cooking chamber. Extends into the tank about 6 more inches.



I lit a test fire in the firebox just to see if the draw was good. As you can see...it worked. I had about 20 degrees difference from one end to the other but I didn't tend the fire properly and wait for the tank to heat up. I just lit the fire and let it burn. I think when the tank warms up it should have less of a variance from end to end. Need to get some work done on the trailer and some handles on the doors and I will be ready to smoke a few test butts this weekend. The "fins" on the top are temporary until I can make a counter weight.