360 gallon reverse flow build

[smoke_chef]

Love seeing the design posts back and forth from you guys. What a great site this is. I too dream (plan) about a whole hog smoker. I'll be watching this close. Can't wait for more pics.

 

[daveomak]

bmoore, morning.....  The smoking chamber is one big chimney.... the heat from the firebox, coupled with the draft inlet and the stack and smoking chamber having warmer air in them, forces physics.... the warmer air is less dense than the colder air on the outside of the smoker... the cold air displaces the lighter warm air causing it to rise.... since there is only one outlet, being the stack, and warm air needing to rise, there will be flow through the smoker..... the square inches of space between the reverse flow plate and the bottom of the smoker should be at least 1.5 times the square inches of the firebox opening to the smoker..... also the square inches of space between the end of the reverse flow plate and the end of the smoker should be at least 1.5 times the area of the firebox to smoker opening....  this enlarged area reduces the friction loss of the exhaust traveling through the smoker, especially at the end of the reverse flow plate where the air has to take a 180 degree turn to head toward the smoke stack..... a slight downward slope of the RF plate of say 1-2 inches is not a problem.... measure the area, below the reverse flow plate, where the plate is lowest, to measure the square inches area..... Dave

 

[bmoore]

Gotcha thanks Dave! What I have drawn out should work just sweet

 

[bmoore]

Looking for some decent temp gauges for this smoker and the one I am currently using. I am having a hard time finding any locally. Anyone know of a site to order them or a specific one they have ordered and particularily liked?
Got the door cut into the tank almost. Been busy with another project I have on the go. Hopefully get back at er this weekend!

 

[daveomak]

bmoore, morning...... Grainger has dial therms....  check the descriptions to see if they are calibrateable....  usually an allen set screw to adjust reading...   Dave

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/di.../ecatalog/N-beh?Ndr=basedimid10071&sst=subset

 

[bmoore]

Well got both doors cut hinges on both flat bar around both all the misc holes capped. Got lots of pics but need the gf to post them for me as it is much above my level of patience for technology.
I got a little carried away welding the hinges on the smoker tank and it warped in a few places across the top. Going to put a piece of 2" x1/4" flat bar across the top on the inside for a seal and to help flatten it out and a piece of 1 1/2 angle iron x 3/16 welded to the flat bar. Will hopefully be able to get it closer to flat with the torches and hammer first.
My door also twisted a bit would it make sense to deal with this after I have the burn in?

 

[bmoore]

Just about to weld my reverse flow plate. I notice a lot of guys burn theirs in before their rf plate is in. Any opinions on doing this after? Possibly with a second fire on top of the rf plate? The gf rshould be able to post some pics in a few hours, I got lots. Maybe I can remember how to do it for next time lol

 

[daveomak]

bmoore, evening.....  The RF plate is probably new material and doesn't need a high temp burn,  plus you could warp it..... not good.... I'd put it in after the burnout....  Dave

 

[bmoore]

Ya its new material 1/4 inch thick. I am thinking that it might not get hot enough with the reverse flowplate in place to burn the steel out properly? Was hoping to get it in this weekend since I have only one more weekend till I gotta cook a hog.

 

[daveomak]

OH.... I thought you were going to build a fire in the smoking chamber with pallets and fire wood to really clean her out.....  A regular smoking fire up to 350 or so and oiling the metal.... Is that what you are planning ???  That would work.... I was just concerned you would warp the new RF plate....    Bring the temp up slow and let everything equalize for a bit before raising the temp again..... Wouldn't want to see all that work end up in warped smoker and stuff like that.....   Dave

 

[bmoore]

I am not really sure what kind of temps I can expect from this thing. If I had a problem getting it hot enough I was planning on lighting a second fire with fire wood in the smoking chamber. Sounds as though I should expect this from what u are saying. Gonna leave it out I have lots of other stuff to keep me busy with it till next weekend. Thanks for your thoughts

 

[bmoore]

Cooked a 60 lb hog on her this weekend along with four racks of ribs and a brisket. Worked almost perfectly. The lower corner near the reverse flow plate was about 30 deg cooler than the rest. The other 3 corners were within 5 deg. Pig shreaded nicely. Not going to worry about the temp difference as I think it could come in handy when smoking various types of meat over the course of
I could stock it up with charcoal and not touch it for an hour possibly longer if I had of put more charcoal in. I tried using maple logs but could not get blue smoke. From what I hear I have to start a fire with the wood and then transfer the coals to the smoker? Since I cannot find any hickory in this area I am going to make a tray to hold some hickory chips and put it across the top of the wood box. I wasn't happy with the smoke flavour that I had.
Still have some things to do like make proper handles and fix the latches I butched together in a rush to get it useable.
I cannot seam to load pics from my android phone to this site if anyone has info on how I can do it please feel free to message me.