500 gallon RF Build revised
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We will be eating all afternoon! I have about 60lbs of pork butt and 50lbs of brisket!!
and a huge batch of wicked baked beans!
I am firing the smoker up in about an hour!
fischersmokin
Newbie
Well I did not take many pictures I did not want to open the smoker unless I absolutely had to. The 55lbs of pork butt and 40lbs of brisket turned out great! It held temp great and nothing but thin blue smoke. I used just cherry the whole time and the brisket loved it! I got nothing but compliments from the 90+ people who showed up. I got a lot of " best BBQ I have had"
fischersmokin
Newbie
Quick question why the springs on the outside? You have the coils in the inside and the brackets on the outside so just wondering.
I added the springs on the outside because I wanted the doors to "hold" open without having to go all the way to the stops on the springs on the inside. If I had known when I started what I know now I would not have cut my doors all the way at the top like I did and this would not be an issue. I am just adding a crutch to fix a mistake I made. It works well for now but I am planning on coming up with a better way to make it stop open. I need to get into its home and see how everything works inside before I get carried away making adjustments.
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fischersmokin
Newbie
I see :) We really liked the idea of the coil hinges on the doors so we are placing them into the doors we are building now. I love the cleaner look of the doors not having counter weights on them.
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Weld a tube horizontally on the door and insert a round bar with a 90* bend that protrudes past the door seal and lays against the smoker. When you open the door it will rotate , then weld a tab at the desired height . To close the door simply raise the bar over the tab and let it down.
I made a major step forward yesterday and got the smoker moved into it permanent home yesterday. It was no easy task but well worth it to have a smoker I can use anytime in any weather and not worry about it effecting how well the smoker works. I had a chimney from my mother in law house that was no longer being used and tried it but it was a 6" inside diameter and it did not draw enough to keep temps stable. I removed that and left a 10" open hole about 12" about the top of the stack and the smoke pulled up and out very well. I may just leave it this way and add a rain cap and screen to keep the bees and birds out. It's so nice to not have to deal with wind and rain when using the smoker. I still need to re build the wall where the door used to be that will no longer be used.
My Mom and brother were over from Idaho so we had a BBQ and I made pork ribs and chicken thighs hot wings style and wicked baked beans and ABT's
Everything turned out great
My Mom and brother were over from Idaho so we had a BBQ and I made pork ribs and chicken thighs hot wings style and wicked baked beans and ABT's
Everything turned out great
everything looks great... my only worry would be the radiant heat from the firebox being so close to that wood wall... yes... i would lose sleep over that...
I have heat resistant panels to go around the walls that will be installed soon. I was very careful to watch the temps and make sure the walls were not getting hot. There never a time I could not hold my bare hand on the wall for any amount of time. There is 12" of air space from the firebox to any wall. I was/am concerned about the fire danger as well.
The biggest concerns I had were whether or not my hinges would work, and if the ash drawer and plates I installed to funnel the ash into the tray would effect the airflow and or temperature of the smoker. I cannot complain about either they the hinges work but not quite as well as I had hoped but that is more due to my cutting the doors much higher on the cook chamber than I needed to because I had not planned ahead far enough to read WHERE the doors should be cut and just did it. I made that bed now I have to lie in it but all in all I am very happy with it. I am going to make a positive lock to stop the doors from opening too far (they are hard to reach when open all the way) and add a heavier spring to hold the doors open and it will be all good and I am very happy to not have had to use counterweights on the doors!
The ash try works great and does not effect air flow or temps in a bad way. I keep the top and bottom vents open all the way and only had the close either a little when I loaded too much wood in the firebox or used splits that where too large and that was really just to test it out and get a "feel" for how it would react to different things so I would know how to make adjustments when needed.
I finished off the chimney a couple days ago and added section of pipe thru the roof and a rain cap now I need to test that to see if and how temperature is effected by this and make the necessary correction if needed.
One thing I want to play with now is figuring out how to make this thing hold a much lower temp. I want to smoke some salmon and trout in it because I need it done before I will be able to complete my smokehouse for doing fish in. I cant wait to hang fish in a actual smokehouse and build a small alder fire on the floor to smoke my fish the way my Grandfather taught me!
The ash try works great and does not effect air flow or temps in a bad way. I keep the top and bottom vents open all the way and only had the close either a little when I loaded too much wood in the firebox or used splits that where too large and that was really just to test it out and get a "feel" for how it would react to different things so I would know how to make adjustments when needed.
I finished off the chimney a couple days ago and added section of pipe thru the roof and a rain cap now I need to test that to see if and how temperature is effected by this and make the necessary correction if needed.
One thing I want to play with now is figuring out how to make this thing hold a much lower temp. I want to smoke some salmon and trout in it because I need it done before I will be able to complete my smokehouse for doing fish in. I cant wait to hang fish in a actual smokehouse and build a small alder fire on the floor to smoke my fish the way my Grandfather taught me!
moody cue
Newbie
I am looking to start my own 500 gallon RF build which will be my first, so this is all new to me. As such, I have been reading through this thread intently over the past week or so and I have to say it is incredibly helpful! This will definitely be my blueprint.
My only concern is that the tank I found is pretty old (built in the 50's) so the dimensions are not what you typically see in the more modern 500 gallon tanks. It is a short/fat design (see attached pic). This tank is roughly 48" OD and about 6.5' long, whereas I believe most 500 gallon tanks are narrower/longer. Yours, at least, seems to have the more typical dimensions you see in a 500 gallon tank. Does the short/fat design make it less conducive for a RF smoker? I would hate to invest a bunch of time and money into this thing just to discover that it doesn't have proper airflow because of the dimensions.
I suppose one of the perceived benefits of having a CC of these dimensions is that it certainly lends itself to having multiple cooking shelves because it is taller. But one thing I haven't seen much of is discussion around the effectiveness of having multiple shelves. Does it create airflow problems? do you get inconsistent air/smoke flow on the upper/lower shelves?
One more question I have has to do with placement of the CC doors. Is there a general rule of thumb in determining how low/high to cut the doors? Ideally it seems the bottom of the door would be about where the lower cooking shelf is. But in order to accomplish this it seems like I would have to run the numbers using Dave's calculator for the FB/CC opening to see where the height of the RF plate will end up and then just go a few inches above that? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
My only concern is that the tank I found is pretty old (built in the 50's) so the dimensions are not what you typically see in the more modern 500 gallon tanks. It is a short/fat design (see attached pic). This tank is roughly 48" OD and about 6.5' long, whereas I believe most 500 gallon tanks are narrower/longer. Yours, at least, seems to have the more typical dimensions you see in a 500 gallon tank. Does the short/fat design make it less conducive for a RF smoker? I would hate to invest a bunch of time and money into this thing just to discover that it doesn't have proper airflow because of the dimensions.
I suppose one of the perceived benefits of having a CC of these dimensions is that it certainly lends itself to having multiple cooking shelves because it is taller. But one thing I haven't seen much of is discussion around the effectiveness of having multiple shelves. Does it create airflow problems? do you get inconsistent air/smoke flow on the upper/lower shelves?
One more question I have has to do with placement of the CC doors. Is there a general rule of thumb in determining how low/high to cut the doors? Ideally it seems the bottom of the door would be about where the lower cooking shelf is. But in order to accomplish this it seems like I would have to run the numbers using Dave's calculator for the FB/CC opening to see where the height of the RF plate will end up and then just go a few inches above that? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Shorter and fatter is better..... Grab it..... Are you in Montana ??? I see ethanol free fuel... only 2 states where you can get that stuff....
Missouri and Montana.... or so the web says......
Missouri and Montana.... or so the web says......
moody cue
Newbie
I'm in Arizona but this tank is in Northern Utah. Apparently you can add Utah to that list with Montana and Missouri!
Thanks for the input. I've committed to buying this tank and will pick it up over Thanksgiving. Can't wait to get started on it.
Based on your response I assume I won't have issues with multiple shelves in the CC? And am I off base with the placement of the CC doors? Forgive my ignorance, I'm as green as it comes in building smokers!
I run 3 shelves on most of the tank smokers I build. More meat is always good.
To do this right make a plan and post it here so folks can help with any problems you may encounter, BEFORE you start cutting it up.
Many newbies come on here after they have cut the tank to bits and in the wrong place..
You can easily get 3-4 shelves on the fat tank.
I would cut the top of the door somewhere around 240mm (12 -15") from the 12' o'clock and the bottom of the door about 4" below the 3 o'clock for maximum space and lower door weight.
Stay at least 2" away from the welds on the end of the tank. You could proably run 1 or 2 doors on it.
Ahumadora has built many smokers that work awesome.... he is a great go-to-guy for help....
Below is a tutorial that will help you build a great smoker.... Any question, please ask.... Dave
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/reverse-flow-smoker-how-to-calculate-build-tutorial
Below is a tutorial that will help you build a great smoker.... Any question, please ask.... Dave
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/reverse-flow-smoker-how-to-calculate-build-tutorial
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