Back at it.

[ribwizzard]

I know, I've been MIA for a while. The new business has me working harder than ever , instead of it being a retirement gig like it was supposed to be.

Anyway, I'm at max capacity with the three smokers I currently have going and I'm still selling out way to early so I had to get another build going, and with not much time to keep visiting scrap yards looking for the perfect tank, I resorted to Craig's list and ended up picking up a p.o.s. 250 gallon in need of repair. The fire box was built from a water tank and actually 2/3 rds of it fell off on the drive back from where I got it from. I got my guys going to sandblast it tonight so by morning I should see what I got to work with/ how much work I have to do to get it cook able.

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 3, 2014

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 3, 2014

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 3, 2014

 

[daveomak]

HEY !!!! RW..... So, you are one of the 1%'ers now.... High tax bracket and all.... Raise your prices so you are not so busy....

Good to hear from you.... The body of the smoker looks pretty good....

Waiting for pics of the business now that it is HOPPING...... Dave

:Congratulations:

 

[gary s]

Hey RW, glad to hear from you, figured you were busy, glad your selling out, next will be a couple of 1000 gal tanks !!!

Gary

 

[ribwizzard]

Hey Dave, Hey Gary. Yep, my location and customers have been real good to me. But I don't want to get a reputation for selling out early. Lots of people stop and " want meat only" and I have to turn them away in order to save enough for my dinner plates.

This smoker should handle a couple cases of ribs easy enough once I get it done, got it blasted tonight and other than being pitted all over. It's not in too bad of shape. No holes or anything. The door size is nice,don't really need a counterweight, and they are not sprung. Trailer is crap, but I'll get smoker going first and get it operating and then build a new trailer and swap it over.

I'll have some new pics tomorrow

 

[ribwizzard]

Blasted

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 4, 2014

 

[ribwizzard]

Coat of high heat where I won't be welding right away

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 4, 2014

 

[ribwizzard]

And now having lunch while steel is sheared, going 24x24x30 on the firebox, Feldons says it's a bit small, but I feel that should be plenty big enough for this smoker.

 

[ribwizzard]

Can someone run the numbers for me? All i have is my phone on me. Area below the plate is 12 x 6 5/8 or so, looks to be low, but thats a huge amount of room for airflow, just going by looks

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 5, 2014

 

[ribwizzard]

See how low fire box will sit , im fine with that if numbers run ok

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 5, 2014

 

[daveomak]

When I run those numbers, it shows the diameter of the CC as 12"... and the segment area as - 50 inches.....

Something is wrong......

Are you sure the RF plate is only 12" wide..... That must be a typo......

 

[ribwizzard]

Sorry, the plate i have is 24 inches wide, i set it in there and it looks to ride at a good height with plenty of airflow room underneath it and plenty of room above it between the bottom shelf. . It looked right to me until i looked at the firebox height and saw how low it would sit on the tank.

 

[daveomak]

The real numbers of the tank would help a lot... Inside diameter... wall thickness...


Chord AB 24
Seg. Hgt. 6.625
radius 14.18
Circ. 89
Seg. Area 112.21 This number is about half of what you need....


250 gallon = 57750 cu. in.
FB 19231 Cu. In. (24x24x33 would work)
Stack 982 cu. in. = 6" ID stack 35" tall above the CC
57 Sq. in. FB air inlets... 50 lower... 10 upper +/-
FB/CC opening 231 sq. in.

 

[jarjarchef]

Great to hear things are going so well for you. People around here will travel several miles for good BBQ and even further for great BBQ. So when you get ready to expand your number of Q restaurants, we aready for a good one around here.

BTW a slight bump in price after you have gotten established is normal. Just don't jump too much. There is a guy that is around here sometimes (food truck setup) that will let you preorder bulk meats. He does make you prepay. They say people had ordered and never picked up, so he had to protect himself. But he gives you a pretty small pickup time window so he can get the meal box stuff done in time. Just a thought or two.

 

[ribwizzard]

Wow, 1/2? Really? Inside of tank is 29 1/2, ,i thought it might be a bit on the low side, but didnt think it was that low, sucks becouse the plate i have is 24 " wide

 

[lendecatural]

You could always go with a BBQ Guru or other feedback fan and force feed it......

 

[ribwizzard]

Its going to be sunday before i can get back on it, and im going to round up my old notes on ratios i made back when i did the mini's. This smoker will be for pork buts , turkeys, and maybe brisket. So im not going to want it to run too hot. It really needs to be set and forget and efficient. So i really need to get it right.

 

[ribwizzard]

What i mean is, i always built my smokers to give me alot of control over a wide temperature range, this one needs to just hold 250 all day long with as even heat as possible.

 

[ribwizzard]

And a little slower air flow

 

[ribwizzard]

Little progress today, welded up firebox, made slidder vent and got it attached

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 11, 2014

 

[ribwizzard]

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• ribwizzard
• Nov 11, 2014

Sucks not having my shop anymore, especially 400 amp welders