Brazos Baffle Repositioning

[Its_Raw]

Hello!

I noticed the infamous downward-facing baffle is now easily removable in the new model Brazos, which is handy and will allow me to experiment without having to modify the smoker down the road. I see where some have placed some metal just outside of the firebox in the cooking chamber to force the air/smoke upward as it enters the cooking chamber. Claims of a more end-to-end evenness in temperatures are being made. I am wondering if the baffle that is removed from the Brazos can be easily dropped back down in a vertical position to achieve this easily? Has anyone tried this? I am thinking out-loud a bit as I will be able to try this later when I get home…

Thank you!

 

[JLeonard]

Theres another thread on here where I think it was Chasdev repostioned the baffle on his XD and improved things. It might be worth a shot....and you wont be out anything other than time.

Jim

 

[Smokin Okie]

IDK if you do Facebook, but there's a lot of people in the Old Country Facebook group who've done that.

 

[Chasdev]

Did someone mention me?
Indeed, turning the Grand ChampXD baffle upside down worked great.
The heat is directed up (as opposed to down under the cook grate) and there's no more 400 degrees on the right and 200 degrees on the left.
I'm gearing up for one or two experiments to determine the best angle to position the baffle plate and if a water pan is helpful or not, plus if firebricks are a benefit or not.

 

[Its_Raw]

Thank you for your reply. Do you havre any pictures of the baffle position?

 

[Smokin Okie]

 

[Smokin Okie]

That is from the Old Country Group

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[Chasdev]

Drift over to the wood smokers area and click on "Plan 9 from outer space" thread.
I show several different angles but the one I tested was with the narrowest gap.

 

[cpfitness]

New Brazos owner here. I have the removable baffle but what comes.to.mind is why not just cut a small section out of the top middle of the baffle to let some heat come up through the top? I know there are other vendors out there selling a modified baffle that essentially does this but it seems like just a simple cut in the existing baffle would do the trick.. re.oving baffle altogether seems like it might let too much heat come through the fire box. I think I'm gonna take my baffle out and use it as a template and try making a simple modification with another piece of steel.

 

[Chasdev]

I don't drive a Brazos but am a big fan of testing new/er ideas, so go for it!
You never know, you could become a YouTube star and make a zillion frog pelts..IF the hack works.

 

[Smokin Okie]

My Franklin pit doesn't really have a baffle. It has a shelf at grate level that Aaron says is there to create turbulence. The firebox end of the cooker is not usable. Its about creating convection on the stack end of the cook chamber.

Aaron wants the heat to rise to the top of the cook chamber, then get pulled down around the meats on the stack end.

He explains the air flow in the cooker here, vid will start at that point.

 

[Its_Raw]

I ended up buying one of these:

TheBBQHQ Custom Firebox Baffle for Old Country Brazos, Pecos, Gen 2

Introducing our specially crafted baffle, meticulously designed and thoroughly tested in TheBBQHQ Lab to elevate your Old Country Brazos Offset Smoker experience. As heat and smoke leave the cook chamber, this baffle sends it straight up, freeing up grate space or the need for a water pan to...

thebbqhq.com

Works well. Forces the hot air and smoke straight up out of the firebox. The coolest temp on the grate when using all 4 Thermopro temp probes and a small water pan, is next to the firebox end. The hottest is at the stack end. The variation from a probe on one side of 2 racks of ribs to the other was about 40-degrees, again the hottest being toward the stack.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I ended up buying one of these:

TheBBQHQ Custom Firebox Baffle for Old Country Brazos, Pecos, Gen 2

Introducing our specially crafted baffle, meticulously designed and thoroughly tested in TheBBQHQ Lab to elevate your Old Country Brazos Offset Smoker experience. As heat and smoke leave the cook chamber, this baffle sends it straight up, freeing up grate space or the need for a water pan to...

thebbqhq.com

Works well. Forces the hot air and smoke straight up out of the firebox. The coolest temp on the grate when using all 4 Thermopro temp probes and a small water pan, is next to the firebox end. The hottest is at the stack end. The variation from a probe on one side of 2 racks of ribs to the other was about 40-degrees, again the hottest being toward the stack.

Says its designed to work with their stack extension. But due to the bottleneck at the stack port, increasing air flow will just cause heat to build on the stack end.

Until ya deal with the exhaust constriction, it doesn't do any good to increase the air flow.

Just by cutting down the air flow using the damper in the firebox door, and just allowing enough air for a clean fire, the heat will rise to the top of cooker without this baffle.

I never took the baffle out of my Brazos. I just ran it low air flow, so that the heat/air would rise immediately as it came out from under the baffle. My sweet spot was with damper 1/2 open.

Also, this baffle these guys are selling is gonna restrict air flow ( they say as much, when they're pushing their stack extension ) . So what ya end up with is a bottleneck on both ends of the cook chamber.

Just cut down the air flow as I said above, and save your money.

 

[Smokin Okie]

This was the conclusion I came to almost exactly three years ago. I knew I was gonna have to hire a welder to put a collector on the Brazos to get where I wanted to go. At the same time, I'd gotten an email from Franklin telling me a pit was available.

I talked to a couple of welders and said screw it, and bought the Franklin.

And oh yeah, Jimmy Daniels at Workhorse has taken down the vid where he put a collector on the Yoder Wichita.

My post from March 2021.

 

[Its_Raw]

Please keep in mind my very low fire count... but, I am not seeing a lot of heat building up at the stack end with the extension. Again, its about 40-degrees hotter at the stack than the firebox. And this was improved when I got the interior baffle I linked above. Prior to getting that baffle, the firebox end was up to 100-degrees hotter than the stack end. So far, I have ran the firebox door pretty open to ensure enough airflow and I can only assume the fire's airflow need is governed by the draw of the stack extension. Again, I am very new and I am mainly guessing.

Having watched likely ALL of the Brazos mods videos on YouTube, one complaint was consistent throughout the majority of the videos - and that was removing the factory baffle allowed for more even temps and less burning of the bottom of the meat. I am only parroting what I heard, but I figured it was worth listening to due to how many supported the idea. As of now, I am thrilled with what the extension and new baffle have done as far as evening out the grate temps a bit. I no longer feel like I am constantly chasing the temps up and down to keep the cook temp in range.

Just my 2-cents.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Please keep in mind my very low fire count... but, I am not seeing a lot of heat building up at the stack end with the extension. Again, its about 40-degrees hotter at the stack than the firebox. And this was improved when I got the interior baffle I linked above. Prior to getting that baffle, the firebox end was up to 100-degrees hotter than the stack end. So far, I have ran the firebox door pretty open to ensure enough airflow and I can only assume the fire's airflow need is governed by the draw of the stack extension. Again, I am very new and I am mainly guessing.

Having watched likely ALL of the Brazos mods videos on YouTube, one complaint was consistent throughout the majority of the videos - and that was removing the factory baffle allowed for more even temps and less burning of the bottom of the meat. I am only parroting what I heard, but I figured it was worth listening to due to how many supported the idea. As of now, I am thrilled with what the extension and new baffle have done as far as evening out the grate temps a bit. I no longer feel like I am constantly chasing the temps up and down to keep the cook temp in range.

Just my 2-cents.

Yeah, that baffle you bought cut down the air flow.

What are your firebox settings ?

The extension I put on the stack could be taken on and off easily. I had TelTru gauges on both ends of the cook chamber.

I get the temps evened out end to end by cutting down the air flow at the firebox door.

Then I put the extension on and stand there and watch the stack gauge climb

Then I take it off and watch the stack gauge fall. I did that over and over and over.

Can you read the gauges in this pic ? And look at the firebox door.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Here, try it this way. And this is not my pit, it came from another forum.

 

[Its_Raw]

I apologize, I am not sure what I am trying and why I should be trying it? I have no issues to address at this point that I know of. Again, I apologize if I missed something.