Hey all.
My first post. I've been an avid lurker for a couple of years and I've been smoking at home for three. I started out with a Smoke Hollow Electric smoker. Being that I was a complete novice, I was cooking every other day. Then I got my first Electric bill. Well, after that I went to once a week but filled that thing to the max.
After a year of enjoying this I graduated to a Char Griller 5050 and added the offset firebox on Fathers day, That was two years ago (2011).
Well I've finally gotten my smoking down to not a science but a simple great repeatable process. But like every other Off Set Smoker user, I had that dreaded "HOT" spot at the firebox. I thought about adding a deflector and baffle plates and even went so far as to buy the piano hinge, the metal. Well that sat around for a full year without doing anything about it.
This year as I search for a full rig with reverse flow to do catering and cooking for my wife's family at our annual family weekend, I thought about converting this thing to a reverse flow. Now I don't own a welder nor do I have access to a metal fabrication facility. So keep that in mind as you read this.
I wanted this to be a reverse flow smoker. I bought a 24x24 piece of steel. Then cut one side down to 14.5 inches. On the long end of this I bent it 4 inches from the end to cover the opening of the firebox. This left about 3 inches on the opposite. Next I removed the three bolts on the top of the firebox.
Placing the bent end up against this I used a permanent marker to mark the steel with these three bolt locations. Next I drilled a 1/4" hole at each of these spots. Knowing I didn't want to lose smoke here I added some High Heat Permatex gasket silicon ( the orange one)
Next I bolted this plate into location. I ran a bead of the gasket sealant down each side of the plate to minimize bleed through.
This added the baffle plate. Next I had to reposition the chimney. Easy enough I had left over steel. I removed the chimney and drilled mounting holes. After that I shaped the steel to the bend of the lid. I bolted it on the underside of the lid to where the old chimney hole was.
Next I cut a 3 1/4" round circle and two new 1/4" mounting holes on the right. I added the chimney on the right side and fired it up. After getting a good 350 degree temperature in the smoker, I did not smell any of the silicone and minimal bleed around the baffle plate.
Next came the test, I added three chicken breasts, on the left where the smoke was, one in the middle and one on the far right. With a constant temperature of 240 degrees, an hour and half later, the three pieces were not moved, rotated nor changed, they were within 6 degrees of one another. The one in the middle was the hottest as it was the thinnest. I am happy.
Here is a video of my mods.
Thanks for reading.
My first post. I've been an avid lurker for a couple of years and I've been smoking at home for three. I started out with a Smoke Hollow Electric smoker. Being that I was a complete novice, I was cooking every other day. Then I got my first Electric bill. Well, after that I went to once a week but filled that thing to the max.
After a year of enjoying this I graduated to a Char Griller 5050 and added the offset firebox on Fathers day, That was two years ago (2011).
Well I've finally gotten my smoking down to not a science but a simple great repeatable process. But like every other Off Set Smoker user, I had that dreaded "HOT" spot at the firebox. I thought about adding a deflector and baffle plates and even went so far as to buy the piano hinge, the metal. Well that sat around for a full year without doing anything about it.
This year as I search for a full rig with reverse flow to do catering and cooking for my wife's family at our annual family weekend, I thought about converting this thing to a reverse flow. Now I don't own a welder nor do I have access to a metal fabrication facility. So keep that in mind as you read this.
I wanted this to be a reverse flow smoker. I bought a 24x24 piece of steel. Then cut one side down to 14.5 inches. On the long end of this I bent it 4 inches from the end to cover the opening of the firebox. This left about 3 inches on the opposite. Next I removed the three bolts on the top of the firebox.
Placing the bent end up against this I used a permanent marker to mark the steel with these three bolt locations. Next I drilled a 1/4" hole at each of these spots. Knowing I didn't want to lose smoke here I added some High Heat Permatex gasket silicon ( the orange one)
Next I bolted this plate into location. I ran a bead of the gasket sealant down each side of the plate to minimize bleed through.
This added the baffle plate. Next I had to reposition the chimney. Easy enough I had left over steel. I removed the chimney and drilled mounting holes. After that I shaped the steel to the bend of the lid. I bolted it on the underside of the lid to where the old chimney hole was.
Next I cut a 3 1/4" round circle and two new 1/4" mounting holes on the right. I added the chimney on the right side and fired it up. After getting a good 350 degree temperature in the smoker, I did not smell any of the silicone and minimal bleed around the baffle plate.
Next came the test, I added three chicken breasts, on the left where the smoke was, one in the middle and one on the far right. With a constant temperature of 240 degrees, an hour and half later, the three pieces were not moved, rotated nor changed, they were within 6 degrees of one another. The one in the middle was the hottest as it was the thinnest. I am happy.
Here is a video of my mods.
Thanks for reading.
