Current conditions and Brinkmann mods..Pics inside

[3montes]

It is currently 8 below zero with wind chills reaching minus 15. 25 below by Saturday. Don't even want to talk about wind chills that go with that. This is the current status of my SnP.
Frozen in place and time.


So a smoke is out of the question in the near future which leaves me time to think of whether or not I should do any mods to my SnP. I have read many folks do baffling mods for even heat distribution. Many I have seen are quite elaborate and require a machine shop in your garage to produce. One down and dirty idea that I had was to take one of the heat shields you can buy for these things and invert it in the cooking chamber.

As you can see it dosen't seal off the fire box opening completely but a little aluminum flashing or even foil would do the trick. You have effectively created a tunnel the heat must travel through rather than rising right to the top and out. You could even drill some holes in the heat shield starting small at one end and getting larger as you go. Of course the heat shield then is no longer a heat shield. You can buy these from Brinkmann at $15 ea.
Also what type of metal flashing can one use without having to worry about chemical odor emitting from the metal. You can find all sorts of duct work pieces of all shapes and configurations at Menards that with a little creativety could be turned into a baffle system. This stuff is all galvanized however and I don't think thats what should be used. Comments anyone?

 

[dysartsmoker]

What ever you do do not use galvenized

 

[lagogarda]

I agree...no galvanized!!!!!!!!

 

[ikebbq]

Yep, what they said, no galvanized. And be careful modding your smoker can be just as addicting as smoking the meat. I've made a few different baffles for my smoker and recently added tuning plates, which are still a work in progress. So far i've gotten my smoker down from a 70 degree difference from left to right to about a 20-30 degree difference. I just always have to tinker.

 

[desertlites]

Brrrrrrrr,I have a post card that shows a cabin in the woods with snow that deep.I bring it out this time of year to remind me of winter.Is it good for your smokers to leave them out in that stuff?

 

[geek with fire]

I guess my only concern sealing the baffle off completely on the firebox opening is that the smoke is most likely going to travel through the bottom and straight out the top stack. Anything that is on the firebox side of the smoking chamber is going to miss the smoke and is only going to get radiant heat from the baffle. Might be ok on the heat, but little to no smoke (I'm guessing here; I could easily be mistaken.). If you could close the existing smoke stack and mount another on the other side of the chamber, you would have a reverse-flow design like in a Lang style smoker. However, your smoking chamber is much smaller than Lang's, so it might be problematic.

I suppose you could use the same baffle plate and raise it up with something fireproof objects (rocks come to mind). This would create gaps for smoke and heat to populate the entire smoking chamber. You could even raise the plate at an angle so you can reduce the amount of smoke and heat from the gap as needed.

Just friendly suggestions; not gospel by any means.

 

[3montes]

Thanks for the ideas on the mods. I just don't know if I want to get into spending alot of time doing any mods at all. First off I am mechanically challenged. Besides it is just my wife and I here most of the time and I don't really ever see cooking much more than a couple of slabs of spares or a single roast at a time so the need for a baffle for me may be a moot issue. just thought the inverted heat shield may be a quick easy mod for an ocassional baffle use.
Temp went up to a minus 6 since my first post at this rate we may hit a even zero today

 

[capt dan]

Take that piece of metal and make it straight again. Then make a bend in it on the firebox side about 3-4 inches from the end near the fire. Bend it up till it is above the hole. Take your drill and make a few 3/8-1/2 holes in the metal about 4 inches apart from each other untill you get to about half way across your metal.Then switch to 3/4 inch holes, and about 3 inches away from each other, till you are all the way to the far end of the metal. Take an old baking pan and fill it with water or sand(cover it with foil if you use sand) and place it at the end of the metal baffle that you just made( the end away from the firebox). You will notice a BIG difference in you heat dispersion, and the smoke will flow just fine. If you can extend the inside part of your smokestack down to the grate level, you will make it even more efficient. Those mods are easy, cheap, and very do able.

Hope this helps. I have a smoker just like yours(but not nearly as much snow around it), and it has made 100% difference to my smokes.

 

[nh3b's]

Hey Dan,

Do you have a pic of this?

 

[packplantpath]

I have the same smoker, but none of the aluminum(?) flashing. Can I do this with regular old aluminum flashing for chimneys and such. I have a roll from way back. I've already rolled up a few feet and shoved it in the exhaust stack to lower the exhaust to the grate level. I think it may have helped a little, but didn't notice a major difference. Then again I've only used it once since then.

 

[3montes]

I think chimney flashing is galvanized which everyone says to stay away from. I don't think you are going to find raw steel pieces in a Menards or Home Depot. Probably will need to go to a metal fab shop and buy some stock. They could probably fab something for you. If you have been to the Smoke Ring forum there is a excellent explanation of some mods Alien did to a SnP. Quite elaborate though. He has a machine shop in his garage. But I am betting if you printed the thread out and took your smoker to a metal fab place they would manufacture it for you.
Here is a link to that thread.
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1943

 

[osage]

flashing used for roofing is galvanized? I used some in my smoker build.

Hopefully, I used aluminum. It didn't look galvanized.

 

[3montes]

I probably shouldn't be commenting on whats galvanized and what is not. I am not that well versed in it. It could very well be that roof flasing is not galvanized. All I know is that I perused Menards quite awhile the other night and all the duct work and flashing shingles and pieces I seen were galvanized. I am not certain about piping and so forth used for wood burners in your house. all this stuff was painted black. I have no idea if this is something that could be used in a smoker. I would guess if it used for a wood burner to keep you warm why not a smoker???

 

[capt dan]

nh3b's, I don't have a pic, but if you use that link on the smoke ring, it shows sonething like what I mean except I have holes in mine. I will try to take some pics this weekend before I load up ole "stinky". Gonna be a chuck roast and some fatty's for a sunday smoke.
I have been given some additional steel "chair backs" that were originally sent to an outdoor furnature company to be primed and painted, but were rejected, and They are rounded and perferated withy small square cut outs about 3/16 by 3/13 inch every 1/2 ". I am gonna trim em up a little and flatten them back straight, and re mod my mod with them. They are made of 3/16 inch thick steel, and should work very well. Next week, I am going to fabricate myself a custom Lumpy box for the blazin side of the unit! I'll try to get a few pics when I get these things done.

 

[packplantpath]

I'm positive that what I bought was aluminum flashing. Lowes, a few bucks a roll. Maybe 3 yards. They don't make galvanized aluminum. Do they? Hope not.

EDIT: Here is what I have, though I don't think I bought quite so much.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...010&lpage=none

EDIT2: What about this stuff. Pre-bent, only $0.38. Doesn't say if it's aluminum or not, and the dimensions seem about right for my firebox. Probably have to straighten it out to make the angle a bit more obtuse. It could work.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...708&lpage=none

EDIT3: Last edit for this idiot. It says it's aluminum in the product name.

 

[capt dan]

I took a pic of my lil mod before I started my smoke today!



hope this explains it better. The sheet steel I bought at lowes. They have a large assortment of sheet steel, and aluminum, and galv steel. Each of these pieces atarted out 18 x10 inches, with a 2 " bend on each edge. I am gonna further modify, and will keep pics of the finish. This mod here does alot to stabilize temps, but I want more!

 

[walking dude]

packin..........isn't that flashing 4 INCHES x 4 in. x 8 in?

be nice to find it abit longer.......so only have to use one piece

tho, i could be wrong......like it hasn't happened here before...........LOLOL

 

[dono]

if you look under the brisket you'll see I used a piece of stainless steel sheet metal as a baffle, goto any local scrapyard should be willing to sell it to you for under 2$ a lbs so a piece like mine would probly cost you under 10$, no danger of Zinc poison from stainlessw and it'll never rust. also the piece sits just nice without any bolts or screws so taking it out to clean is a breeze

 

[dono]

o.k. folks, I've worked in a scrap metals yard for the past 20 some odd years I'm gunna tell yas all a simple trick to know if it's galvanized steel or aluminium, aluminium isn't magnetic, so take a magnet from the fridge and if it don't stick to your sheet metal it's aluminium or stainless steel.
now as for why you should NEVER!!!!!! use galvanized steel in cooking is just this, the galvanizing procces is a coating of Zinc on the metal to keep it from rusting, problem is Zinc fumes are poison so if you heat up a piece of galvanized steel it will give off poison fumes that WILL!!!! make you sick to your stomache an old trick for this is to drink Milk, the lactose counters the zinc somehow, I know this because I'm also the first aider for my work place and I've used milk from the coffee machine to help guys who were torching steel and cut into some galvanized sheets, In my Oppinion the best metal to use is stainless steel preferably an 18-8 or 304 / 316 alloy
most scrap yards have what is called "useable area" were they keep some stock of unbent sheets of metal or pieces of pipe ect. ... that can be sold to you as a usable piece, usualy we sell stainless steel sheets for around 2$ a pound
hope this helps somebody out, if i left something out just ask

 

[packplantpath]

Quite right Dude. Sometimes, I don't think so good. Maybe it's an 8X8 piece bent in the middle? I haven't measured, but I'm guessing the firebox opening is about 8 in. Admittedly, this isn't going to divert much flow, but should cut down on the really hot spot by the firebox, I think.