Mini smokehouse heat sink?

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damon555

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jun 26, 2010
464
35
Middle Tennessee
So I've got my little smoke house outside and ready to start using....The dimensions are 2'x2'x4'. I tried to bring it up to temp with an electric burner but couldn't get it above 100 degrees. I ended up buying a small turkey frier propane burner and have successfully reached the temps that I need. What I need to figure out now is what to set on top of that burner to distribute the heat evenly throughout the smoke house. As it is now the heat just goes straight from the burner right to the top and out the vent.

There are a lot of options out there such as various concrete and stone blocks but what concerns me are toxins that might be released when these items are heated. I tried setting a large frying pan filled with sand on top of the burner but the heat at the source of the flame was a little too intense for the cheap pan....Would a large cast iron skillet filled with natural stone or rocks work? What have you folks used? I appreciate any ideas you might have.
 
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A large CI skillet with washed pea-gravel or sand should do the trick, but you don't want to be too close to the flame or it could heat-fracture the CI if the heat source is a lot smaller than the CI. Also, line the top of the pan with aluminum foil so you can keep using the same thermal mass without cleaning it up, if you have any drippings.

Eric
 
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