pros and cons of reverse flow

[hotpit]

I have heard many many pros from so many pit builders on reverse flow design, but yet Jambo pits win so many awards on the circuit and they are not reverse flow....  I thought I knew excactly what I was gonna do, until I watched johnny trigg use his jambo pit and it was a conventional flow pit.  anyone have any cons against the reverse flow design????  What would be his reasoning???

 

[sqwib]

Any smoker can make Award winning food.

You have to decide what type of smoker will work for you.

I went with a reverse flow because I like the idea of the extra thermal mass and cleanup is easy. I also built a pipeburner underneath the plate to grill or use as a warmer and place pans on for water or to catch drippings.. I cant speak for the traditional offsets I can only give input based on my Reverse Flow.

Some like the idea of a Traditional with tuning plates that are adjustable.

So I suggest you do a ton of research and keep asking questions till you are comfortable with a decision.

 

[bnew17]

I am no expert but i find food off a RF to be much more flavorful. I have heard that the juices from the meat drip onto the RF plate which causes the juices to sizzle and release flavors back into the meat above, creating an extra flavor.

 

[bruno994]

True that Jambo pits are not reverse flow, but Jamie Greer states that there is a secret to why his pits cook so good.  I am not sure what it is, but I know that on a YouTube video with Pork Barrel BBQ, he would not open the lid on Cool Smokes' pit because it would give away his trade secret.  On this season of BBQ Pitmasters, they gave a few seconds glimpse into the firebox end of Wood Chicks Jambo pit, it did not look like a conventional direct flow rig, not sure what it was, but it seemed to be like a diverter gate of some sort.  I have cooked on both direct and reverse and I absolutely love my RF rig.  I'm with BNEW17 on the sizzle that you get with the plate being 4-5" below the meat, essentially letting the fat and juices steam the meat after it hits the plate and with SQWIB on the cleanup is so easy.  I don't know about SQWIB, but the RF plate has all but eliminated the dreaded stalls on larger pieces of meat, but it also allows the pit to get back up to temp quicker after a door opening.  You can also easily use the plate as a water pan for steaming action (if it is welded water tight, mine has a few small pinholes, so I use aluminum roaster pans).  I cook at 250 (measured in the center of the lower grate) pretty much for everything I do (at home, at comps, chicken, briskets, ribs, butts, etc.) and the norm for a 14-16 # brisket is 9 hours, same for butts.  You've got the heat and smoke coming over the top and around the meat as it heads back to the exhaust, but you also have the radiant heat coming from the RF plate beneath the meat, I think this is the biggest factor of the cook times I see with my rig.  As far as Jambos being the best, they are good, but being the best is the opinion of the cooker.  Teams win out there using Webers, UDS and alot of uprights (Backwoods, Pitmaster).  Jambo does have an impressive lineup of teams, so he must be doing something right.

 

[dewetha]

although i have a vertical smoker. i think the "heat sink" effect of the plate is a key element. before i ramble on. it's the cook that wins the awards. the smoker is a tool that he wields.  but some of us love our tools :)

i have a propane masterbuilt XL. one of the mods i did was put a cast iron skillet, the biggest i could fit inside it. although it makes it tough to get high temp on my smoker, I get fantastic heat recovery. especially when you consider when i open that door it's amazing that any heat is left.

although I have an completely different heat source and design, the point is heat retention and heat recovery make for a quality tool that helps reduce the effects of opening the door.

the other aspects of a good tool is even heat distribution and air flow. any smoker will be hotter near the fire. I'm working with a guy to build my next smoker. a charcoal/stick vertical and a key aspect i am keeping is the "heat sink" plate over the fire under the water pan(I believe in water)

if a smoker can keep heat,recovery well, have even heat across the cooking chamber and a good air flow the pitmaster will be happy. i think the pros and cons probably are more about a particular units design of a the reverse flow than  over concept of a reverse flow. welded well, good construction etc.

 

[hotpit]

True that Jambo pits are not reverse flow, but Jamie Greer states that there is a secret to why his pits cook so good.  I am not sure what it is, but I know that on a YouTube video with Pork Barrel BBQ, he would not open the lid on Cool Smokes' pit because it would give away his trade secret.  On this season of BBQ Pitmasters, they gave a few seconds glimpse into the firebox end of Wood Chicks Jambo pit, it did not look like a conventional direct flow rig, not sure what it was, but it seemed to be like a diverter gate of some sort.  I have cooked on both direct and reverse and I absolutely love my RF rig.  I'm with BNEW17 on the sizzle that you get with the plate being 4-5" below the meat, essentially letting the fat and juices steam the meat after it hits the plate and with SQWIB on the cleanup is so easy.  I don't know about SQWIB, but the RF plate has all but eliminated the dreaded stalls on larger pieces of meat, but it also allows the pit to get back up to temp quicker after a door opening.  You can also easily use the plate as a water pan for steaming action (if it is welded water tight, mine has a few small pinholes, so I use aluminum roaster pans).  I cook at 250 (measured in the center of the lower grate) pretty much for everything I do (at home, at comps, chicken, briskets, ribs, butts, etc.) and the norm for a 14-16 # brisket is 9 hours, same for butts.  You've got the heat and smoke coming over the top and around the meat as it heads back to the exhaust, but you also have the radiant heat coming from the RF plate beneath the meat, I think this is the biggest factor of the cook times I see with my rig.  As far as Jambos being the best, they are good, but being the best is the opinion of the cooker.  Teams win out there using Webers, UDS and alot of uprights (Backwoods, Pitmaster).  Jambo does have an impressive lineup of teams, so he must be doing something right.

thanks for the comments......ive recently figured out what geers "secret" is and not sure if i want tp try to replicate it or not.  that being said, he directs heat over the meat vs under the meat like all other designs,  the entrance of heat is a few inches above the cooking grate and flue or chimney is at or slightly below cooking grate at opposite end,  someone on the smoke ring forum posted some pics of a backyard model, they are worth veiwing.  Also, I would like to see more pics of your pit design, as my rig is gonna be a 120 gallon unit, but if i could pull off a copy of a jambo, then that would make my pit a 12000 dollar pile of steeel   haahaa