question for those with sfb

[jacobtia]

I am new to smoking and have done the following mods to my sfb.

1.Raised the grate in my sfb.

2.Built a charcoal box.

3.Made a make shift baffle/tuning plate from the stock charcoal plate intended for the charcoal grate for the pit side of this unit.

4.Extended the chimney to the grate level.

My question is would the baffle/tuning plate give me uneven temps due to the fact that the "make shift baffle/tuning plate" are all one piece and push the hot air flow towards the chimney extension.

My chimney extension is a 3" aluminum dryer duct from Lowe's which I have curved to extend from the back of the cooking chamber(stock chimney exhaust) to the front of the cooking chamber.

I am just thinking of the way hot air flows and I am wondering if this may be pumping all my hot air out the chimney rather than keeping it in the chamber where I need it.

So, should I actually extend it to the side closest to the sfb on the rear side of the cooking chamber to create a better hot air flow?

Or.....Do you think I should scrap the stock charcoal plate for some custom cut sheet metal? If I did this mod I would make a baffle with separate tuning plates.

 

[DanMcG]

I can't answer your question, but I would be interested in hearing what other say.

Bump

 

[venture]

Everyone I have seen has extended the chimney to grate level opposite side of the heat source, and that is how mine is set up.  Baffles can be baffling and may require some experimentation to determine how, or even if, you want them.

Good luck and good smoking!

 

[alelover]

I use a piece of stainless curved to fit for a baffle. There is a gap on each side of the baffle. I block it partially with tin foil to tune it. I get real even temp all the way across. Within 5 degrees.

 

[jirodriguez]

The baffle is just to push the heat down under your tuning plates. The tuning plates should either be in 3 or 4 seperate pieces that can have the gaps between them adjusted or you drill a series of holes in rows starting at approx 1/4" in diameter closest to the firebox and gradually increasing to approx 1" at the far end from the firebox. The drilled holes are only if your tuning plate is one solid piece.

If you do a search for tuning plates you will find several examples.

 

[michael ark]

Heting thin aluminun can cause alstimers i think.get it

.but realy google it

 

[realtorterry]

maybe this link will help:

http://users.wbsnet.org/n0yk/charbroil silver.htm  

 

[DanMcG]

Thanks for the link Terry