Scrapyard 80 Gallon RF build

[RastaPasta]

Interesting post I'm now in the process of collecting parts to build a reverse flow from a 120-gallon propane tank. Hope it turns out as nice as yours.

Warren

Oh, I’m sure it will! This was my first time building anything out of metal, so it was a lot of trial and error, and there are lots of stuff I’d do different if I was to do it all over again.

That said, it smokes meat real good, and I’m super happy with what I ended up with…in spite of or perhaps due to all the quirks, who knows! I hope to see your progress too.

 

[JckDanls 07]

That's an awesome first build... nice job ...

Let me ask... have you ever cooked on a smoker like this before ?? Was wondering if you have anything to compare the process of using a stick burner with ?? How does she perform ? .. Did you have to keep chasing temps ?

Another way to find out hot/cool spots all at once (no need to keep moving probes all around) is to get a tube or 2 of the pop-open biscuits and placed graphically all over the whole smoker... What's good about it other than telling different temps across the grate(s) (by level of doneness) is.... The biscuits are pretty damn tasty once they've reached golden brown ...

Let me ask about one of the pictures... The second picture of the original post... The hole cut out from FB to CC... Did you leave that the way it is in the picture or did you trim it out some more to the full opening ?

Man.. just now found this thread or I would have thrown some ideas at ya from my build (link in signature)

 

[RastaPasta]

That's an awesome first build... nice job ...

Let me ask... have you ever cooked on a smoker like this before ?? Was wondering if you have anything to compare the process of using a stick burner with ?? How does she perform ? .. Did you have to keep chasing temps ?

Another way to find out hot/cool spots all at once (no need to keep moving probes all around) is to get a tube or 2 of the pop-open biscuits and placed graphically all over the whole smoker... What's good about it other than telling different temps across the grate(s) (by level of doneness) is.... The biscuits are pretty damn tasty once they've reached golden brown ...

Let me ask about one of the pictures... The second picture of the original post... The hole cut out from FB to CC... Did you leave that the way it is in the picture or did you trim it out some more to the full opening ?

Man.. just now found this thread or I would have thrown some ideas at ya from my build (link in signature)

First stick burner. I’ve used propane vertical smokers, pellet smokers, and smoked on my charcoal grill using various methods, but this is the first time burning logs. I don’t need to try and chase temps on this one. It loves rocking 250-275, but can easily get it hotter if needed, getting down to 225 is doable but requires more babysitting for sure. Performance in general is fantastic, it draws/drafts awesome (if ya get real close you can hear a sweet little jet engine noise from the convection), burns exceptionally clean fires, and is sealed up nice and tight. No smoke comes out anywhere but the smoke stack, and it kinda shoots outta there.

The FB/CC opening is the same as it was in that picture.

I don’t need to move probes around, thankfully I have 4 probes so I can see temp on the top and bottom, left and right side, all at once. The top rack tends to run about 15-25 hotter than the bottom, but the bottom firebox side is slightly warmer than the bottom open side; if that makes any sense.

If I was to build it again, I would probably make the firebox wider just so I can have more room to adjust the fire position a bit more closer or further from the CC. I might also move the smokestack so it pulls from the center instead of the top, but to be honest it doesn’t seem to negatively affect anything, and it gives me a spot for my latch where it’s at now.

 

[RastaPasta]

Another small modification, or maybe addition would be more appropriate. Just another thing I learned through use that I would have done different when building…if only I knew then what I know now, right?

After several cooks I felt that the coals were getting too spread out across the bottom of the firebox over the course of hours, so it made it harder to maintain lower temps as the cook went on, as the coals weren’t concentrated enough to ignite new splits without a lot of raking and manipulating of the coal bed every time. So, I built this little insert with leftover scraps, 1/4” diamond plate for the base and “ramps” with 2” angle as end supports. There is an 8” flat section that lines up with the air intake to maximize airflow while keeping the coals centralized and easier to manage. This was kind of a proof of concept, one of these days I’ll probably re-do it to make it larger and fill the entire FB bottom, but for now it seems to work like I envisioned.

If I were to do it all over again, I would likely rotate the firebox so the door is inline with the FB/CC opening (so, FB door on the side instead of the front) and i would make the FB either round bottom or would just have welded plates into the square FB corners to form a valley in the center to achieve the same thing (then I could also throw some insulation into the gaps and semi-insulate it a bit).

And just for fun, here are some beef back ribs I smoked a week or two ago with a Guajillo tamarind glaze. They were scrumptious!