Smoke chamber top

[wentz24]

So I am trying to get my material list together to build my smoker. I am doing a modified version of scottpatch's smoker. Thanks Scott for the plans, but I am still unsure how the roof of the Fire box and smoke chamber are built. From what I can tell the brick or block is just resting in angle iron? Is this correct? How is fire brick added to the roof? Any advice/suggestions appreciated!
Thanks,
Seth

 

[steveaggie]

I used a 1/4" steel plate for the roof and put bricks on top of that mostly for aesthetics.  The plate rests on the sides and back.  I don't have any fire brick on the top.  Smokers are made out of thick steel so I figured it would be fine.  Turns out it works great.  

 

[wentz24]

Thanks for responding Steve. I thought about that but was worried about heat loss. Good to hear that works, as I think I may go that route.

 

[rscritch]

I built a false ceiling out of wood then laid my fire brick on top of that. Then covered the top of them with refractory and notched it with a tile trowel to insrease suface area

20170829_185829.jpg

• rscritch
• Sep 2, 2017

then poured concrete over the top.

 

[tarheel adam]

When thinking about/planning the roof of my smoker chamber, I didn't want moisture droplets to fall onto anything being smoked, so I formed the roof with a slight fall towards all 4 walls.  I used meticulously cut hardibacker pieces supported by 2x4s from underneath, poured it in place, let it cure, then knocked out the hardibacker boards.  I also used some fireclay mortar mixed in with concrete and type S mortar for the mix on the roof.