Banjo's Stove Pipe Smoker - conceptual drawing, June 19 2012. Rev 1.0
Hi! New member, not first smoker build!
Wanted to start a thread to track my progress on this build, in case anyone else is interested. I hope to start today, honey-do's permitting ;-)
First, the title is 'Stove Pipe Smoker', which will be a major component (the combustion chamber), but I will also be using a small barrel with grates for holding the meat. I wanted to keep the title short, so hope you feel OK with that for the title, and also it is the major difference between this smoker and any I've ever seen.
Design goal:
This will primarily be used as a smoker for ribs, and only a couple of racks - maybe 4 max. I want to be able to burn charcoal in it (lately have been impressed with Kingsford Competition Grad), for about 3 hours or so, without having to add any charcoal. I hope to have a premeasured amount of charcoal that will be good for 3 hours at 225 dF before it starts to taper off. I want it to be air tight in the combustion chamber, so I can easily control the temperature. For an average day (wind wise), I want to be able to set-and-forget the temperature controls (inlet and outlet dampers) for the whole burn. I want it to be inexpensive and easy to build for anyone that wants to build one.
Design
I will be using:
1 - a small barrel, standing upright on three (3) legs, for the smoke chamber. I'm not sure of the dimensions of this barrel (yet), but I have a couple downstairs. They are much smaller than a 55 gal drum, about 3 feet tall, about 2 feet diameter. Will publish dimensions later.
2 - a 6" or 8" length of black single-wall stove pipe, connected on the bottom of the upright barrel, which will be the combustion chamber. This will also be oriented vertical.
3 - bottom of the combustion stove pipe will have a stove pipe end-cap. Removable for ash dumping.
4 - small valve (something like used on the UDS I've seen) inlet air control on bottom, possible offset to decrease ash disturbance.
5 - wire supports to support charcoal about 4 inches off of the bottom to allow for ash collection. Will fine-tune placement after testing.
6 - handle on combustion stove pipe to aid in removal from smoke chamber.
7 - combustion stove pipe connects to bottom of smoke chamber via stove pipe end-cap, held with screws, into bottom of smoke chamber. 2" hole in this end-cap to allow smoke to move from combustion chamber to smoke chamber.
8 - 2" hole in bottom of smoke chamber to allow for entry of smoke from combustion chamber. Lines up with hole in combustion chamber.
9 - exact size of hole that mates combustion chamber to smoke chamber to be determined via testing.
10 - diffuser plate in in bottom of smoke chamber, over inlet smoke hole, to create turbulence in smoke so it doesn't flow straight up. This also blocks any direct infrared from combustion chamber. Can also sit a drippings pan here, or up one level on grate.
11 - exhaust with damper located on top of smoke chamber
12 - no doors on smoke chamber nor on combustion chamber
13 - removable lid on smoke chamber.
14 - combustion chamber removable from smoke chamber, held in place through wire-dogs.
15 - ground clearance of at about 6" below bottom of combustion chamber, more if testing dictates.
16 - 3 legs, connected to sidewall of smoke chamber, tall enough to provide clearance under combustion chamber to ground.
17 - handles for ease of moving.
18 - meat racks from weber-style round grills, 2 or 3. One may be used for drip pan on bottom. Supported by L-brackets (3 per rack) placed into sidewall of smoke chamber. All will lift out via removing top of smoke chamber.
19 - Removing the bottom end cap will allow me to start the charcoal (with a propane burner) and dump the ashes.
20 - Twenty - because all projects need 20 items!
I've got the barrel, and some of the black single wall stove pipe. Hope to pick up any additional parts needed today from Lowes or HD.
My plan is to provide pictures and a build-log as I go, with updates on any day I've worked on it.
Banjo
Some pictures of the concept.
These are the major components. The stove pipe (left- 6" x 24" - combustion chamber), the smoke chamber (middle barrel, small 27" x 14.5"), and removable lid (right). This isn't the barrel I want to use; I thought I had another one (well, I do, but I hacked it to make charcoal). So I'm going to use this small barrel for the first test, then if everything works out, I'll step up in size to a medium (28" x 19"). I'm sorry, but I don't know the gallons these represent.
Smoke chamber sitting on top of combustion chamber (6" stove pipe), but without the 3 legs, which will attach to sidewall of barrel and extend down, leaving 6 - 8" ground clearance under combustion chamber. Looks a little unwieldy. May switch to 8" pipe for the combustion chamber, which will allow me to shorten the length of the combustion chamber by about 1/2. Also planning on using a wider barrel (about the same height though). The barrel in the picture is 27" x 14.5", so it won't take a full rack of ribs without cutting them in half (which, I typically do anyway, as there's only the two of us, so we each have 3 bones for a meal that way).
Last edited:
