vertical smoker build where can I put the fire box?

[Dave Davis]

I am building my first smoker. I want to know if I can put the fire box above the bottom of the cooking chamber. I guess it is going to be a vertical smoker with a fire box. Not sure if it could or should be a reverse flow smoker. I have a 40 gal soup cooker I am converting into a smoker. The main reason for raising the fire box is to allow for tending the fire without getting on my knees. I have a smoker now where the fire box is underneath the cooking chamber. I have learned to use that system but it is a lot of tending and tough as I have to get on my knees. I want to avoid that. I have attached pictures of my project to help readers visualize the Project.
The cook chamber is set in the housing with a 3 inch space surrounding the chamber. I was going to insulate with one inch of insulation and a metal lining. That leaves about 2 inches of air space around the cook chamber. The Idea was to have smoke enter the housing and fill the space heating the cook chamber then enter the chamber through a 6 round hole at the bottom and exit out the top. probably a 4 inch chimney. The total volume of the cook chamber is 63 gal. The lid being 17 gal. does this plan look like it will work? I could also direct the smoke through a plenum of some type, boxing it in, or 6 inch pipe to the bottom of cook chamber. there will be 12 inches below the cook chamber, if I need to put the fire box underneath. With the cook chamber being insulated I thought it wool be difficult to regulate the temp without a lot of fire tending. I believe it will heat up fast and maintain heat well. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[bill1]

I'd say you can do either. If the fire is at the bottom, you have something like a drum smoker. The air inlets into the bottom but drawing in air from the top looks like many "ugly drum smokers" (ugly is used as a complement). If your opening at the bottom is a simple adjustable hole, you have something much like a Weber kettle. If your fire is in a box off to a side (and of course you then need your air intake to go into that box) you have a design like many vertical cabinet smokers. With either approach, you can probably enhance cook speed and smoke flavoring by putting baffles inside that direct the smoke in a back-and-forth sideways motion instead of straight out the top. That would be analogous to what's done in a classic reverse-flow smoker where the cooking section is wider than it is tall. Which is not really the case with yours.

Nice looking rig so far, by the way!!!

 

[Dave Davis]

I'd say you can do either. If the fire is at the bottom, you have something like a drum smoker. The air inlets into the bottom but drawing in air from the top looks like many "ugly drum smokers" (ugly is used as a complement). If your opening at the bottom is a simple adjustable hole, you have something much like a Weber kettle. If your fire is in a box off to a side (and of course you then need your air intake to go into that box) you have a design like many vertical cabinet smokers. With either approach, you can probably enhance cook speed and smoke flavoring by putting baffles inside that direct the smoke in a back-and-forth sideways motion instead of straight out the top. That would be analogous to what's done in a classic reverse-flow smoker where the cooking section is wider than it is tall. Which is not really the case with yours.

Nice looking rig so far, by the way!!!

Thanks I was worried that the draw might be difficult to get started with the firebox on the side as the smoke will need to flow down after leaving the fire chamber. I know the vertical reverse flow the smoke does travel down after first going up. So my design should work in theory.