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I use 1 full chimney of charcoal that I get burning HOT with a small fan, dump that into my firebox basket, spread it out, then I stack up smaller pieces of live oak(it's what we have, so it's what I use. HARD stuff to split, but burns HOT, and makes good Q) over it while the basket is still pulled ...

I've cooked many half hogs in the past. We had an old 120 gallon smoker and it couldn't fit a whole 200 pound hog, so we would use a heavy wood saw and split em right down the middle while they were hanging. Would just fit in the smoker. In all honesty it came out better this way than doing one whol...

I plan on cutting mine down to a tapered one to follow the contour of the tank here shortly. I made the mistake on my 1st time round of putting the chimney opening down into the cook chamber, and ended up with some overly smoky meats from the top rack, and tough temps to control. I now have it cut s...

It's taken me a little time, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of this thing. I was having alot of trouble with the top rack turning everything real dark and getting done alot quicker than the bottom rack. I decided to try less wood in my firebox so I could run the vent open a bit more, and i...

I trim the fat cap down quite a bit and cook fat up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Basically the same here. I trim it down until it is maybe a 1/4" of fat cap left(take off the hard fat, but leave the softer fat next to the meat), and cook fat cap up. Figure when the fat renders, the juices sh...

Not sure exactly where at in south Florida you are, but I'm in central Florida around Tampa. I know up this way you can get a full cord of seasoned live oak for about $100 delivered last I checked. Also keep in mind we have MANY kinds of oak in Florida. Laurel is my favorite, but I have found it doe...

TAKE IT! I'm using some right now for my smoked sirloin tip and chicken. It is a mellower flavor in my opinion, but a sweet wood. Cherry is still my favorite, followed by apple, but I had some given to me and I'm glad they did.

For ribs I have found my secret weapon to be cherry wood. The absolute best ribs I have ever done were all done over cherry wood. Last ones I did were pretty basic. Pulled the membrane, trimmed the excess fat, covered in a thick layer of my sweet rub(I have ulcers, so I can't do anything spicy, so I...

Tri tips are good. If cooking top sirloin, I would cut it down into 3 pieces. To me the smaller pieces cooks a little better. Smoke for 2/2:30 hours until temp is @ 135. Remove and wrap in foil and place in cooler for about a hour. Remove and slice thin. Good luck. After I cooked it I thought I sho...

Just got donoe doing an 11.5 pound sirloin tip in the RF smoker along with 6 jumbo turkey legs and 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters. I decided to go with about 220 for the 1st part of the smoke to do the turkey and chicken, and after removing them, I brought it up to about 235-240 to bring the sirl...

Without seeing inside of it, I would be concerned with the exhaust stack placement. it looks awfully low to me for a reverse flow. I know when I 1st built mine I brought it straight out the top, but extended it down into the cooker to about 4 inches above the main cooking grate. I found it made for ...

I found a shop that worked with underground water lines, and got a section om EMT tubing from them in painted steel. Took me 5 minutes with a grinder to take the old paint off ,and I was left with a NICE steel pipe that wasn't so thick and heavy I had to worry about bracing it.

I know my old smoker took a good bit more time to cook foods in. And I should have pulled the bird at 155, the breast dried out just a bit at 165.

Is it my immagination, or does a RF smoker cook foods quicker? I did a smoked ham(18.5 pound home cured in my own brine), and a 15.5 pound turkey last Thursday, and I don't ever remember cooking a turkey or raw ham for that matter so quickly. I ran my pit right around 225 with the chimney pipe exhau...

A faulty thermometer can cause you a headache, glad to hear you got it figured out. I have another thermometer I stuck in the chimney pipe to watch the outlet smoke temps, and am setting it mostly off of that one now. I found at around 220-240 smoke temp at the chimney outlet has it cooking pretty ...

Heres todays cook. I cured it for 5 days at 40 degrees in a brown sugar honey cure, and it came out pretty good.

I got my 3.3" ID chiney pipe swapped out for a 4.3" ID pipe. I also added on an adjusteable damper to it. Seems to be doing a bit better now, and not choking back so easily. Another thing I found is my supposed top of the line thermometer is WAY off in temp. My 1st burn in after swapping the chimney...

I have a simliar idea. I plan on building a square warming cabinet over it, and building a channel into the WC from below the BP, and another above it. Then if I close off the main cooker chimney, the heat will have nowhere to go except back up into the WC when the lower cutoff is opened. But if I w...

dcman (The Czar) wrote:No pics....never happened....

Hasn't yet. I have the tank, but have to go back for the plate.

Well, got my next victim today. Picked up a 250 gallon propane tank for $80. Some minor surface rust, but no pitting anywhere. Still had a little bit of propane in it, so no moisture got inside of it either. Now to decide on which way to go with the design aspect. Definately going to go with a main ...

Quick question on your firebox sizing. With this design how do you figure your firebox size? Do you size it for the main smoker chamber, or do you size it up to say 130% of the main smoker so you have extra heat for the WC that can double as a cooker?

I hadn't thought of the draft part of it, then again that's why I asked before I embarked on something new again. I had thought of doing dual doors on the firebox, so then a 1/4" divider would be easy enough to add in. I have a GOOD bit of 3/8" plate that I got, and keep thinking it would make a NIC...

I guess everything I read about building smokers is addicting is true. After building my first, I'm already thinking of building another one. Has anybody out there built, or have a link to a double smoker setup, but utilizing one firebox? I have friends who do competitions, and they have 2 sperate s...

Picked up a piece of 4" schedule 10 pipe today(actual ID is 4.3"), so later on this week I will swap it out and retry it. Guess I can use it as another excuse to fire up the smoker. And on another note, I have found my new favorite smoker meat. I threw in a piece of pork loin with my last cook(the e...

I wonder how long the calc says this 3.3 pipe should have been since it said the 3.5 was supposed to be 38" and you only used 36". I'm not being difficult I'm really curious how many cubic inches short it is. You might be surprised. The actual ID of my chimney pipe is 3.334"(it's an old 3.5" steel ...