Reverse flow smoker build "DELUXE"

[Big T]

You should be proud, it turned out great!!

[ajfoxy]

Now that does look flash.

[Rodcrafter]

You have gotta be proud of that rascal.


Making memories!

[bluecatfish]

That is something to be proud of! Looks professionally built! Can't wait to seize the Q!

[Tim Brann]

I just fired it up for the first time. Wanted to see how hot it would get running wide open. In 30 minutes it reached just over 225. Its about 10 degrees warmer on the end opposite the chimney. Im just going to let it burn wide open and hopefully that will rid it of anything nasty. In 40 minutes it reached 275 F and its still climbing. Thats with 3 chimneys of lit charcoal. It got to just over 300 and stalled there after 90 minutes. I am very pleased with the fire brick the top plate of the FB reached about 440 F on the infrared temp gauge and you could easily hold your hand on the side of the FB. The seals on the FB and CC lid work great. The CC lid leaks a bit on the chimney end so might consider tweeking that some. My first impression is I'm very pleased how this thing burns. Q-view on Sunday!!

[temurf]

She looks great. I'll be checking back for that Q-View

[KingSmoke]

Very nice. I'm liking the fire brick idea a lot. Is there any reason you didn't put them on the top, or "ceiling" of the FB?

[Tim Brann]

Kingsmoke yes 2 reasons actually. First I thought I might like to use the top of FB to cook on like a Dutch oven full of beans or a griddle for bacon or appies etc. The second is just the practicality of trying to keep bricks in place on the roof. A task I didn't care to tackle. It also would have messed with my design in the respect of chamber volume. It seems to work pretty good. Today is my first cook...... Q view coming

[Tim Brann]

As promised

She has been on cruise at 225 and rock steady. It was a bit of a struggle getting up to cooking temperature but I think that was because when I stated it was -3C outside. A lot of metal to get heated...

[ajfoxy]

Looks good... I'll wait patiently for part two... the cooked stuff

[Big T]

[Squiggle]

[Smurf]

I'm sure you're excited

[Tim Brann]

Well must say I'm disappointed with the heat this thing makes. Not sure maybe wrong charcoal but just not enough heat. The critter looks great but way too slow.....hmmm?

[The Czar]

What kind of charcoal and I thought it was keeping steady at 225?


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[temurf]

Are those water pans under the cooking grate?
If so, they may be interfering with the radiant heat coming off of the baffle plate.

[Rodcrafter]

I only light my offsets with charcoal and run them with sticks. And as temurf mentioned any pans under the grate water or not is robbing your radiant heat. Don't worry about getting grease on that baffle plate, it is begging for it. Get grease all over the inside of that cooker. This thing is a work horse not a show boat.


Making memories!

[bluecatfish]

Rodcrafter is spot on on all counts!

[Tim Brann]

Yeah I'm going to take out the foil pans. The larger pan nearest the chimney had water but the other 2 were empty. Was hoping to collect the drippings. I don't care about grease getting everywhere. I could keep chamber temperature at 225 but had to run tbe dampers at almost full open so I'm troubled with the performance. The charcoal was a hard wood lump by Master Chef. I don't have the option of burning sticks as you recommend.

[Tim Brann]

So what burns hotter hardwood charcoal or briquettes? I would prefer to stay with charcoal just thinking it will give better flavour. My next cook will be a full load of pork ribs but I'm a little concerned I won't have enough heat. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance...

[Big T]

I'm not sure what charcoal burns the hottest but lump seems to be hotter than briquettes. A thin cook chamber and cold weather will make for a struggle maintaining temperature. The CC works like a heat exchanger and gives away it's internal temp so the fire has to burn hotter just to maintain temp. I used to cook on a cheap, thin chargrill smoker and on cool windy days it was darn near impossible to keep a good steady temperature.

[Weldun]

Rodcrafter when you said " This thing is a work horse not a show boat." I nearly fell off my chair laughing because I too invested so much heart and soul into my build that I was obsessed about drippings and tried catching them in pans, then tried smoking butts in pans. When I finally came to the realization that it doesn't hurt anything and those juices burning away add to the flavor things got much better.

[Tim Brann]

Big T thanks for the comments. I do look forward to cooking in warmer temperature. Im going to stick with lump charcoal.

[Rodcrafter]

Rodcrafter when you said " This thing is a work horse not a show boat." I nearly fell off my chair laughing because I too invested so much heart and soul into my build that I was obsessed about drippings and tried catching them in pans, then tried smoking butts in pans. When I finally came to the realization that it doesn't hurt anything and those juices burning away add to the flavor things got much better.

That's funny Weldun, I should say I'm sorry that is just the way I talk straight ole red neck.

I think that it would be new territory for me to say a lot about the different types of charcoal. But what I have see is lump burns hotter but burns up faster. Now if I was going to try to cook in an offset RF with only charcoal. I would fill the fire basket as if it were a UDS and seal the FB up nice and put hot coals in the top of the basket and control it with the air intakes. I would do this the first time or two with no expensive meat in it, just in case I couldn't get her to slow her roll. I'm sure it can be done, but I never do it that way.

[Tim Brann]

RC I was thinking about that method putting charcoal in the basket at the start not lit. Then throwing in a lit chimney. I was worried that might add an unfavorable taste to the meat though. Maybe it would be better to do this at the start and not put the meat on until all the charcoal was burning. During this cook I had to add lit charcoal about every hour to keep cooking temperature. This is way more work than I thought it would be.