WHADDYA THINK of this plan?

[DMW]

Hi!

How does this plan sound/look according to y'all's experience and calculations? I've never done this before!

I'm coming up with a plan for propane fueled smoker made from a piece of 18" pipe. I want a smoker that can hold 2 briskets, one on top of the other. The fuel and the upright design are to accomodate my very limited backyard space here in the city. I do have a small but well-equipped metal shop.

Please pardon my kindergarten level sketchup skills. (Did my attachments even work?)

Here are the important dimensions:

The CC is 18" in diameter and 30" long.

The FB will be a 13.5"x13.5"x13.5" square box centered below the CC with a 5" diameter circular throat. The FB will have an open bottom. There will be an angled baffle/drip plate below the cooking grates with 2" clearance inside the CC. It will drain out a small hole in the back of the CC.

The chimney will be an 18" long 3" pipe centered on the CC with a 90* bend in it to avoid interference with the door.

Won't be embarking on this just yet, just want to see if I'm on the right track!

thanks for any tips and tricks!

Steve in DC

[DMW]

more pix:

[towtruck]

What are your plans for the inside of the CC? Does your baffle have openings at the left and right ends and are they sized according to the calculator?
What will be your source for smoke and where will it be located? You are going to need a place to put a pan of wood chips for smoke that can be filled or changed out when needed. A gas burner will make heat but without a good supply of smoke it's just a gas BBQ.

Have you thought about an UDS? Look into the section on ugly drum smokers here and you might be surprised at what you can do with one in a limited space. They produce great food and run on charcoal for extended times.

[Dirtytires]

Propane is definitely not a preferred heat source for a smoker. Make sure you are safe.

[McBroom]

Check out my thread on this type build.
It works beautifully.

McBroom’s over n under smoker build
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_ ... are_type=t


- The Blue Mule

[Weyrider]

I built a center fire smoker and my thread is in here. I left openings on both ends and it works great. I would caution you on propane as well. Use wood or lump coal and wood chips. Have fun and good luck


Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[mp4]

Take some time to listen to Frank's podcast about using propane in a smoker. It's a very informative episode that will be well worth your time. He discusses risks and different burner options.

https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aH ... NzI5MjU2NQ

[Pete Mazz]

Leaving an open bottom is the key with propane . You'll want a cast iron skillet about 3" above it for smoking chunks . If you like to smoke with water , you can use foil trays on the BP. Make the BP with grease dams

[DMW]

What are your plans for the inside of the CC? Does your baffle have openings at the left and right ends and are they sized according to the calculator?
What will be your source for smoke and where will it be located? You are going to need a place to put a pan of wood chips for smoke that can be filled or changed out when needed. A gas burner will make heat but without a good supply of smoke it's just a gas BBQ.

Have you thought about an UDS? Look into the section on ugly drum smokers here and you might be surprised at what you can do with one in a limited space. They produce great food and run on charcoal for extended times.

Ill have an adjustable height chip/chunk pan over the burner, with a door on the front for access.
The BP will be sloped and have grease dams.
The bottom of the FB will be open.
No UDS for me, I find them unsightly and I already have the 18” pipe!

[LeonardK]

I know this is a little different, not using your pipe, but I built a rev flo cooks 2 briskits out of 16" pipe, heat mostly in top of pipe, I wish now I had built a box where I could put briskits depthwise on rack 20x42 up in the hot part of the pipe

And to save room the firebox could be put under the smoker

This is what I am thinking doing to my rev flo smoker, right now it's 100deg colder on main cooking tray, this box idea would put a large 20x42 tray high up where the heat and smoke really are with about 5 or 6" headroom


An alternative to this might save more space, if you made a vertical cabinet with this firebox at the bottom and have 3 trays about 20 x 24 height inside cook chamber about 30 inches, this is almost a gravity feed but with firebox underneath more resembling a reverse flow with a cabinet

I have a box right now made of 3/16 23x24x38 and thinking of maybe doing this just as I explained to you, how easy it would be, just to put a firebox under the existing box and tons of space to cook but would take up little space in my garage

Really I've been planning to turn this into a gravity feed smoker with insulated cabinet, just that all the scrap steel stuff I haven't used now makes me feel like doing this because of how similar altering my horizontal rev flow IS to making this box an un-insulated wood burning smoker AND 3 shelves with plenty headroom would give 12 square feet of rack space to cook on.

We could both do the same thing and the footprint in garage or your space would only be a 2 foot square... What Do YOU Think?

I'm still thinking on these things, change the Rev Flo, build cabinet with wood burner like this, or build a GF with a slightly larger furnace to better handle wood


Do cabinets like this have a lot of temp variation on diff shelves?



Leonard

[LeonardK]

Hello DMW

I get obsessed with numbers, drawing things, figuring out how big, what shape etc, and like to think/plan with scale pics too, So:

You might want to run a problem about a Rev Flow smoker thru the forum calculator for FB size, Throat size etc...then compare to Feldons calculator just because they state on page what each answer comes from.

CC = size you determine, FireBox = 1/3CC, Throat= .008FBvolume, Stack= .05FBvol, AirIntake=.003FBvol

Just thinking today if I put a woodburner FB bottom of that 38x23x24 box I already have, vol 20976, what's the throat?
FB 6992, Throat 56sq inches about 23x2.5".

My current favorite 2 ideas are a vertical cabinet with either gravity feed furnace or wood burner firebox OR Rev Flow that channels heat tightly over the meat in a rectangle shape with rack about 20x44 total vert space 9"

Towtruck built a rev flo using rectangle stock tube that really channels heat/smoke around the meat effectively

Enjoy your build and use the calculators
Leonard

[DMW]

Take some time to listen to Frank's podcast about using propane in a smoker. It's a very informative episode that will be well worth your time. He discusses risks and different burner options.


Thanks for that! now im working my way through all the podcasts.

[mp4]

[emoji106]