The Texas Ranger

[hogaboomer]

Good to go for a test run tomorrow. I get a lot more done during the day, when I don't drink beer the night before.

[towtruck]

Fire in the hole!! LOOKS GOOD.

[hogaboomer]

Thanks, towtruck! Still got a lot of little stuff to finish, but I want to fire it up and see what it does.

[dacolson]

Hope you like that throat baffle. Cooked on my standard offset with the throat baffle again today. The 4 major food groups - Beef, pork, lamb and chicken, lol. Officially now my favorite pit to cook on.


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[hogaboomer]

I been thinking about doing the biscuit test to check the heat across the grate. But I didn't buy biscuits tonight, I bought meat.

[hogaboomer]

I'm getting about 40 degrees hotter at the stack end of the grate than the baffle end.


edit: It seems to have evened out once I put the ribs on. Getting a lot more ash on the meat. First time I've cooked without tuning plates.

[hogaboomer]

3 hours in on the ribs, starting to char up a bit, put the wrap on.

[hogaboomer]

Done in 5 hours! This pit cooks faster than the tuning plate pits.

[towtruck]

Nice!

[hogaboomer]

Thanks, towtruck! They came out pretty nice.


dacolson, what have you noticed about running this type of pit? This is my first time, it looks like it wants to char on the top if you don't keep a close eye on it. The grate temps were in the 250-275 range most of the time. Sure cooked those ribs fast, about an hour faster than Big Tex with the tuning plates.

[dacolson]

You’re gonna get a ton more convection which will brown more. I cook a little cooler if I’m worried about dying out. Ribs at 225 to 250.


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[dacolson]

Ribs look great btw


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[hogaboomer]

They did come out pretty good, for a first timer. I'm thinking I'll keep this one, and put Big Tex up for sale. I don't need one that big.

[hogaboomer]

[towtruck]

I like that...easy to hose out and dry.

[dacolson]

Nice touch w/ the expanded and the handle. Like that.


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[tinspark]

That Grip Strut/Floor Grating should make a really good fire grate.
Also, I was thinking in the future, if you turn the combustion air intake slide gate at the FB door 90 degrees, you could eliminate the chain, and could fine tune the air intake a little more. With the chain, combustion air adjustment it is based on the chain increments. Maybe you like the chain look though. Also, I agree that the FB will be very easy to clean out without much difficulty. Maybe you can make a radius shovel to the ID of the FB pipe size, more like a hoe to pull the ash out, and into a bucket. The width of the door or a little less.... Nice work..

[dacolson]

That Grip Strut/Floor Grating should make a really good fire grate.
Also, I was thinking in the future, if turn the combustion air intake slide gate at the door 90 degrees, you could eliminate the chain, and could fine tune the air intake a little more. With the chain, it is based on the chain increments. I agree that the FB will be really easy to clean out without much difficulty. Maybe even make a radius shovel to the ID of the FB pipe size, more like a hoe to pull the ash out and into a bucket. The width of the door or a little less.... Nice work..

+1 on the ash tool. I made one from the cutout I had left from the FB throat. Matched the arc of the FB exactly. Works perfectly.


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[hogaboomer]

That Grip Strut/Floor Grating should make a really good fire grate.
Also, I was thinking in the future, if you turn the combustion air intake slide gate at the FB door 90 degrees, you could eliminate the chain, and could fine tune the air intake a little more. With the chain, combustion air adjustment it is based on the chain increments. Maybe you like the chain look though. Also, I agree that the FB will be very easy to clean out without much difficulty. Maybe you can make a radius shovel to the ID of the FB pipe size, more like a hoe to pull the ash out, and into a bucket. The width of the door or a little less.... Nice work..

There's not enough room in between the flanges and the hinges for the intake to go side to side, that's why I put the chain. I guess I could put it on a hinge, but I usually just leave it wide open anyway.

[Big T]

Those ribs look great!

[hogaboomer]

Those ribs look great!

[hogaboomer]

I was looking on another pit builder site and they say an upper and lower air intake on the firebox helps control the temps better. He says the lower intake controls the heat of the fire, and the upper is for airflow into the CC. Any of you guys ever heard this?


https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threa ... et.301360/

[Dirtytires]

Nope. Lotta theories out there and a lot probably have merit.

[Big T]

I would say that it's plausible. Years ago there was a member on the forum that had a 250 gallon pit built and it struggled to get over 200 degrees in the CC regardless of the size of the fire. He used a pit calculator for all of his dimensions so there was a lot of head scratching going on as to why. After several guys looking over his build thread it was determined that his intakes were too high on the FB. The cool air was bypassing the coal bed and going directly into the CC and that was keeping his CC temps really low. He lowered his intakes and that corrected his issues.

[Brewmaster]

Hogaboomer that's a really stellar-looking build, love the fire grate idea, the whole build overall, great work all around and there are no flies on you either! I'd love to try that striaght-up throat idea on mine sometime as well, my current one is sort of like a Moberg backyard throat style with a 3.5" opening allowing heat straight up, and the baffle/deflector installed after that opening, it works pretty well as is but always looking for ways to improve the next one. Cred to @dacolson on that baffle, and tremendous quality work.

On my current offset with the large air vent at fire level, it runs perfectly but I find it actually better (unless it's windy) with the door open a crack. A bit less brunt of air hitting the coals directly and more going above the fire and straight through, if I get a temp spike I can lower it by 20 F or more by opening the door, so I'm a firm believer in the smaller upper vent idea coupled with the larger lower draft. Also as an aside, after many cooks on just bare stainless floor, I tried firebrick lining and wowsers it leveled the whole cooker right off like a heatsink with far less temp spikes, huge difference for the better. (yes I'm a no-fire-grate user, lol I get good clean burns )

Can't wait to see more cooks on this one Hoga!

I was looking on another pit builder site and they say an upper and lower air intake on the firebox helps control the temps better. He says the lower intake controls the heat of the fire, and the upper is for airflow into the CC. Any of you guys ever heard this?


https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threa ... et.301360/