do caculators work for cabinets?

[mofomatic]

Well, I wouldn’t call it done, operational is more like it. Did a quick test burn today. So far so good. Maybe a few tweaks when I have more time. Gonna cook some test chicken in the morning, should be ready enough to cook ribs Thursday.

[ajfoxy]

You did not want those doors to fall off hey? Almost steampunk type excess. But they look good and no doubt do the job intended.

[mp4]

It looks terrific - well done!

[mofomatic]

Well I was gonna use two of them on the fb, I had wanted everything to match, there was on the fly design changes after the sheet metal guy came in, so with a new fb layout, those hinges wouldn’t work anymore. So they went on the cc doors. I wound up with a week and a half to build this thing, there were some ideas that didn’t get worked out 100%. I’ll come back after a while and adjust a few things.

[Big T]

[mofomatic]

So, as expected, learning a few things now that we have 60 slabs on here. When we bent the shelves, that created a hollow space against the back wall, so I’m not getting the even temps I had empty and small test run. I think the air flow is just running up the back wall and not being evenly distributed. Need to runs some pieces across the back of the shelves to block that straight up air flow.... and then cook off another 60 slabs and see if that helps

[Dirtytires]

I like the perforated sheet but remember it easily has 3-4 times the surface area of the expanded metal most people use. I didn’t run the math...Just an educated quess. Put 7 shelves and a bunch of slabs on top of them to block even more holes and I agree that the air is taking the path of least resistance thru your gap in the back. I hope more rigid shelves help but wonder if a more open shelf design would work even better.

Keep us posted...

[mofomatic]

The sheet is 40% open. I went with that because I wanted something easier to keep clean since other people may wind up trining to use this smoker. But mostly it was in stock for same day pick up. If I had more time I could have custom perf made. Anyways, after some of the ribs started to approach done, we glazed them and piled them up in pans and foiled. Soon as we started doing that temps started to even out. I made seven shelves but Kept the lowest one open. I assumed I would have to move stuff around. That left 10 baby backs per shelf.

So probably should have went ahead and used that lower shelf. That would have opened up one slab worth of air flow per shelf.

Still thinking maybe a piece of angle or something to close off some of the space back there. I wouldn’t want to do every shelf, but try to create a S shaped air flow. Force the heat to travel more.

Anyway, Things came together pretty good. 60 baby backs, 37 tri tips and something like 50lbs of Chicken quarters.

The chicken and half the tri tips got cooked on the other smoker/grill hybrid some one else built years ago.

Once some ribs started to finish, I brought those tri tips over and finished cooking on the new build.

It’s been a long two weeks, but this 240gal cabinet (smoker #4 for me) is pretty good

[Dirtytires]

I’m glad you got it to work as I understand the pressure to put off a good cook for coworkers and the boss.

Just for comparison, your sheet is 40% open where the standard #12 expanded metal is 74% open....big difference.

I hit mine with a wire brush after each use and have no trouble keeping it clean.

[mofomatic]

One dept bought the materials and my dept coverd my labor. I built it on skids to make it harder for people to borrow it, but we have forklifts, cranes , and trucks with cranes... so it could walk away. It’s supposed to stay at our location, but other people will have a chance to neglect it. Stuff like that went Into my thought process. We ran out of tri tips right at the end, had some left over ribs, and chicken. Next year maybe 50 ribs 40 tips and 40lbs chicken might be ok. 50 ribs spread out on 7 shelves should cook a little better.

[Rodcrafter]

I don’t know for sure but, if you made say 3 diverter pieces graduating in size only on few shelves. Then put another exhaust on the front top with dampers on both. You could probably draft the air wherever you want.

jm2cw


Making memories!

[mofomatic]

With less mass to cook and restrict air flow, it runs pretty good. But that’s probably not realistic. I’m thinking that it’s always gonna be jammed full of meat, and figuring out the air flow is the only option. I’ll draw up some sketches of what I wound up building, I have a few ideas of what to do next, but I’m open to suggestions.

[mofomatic]

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Haven’t been building anything new. My pig cooker trailer and patio rig are working for me. But it’s time for the summer bbq at work. As per the usual, I had about 3 hours to make any changes for cook#2 on this smoker. The original plan was to make relatively tight fitting frames for the shelves. But we bent the shelf material in a brake and that created an open space up the back wall and behind the doors. So I welded some angle iron guides so the shelves are more stable on the tabs. Eventually I’m gonna make a little hook/ shelf stop. Before, the shelves would just sit in there. Now they slide out. All the way out. Then I welded some flat bar across the back to cover that opening. Now the smoke and heat should have to go up through the shelves. We also got some rib racks so the baby backs will be on edge instead of flat and blocking wire flow. As I said, I had about 3 hours, this is what I came up with. Hope it works the way I’m thinking it will. I also brought in a 120gal vertical cabinet I built for a friend as emergency backup. It might take a few years to figure out how to cook 50+ slabs since I only do that once a year.