The size of this pit was inspired by an old aluminum grill I remember as a kid.
It is 28" wide, 18" deep front to back, and 16" high. The grate height is 7" from the bottom, leaving 9" above the grate, enough to accommodate a turkey, I believe.
I have done several very successful briskets, butts and yardbirds in it. The temp is slightly higher at the left end, but I usually just put the point on that side, and rotate, if indicated.
Unless cold and drizzling, I get a 12 hour cook out of 2/3 of a small bag of lump.
The charcoal is loaded on a grate in the area on the left, and the brisket, obviously on the rack on the right. There is also a charcoal grate under the meat rack, in case you are doing burgers, steaks, etc.
A guy I built one for did two briskets on the little thing at one time, putting one on the lower grate, and one on the normal meat grate. He said he rotated the briskets a couple of times during the cook. He told me he filled it up with lump once, and added 1/3 as much 6 ours later, and that was all he needed for the entire cook.
I prefer to put a water pan below the meat, to moderate the heat, and to catch the cooked-off grease. Otherwise it surely needs a good sized drain.
Note the baffle between the charcoal and meat rack, that helps mitigate the heat by directing it above the meat. The heat/smoke exit via the stack below the grate on the oopposite side.
I am using two baffles on the one I am building now, with an inch of space between them, to hopefully tame some of the radiated heat on the left.
