Thank you for the response. I certainly have a lot to learn and I appreciate the input.Dirtytires wrote: ↑October 20th, 2020, 5:51 pmInsulating the cook chamber is not always a good idea. A smoker needs to loose certain amount of heat thru the walls as it does not all go up the chimney. Making it too efficient will mean you can’t have a fire any bigger than 3 toothpicks and a Lincoln log.
The firebox, on the other hand, is a great idea. It will burn a little less wood but will be much safer as the outer skin does not get a hot. No reason why you can’t use 0.25 plate for both walls but not sure I would. A thin outer skin is all that is needed as it only has to hold the insulation in. The thicker steel adds no benefit and really makes your pit heavy in a hurry.
Most here use either Rolux or a ceramic insulation. Just be sure it is rated to handle the heat.
Ultimately I want an offset but lately I have been thinking about a hybrid approach where it can either make it offset or reverse flow. 2 stacks, one on each side and you would be able to use the 'tuning plates' or something very similar to direct the airflow.
I thought about something similar when I was designing my "Home Grown Gravity Feed". I had a crazy idea to open both ends of the walls at the transfer tube and have two furnaces on it (dual fuel). One end could be the traditional gf furnace with coal hopper. The other side would be able to burn wood. My gf can still easily be converted this way later if I choose to do that. I would just lose my collapsible shelf at the other side of my gf. Slide dampers at the transfer tube openings (handles to the back) may have been in order as well ...IMO
Oh, interesting idea for sure. That could make it easily convertible. Should not be hard to even add this to mine.JKalchik wrote:Hrrrrm..... I'd had the idea a while back for an aux firebox that inserted into the ash box on my GF for a cold smoke capability. Something similar could be done for a wood fired box, swing the ash door wide (or lift it off the bullet hinges,) slide the insert in, and off to the wood fired races.
Oh i dont mind. I am just trying to figure out why there are so many GF in here. Maybe I need to rethink my offset build?
I think I follow what you are saying. If I hold more heat then it essentially means less smoke. Losing temp is actually a good thing.Dirtytires wrote: ↑October 20th, 2020, 5:51 pmInsulating the cook chamber is not always a good idea. A smoker needs to loose certain amount of heat thru the walls as it does not all go up the chimney. Making it too efficient will mean you can’t have a fire any bigger than 3 toothpicks and a Lincoln log.
The firebox, on the other hand, is a great idea. It will burn a little less wood but will be much safer as the outer skin does not get a hot. No reason why you can’t use 0.25 plate for both walls but not sure I would. A thin outer skin is all that is needed as it only has to hold the insulation in. The thicker steel adds no benefit and really makes your pit heavy in a hurry.
Most here use either Rolux or a ceramic insulation. Just be sure it is rated to handle the heat.