Only thing I do differently is the BP Gap. here is a quote from another thread about how I do the gap....k.a.m. wrote:Silent_hunter,
I plan on doing an adjustable baffle plate at the opposite end from the firebox. What is the largest opening that I should allow at the baffle?
Personally I do not use baffles but you will need to have at least the same opening as your firebox to cooking chamber opening. Any smaller and you will bottleneck the heat/smoke making the turn.
This being said, on my 160 Gallon RF Build I made an adjustable baffle plate. most of the time I used that smoker whether it was summer or winter the gap was almost always set for 1". that was the most efficient and even tune i could run. I had times that the temp drop across the cook chamber was only 1-5 degrees over a 72" cook chamber. Now I wouldn't recommend running a gap that close unless you used an adjustable plate or I did the dimensions / plans. I figure my builds very tight on the dimensions, but for the sake of changing cooking styles on a whim (no comments from you dcman) I like to figure in an adjustable BP gap.Frank_Cox wrote:It depends on how you want your smoker to be tuned. If you want your smoker to perform more consistently at higher cooking temps, the Gap should be figured bigger. If you want it to perform more consistently at lower temps, say 225*F then you would want the gap to be tighter.
this being said if you do not know where fits your needs best then as I always say, make it adjustable...
I tune the pits I design to cook more evenly at lower temps.
a good rule of thumb to start with is:hope this helps!
- you want the gap to be bigger in square inches than the area of your smoke stack opening... 6" diam. round smoke stack opening= 28.26"sq. so your gap area would need to at least that big.
- you want your smaller in square inches than your firebox to cook chamber opening.....