205 gal RF natural gas pipe smoker

[ronn1234]

Well here we are yesterday me my son and my neighbor got this bad boy loaded onto my trailer to take it to the painter. I decided to have somone paint it that knows what they are doing LOL. It is being painted with a base prep coat and a minimum of 4 coats of paint that is supposed to handle 2000 degrees. I am supposed to pick it up this Sat from the painter i will post pics then.

Also i have tons and tons of pics during all parts of the build lots of close ups if folks want to see more some are not the highest quality though.

[forty_creek]

Strong Work!
I'm ready to see the finished product!


Drankin, Smokin and Dreamin

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[Big T]

It turned out great. Did you install a pipe nipple or adapter for your stoker before sent it out to be painted ?

[ronn1234]

No i didn't yet havent decided if i want the nippple under the CC on the back of the Fire box or on the door. I should be able to drill the hole without messing up the paint to bad. I will have paint left over for touchups.

I was thinking it would be best to have it on the FB door because the flow of air would go over the fire into the CC. but i am worried about having to open the door with the fan attached and so on.
On the flip side i see the fan on the back side sending air through the bottom of the fire hitting the door and bouncing back to CC over the top of the fire but i see allot of the heat just being blown to the door.

Thoughts or experience with this?

[Rodcrafter]

I haven't used a stoker on an offset, but if I did and was to put it on yours, I would put the pipe nipple to the left of the FB door pointing to the base of the fire just above the grate so the air from it is used to stoke the fire not move air into the CC.

jm2cw


Nice work!!

[forty_creek]

Yea That^^^^^^^


Drankin, Smokin and Dreamin

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[ronn1234]

so your saying you would put it on the Cook chamber side right not the FB door side.

[Rodcrafter]

FB door side, looking at the door to the left of it.

[Dirtytires]

Interested to see how the stocker works out. Also....finished pictures? We're dying here!

[ronn1234]

Thought i would provide an update on this.I have had several cooks on it and it was running like a champ without the stoker but when i installed the stoker is was that much better i love it i got the big one the 25CFM and it works great!! I noticed i do have about a 15-25 degree difference between each side i think this may be because my opening on the non-fb side may be a touch to narrow but is draws air like a beast. i can open the doors and watch the smoke roll past the opening for a few seconds then the vortex breaks and it starts coming out. The opening on that end is 5 inches wide by 30 inches long. Anyways here are some final pics i have tons more. it needs 4 inch wide casters though had to roll it to the backyard in 6in perling rails LOL.

[Big T]

It looks great and yeah those steel casters don't work very well off of the concrete.

[Pete Mazz]

[Rodcrafter]

Nice job, thanks for the feedback about the stoker too. That cooker makes the other one really look small. You look like a proud smoker builder as you should.

Good job!


Making memories!

[forty_creek]

Strong Work!


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[ronn1234]

Yea i decided i needed a little bigger one.. I have lots more pics.. The stoker was well worth the money it has really helped burn all my fuel. and it reduced the overall amount of fuel use and lengthened the time between adding more fuel. I have no problems with excess smoke as i tend to burn small hot (very hot) fires and the smoke is super clean. The stoker literally turns the firebox into a smelting furnace it is amazing See Pic below. i originally put the stoker on the CC side of the FB but found that it blowing the heat directly on the FB door was to much. Even the Cool touch handle was WAY to hot to touch so i sealed that nipple off you see in the pics and moved the stoker to the FB Door side and now everything is happy. Fuel usage does not seem to be a ton more than the little smoker seen in the pics typically i add 2-3 sticks in the bigger smoker about every 1 hr or so vs 1-2 sticks every 45 in the little one. The best thing is once it gets to temp there are no temp swings at all even when i add wood.

The worst thing about the bigger smoker it used to take 30 mins to get the smoker from 0-250 degrees now it takes at least 1 hour to 1:15 mins. If i had it to do again i would also raise my grates higher from the Baffle plate currently i'm at about 41/2 inches and i have noticed that on the fire box side i can actually crisp the bottom of my meat as if i was frying it LOL, It can happen on the far end also but takes longer. Granted that is running the smoker at about 270-280 degrees. The radiant heat is just that potent keep in mind i have temp probs on the cook grate that say the temp is 270 but it seems to have fry action i just have to keep an eye on it. Very different than the heat of a non-reverse flow smoker Has anyone else experienced this?

Below are a few more pics and finally the creme da-la creme a giant smoker for 2 racks of ribs haha!!!!!!!!!

[Kcd2016]

I'm sorry if you've already answered this but I was wondering what you used for your blower connection? A pipe nipple? If so what size?

[Big T]

Those ribs look great ! I have my rack at about 3 1/2'' from the BP and I normally cook at 250-275 degrees and I haven't had any issues with the meat crisping. I use natural draft and my BP is 3/8'' thick. I wonder if the stoker is blowing the flame underneath the BP causing it to be hotter than normal.

[Pete Mazz]

A shadow plate may help.

[ronn1234]

it is 11/4 in threaded pipe. It did it before the stoker i have 1/4 thick plate for my baffle plate. Pete it does it the full length of the smoker. i should point out that when i run the smoker at 250-260 it does not seem to do it anywhere in the smoker. can the draft be to strong causing hotter air being drawed through at higher temps

[Rodcrafter]

You are getting close to the temperature caramel is made, it is a short space to hard crack candy temperature. So what you are likely seeing is the combination of radiant temperature from your BP and ambient temperature of your CC is getting things a little hotter than you think



Making memories!

[Tom_Heath]

Sorry I missed this build [emoji15]. Very nice work!! I may have tried making a deflection plate when the stoker was on the CC side to aim the air flow upwards before it hit the door.

I also wonder if your stoker is blowing hard enough to actually put big flames under the baffle plate.

Again. Nice work!


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[ronn1234]

I did think about putting a piece of plate on the firebox door with an 1/4-1/2 inch air gap but that was allot more work then moving the stoker to the outside. I may still try it but ehhh. For the flames traveling under the baffle i don't really think so. I don't have huge fires in the fire box and the temp at the grate is spot on, you would think the temp at the meat is the temp at the meat, but i think the radiant heat is more constant than the ambient heat. I have also considered setting a piece of plate under the baffle plate to see if that makes a difference. Or i could just keep the temps in the 250-260 and seems to not be an issue.

[Pete Mazz]

Nothing wrong with that temp. I cook at 250F all the time.