mp4 wrote:Even temps is a positive atribute for the RF in my opinion. The BP also retains the drippings and flavors the meat as it steams off. Cleaning under th BP is unnecessary if there is a grease dam and drain valve installed. The meat is also protected from hot, direct heat from the fire box as well which prevents it from drying out.
Just my opinion...not that I'm biased at all! I do plan to build a mini gravity flow next.
@mp4, thanks for your time.mp4 wrote:Even temps is a positive atribute for the RF in my opinion. The BP also retains the drippings and flavors the meat as it steams off. Cleaning under th BP is unnecessary if there is a grease dam and drain valve installed. The meat is also protected from hot, direct heat from the fire box as well which prevents it from drying out.
Just my opinion...not that I'm biased at all! I do plan to build a mini gravity flow next.
@BB, first off all thank you for your valuable input. That might help a lot of other folks as well.BitBucket wrote:StorkQ,
Great questions. I'm not going to try to convince you of what's better, because I imagine that's like inviting discussion on what brand of truck is better. I did deliberate these things with my own smoker. Here's how that turned out.
The plot thickens. My taste reference is Texan BBQ. Most (respectable) places have brick pits. Talking about temperature gradients!!! And vaporization of drippings??? The pitmasters over there would laugh their heads off if they read my musings. (The drippings just fall on the earth) Because I can't afford a truck of wood each month to fire my pit and some other practicalities the brick pit isn't an option. Given the excellent results on such extreme low tech I'm warned not to over complicate things.I've seen some commercial RF vendors claim the grease falling on the baffle plate and vaporizing 'adds flavor'. Some even claim that's an exclusive 'feature'. I dunno about that, but if it falls to the bottom of the CC it doesn't get the same opportunity to vaporize. Whether that's flavor you want or not I'll let you decide.
I totally agree. How big is your smoker? And how much meat did you have in the smoker for that much condense? Do leave the drains open or do you periodically drain them?From a safety standpoint, having a (solid) welded baffle plate with a lip prevents grease and water from flowing straight into the firebox. A grease fire can make quick work of a wad of hard earned cash in meats. Water in the firebox can be equally as frustrating. I get enough moisture in the CC just from combustion/condensation to drain about 1/2 gallon out of the lower drain. Not quite as much as the BP drain, but water absorbs heat, which means more BTUs to run my cook. I like keeping that lower chamber as dry as I can.
Interesting, I would have expected some variance between to and bottom. But the glossy marketing states that the RF smokers offers "unsurpassed equal temperature front to back".Temp Control:
I do have predictable temp variance from top to bottom and left to right. Temps at the end away from the firebox on the lower racks is always lowest (after the smoker comes fully to temp and evens out)--I can manage cooking by moving food around to various zones in my cooker, AND I can control the variance by raising or lowering the end away from the firebox to speed up or slow down the passage of the smoke/heat, as well as using firebox intake and throat & stack dampers.
But that design almost is like a solid baffle plate. My understanding of the tuning plates was that they have increasing gaps between them from front to back.Weight, warp, and work:
The plans I got that had tuning plates called for cutting a whole bunch of 1/4" rectangles and then adding 2" x 1/4" strap to the plates so they overlap and approximate a seal. That meant more materials expense, cutting, welding, and finish weight. 1/4" plate and strap is not immune to warping, so your plane of diversion plates may never seal up as tight as you want.
I have a 30" dia. x 72" long that combined my favorite bits from two sets of plans I got on this site. I don't recommend that by the way (combining two sets), at least not as your first smoker: Design changes that seem small up front can bite you further down the project. Finished plans have that stuff worked out. I drained after the cook was over. and the cooker was cold. I wasn't expecting anything from the lower drain, which is why it stuck in my mind so vividly. The cook for that moisture was really small vs. the capacity of the cooker (just bigger than anything else I had) 2x briskets, and 2x pork shoulders, and a 5 qt. dutch oven of baked beans. I had three times that space in racks free though. The outdoor temp was cold by most q-ing standards though--only around 40 degrees. Such is the life of an Alaskan with a love for smokers. The cooler walls of the cook chamber are probably responsible for some extra condensation and I'm not entirely sure my wood was as dry as I might want. Again, I'm still a noob, but a meticulous one.I totally agree. How big is your smoker? And how much meat did you have in the smoker for that much condense? Do leave the drains open or do you periodically drain them?
Hmm terminology is a bear with common words--if I'm standing with my hands on my CC door handles, my firebox is on my right, and the baffle plate gap is on my left. viewtopic.php?t=4716 shows my build, if that helps. I seem to clock about not more than 10 degrees warmer top to bottom, and 5 degrees left to right--on analog door-mounted thermometers, so no promises on precision or accuracy. The interesting thing to me until I think about actual air flow and radiant heat transfer is that the warmer zones are not adjacent--upper left and lower right. I can raise the upper right temp by closing the stack damper (not saying I want to, but I can), and warm up the lower left by lowering the hitch end of the cc (or raising the firebox) to tune things out. I like having some variance though, so I can take a piece of meat that's stalled to a hotter zone if I'm concerned about finishing a cook on time.Interesting, I would have expected some variance between to and bottom. But the glossy marketing states that the RF smokers offers "unsurpassed equal temperature front to back".
What amount of variance do/can you observe?
You can spread them out too. The plans I bought called for plates of varying widths between 6 and 12 inches that when all lapped together would span the whole CC like a BP. I think folks are calling it a 'hybrid' at that point, so maybe I'm mixing my terms? I'll defer to the seasoned builders on that.But that design almost is like a solid baffle plate. My understanding of the tuning plates was that they have increasing gaps between them from front to back.
I've been working on a mini GF for almost a year, off and on, but never used one. Insulated has some serious appeal at latitude 64 N, since the season with liquid water is particularly brief. I finished up the welds on the firebox/fuel chute on Monday and picked up more tube steel to finish the frame today. My honest advice is: Run! One build is just never enough! Ever! You learn to master and love each build for its quirks, but you're always plotting to get a bit of something you're missing by building something new. That's kind of the point for me though--it's as much about the build as it is what comes out of it when its done, even though I really like Q, if that makes any sense.The insulated RF vertical cabinet design seems like a very sensible solution. They don't require constant refueling, can be automated and are very fuel efficient. Again this what the glossy marketing promises, I don't have any experience with that style of smoker.