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bluerich

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2015
3
10
Hi everyone my name is Rich I am from the UK and hope to start building a smoker/bbq ready for next summer
 
Welcome to SMF looks like you have a plan you have to start somewhere. There is tons of information on this sight just keep reading. Also check out the UK group.
 
Hi Rich, Welcome to our "Family" and "Addiction"

Plenty of good folk on here, ask any questions you can think of, and you will get your answers.

Please take time to look at the UK Smokers Forum,

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/3161/uk-smokers

And introduce your self on the UK Roll Call

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/229926/roll-call

We have had our 2nd UK Smokes weekend, where members attend and cooked over the weekend, dates and plans are already in place for 2016. Please use the link below to view the website.

http://www.uk-smf.co.uk

Smokin Monkey [emoji]133660013031[/emoji]
 
Hiya Rich, Welcome to the forum.

There are some fantastic people on here with some great experience.

Just to give you a bit of an update,  As smoking has gained popularity in the UK we have been given our own group, "UK Smokers". We still come under the watchful eye of the main forum and have plenty of support from our american cousins, but somethings are different in the UK and that's where the UK forum comes into it's own. The UK Smokers is rapidly growing with members from up and down the country with a wealth of experience in all areas.

We have an Annual Smoking Weekend at Woodhall Spa near Lincoln so it is easy for everyone from the north & south to attend. Most of the active members attend, and cook a dish, have a chat, exchange ideas, pick up tips from other members, grab a few beers and have a great weekend. You are more than welcome to join us next year.

We have members from both sides of the pond so it you post a question in the UK Forum, there is a good chance it will get answered from both the UK and the US.

Smokin Monkey has sent you the links to the UK Smokers page and also the UK roll call so I look forward to seeing you over there, and feel free to post on the UK forum.

Where did you hear about the UK Smokers Forum just so we know how you found us.
 
Hi Rich - Where in the UK are you?

Do you know what kinds of things you are looking to smoke? Let us know your initial thoughts and we will try to steer you in the most appropriate direction.

Are you looking primarily at hot smoking (pulled pork, ribs, brisket, chicken etc.) or cold smoking (salmon, cheese etc.) or maybe both?
 
Hi everyone thanks for the reply I am based in Grimsby which isn't too far from Lincoln, I came about the website by chance just looking for ideas about how to build a smoker, I am hoping to do both hot first (pork beef etc)then possibly adapt the smoker I am planning on building to do cold, as for the smoker I want to put the cooking chamber above the fire box and connect the two via 2 6 inch diameter pipes about a foot long both with dampers in them connected so there're even as for the fire box keep it simple door vent and grate in the cooking chamber have a plate on the bottom similar to a reverse flow but each end will be open and just a standard rack to put the meat on as for chimney just some more 6 inch pipe and keep it about 4 foot long ( I can always make it shorter) with a damper on too to control the smoke. Hope I am heading in the right direction any help would be great cheers
 
Hi Rich

When designing your smoker the important thing is to ensure that you can achieve fine control over your air flow and exhaust gasses in order to finely tune the temperature of the cooking chamber. The first thing to do is make sure that, whatever you build, has seals that are relatively air tight and the air intakes for the fire box can be finely adjusted. Dampers for the air as it enters the firebox are actually more important than the dampers between the firebox and cooking chamber. Without good control over the air flow over the fire you are unlikely to be able to get the temperature control that you need.

When optmising the design there are a number of things that need to be taken into consideration - e.g the size of the firebox compared to the chamber, the size of the hole between the firebox and chamber, and the diameter and length of the flue. The way you describe your expected build above (with interconnecting pipes) suggests that you you may be looking at more of an offset design rather than a bullet type vertical smoker. If this is the case then there are a number of tools that can help you fine tune your design before you even lift up a saw or disk cutter. One of the more established online ones can be found at http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html  and there are a couple of ones that you can download at http://webpages.charter.net/tomchism/BBQ CALC Forms/BBQ Smoker Calculators.htm

Simply plug in the size of your cooking chamber and firebox and it will tell you the rest.

I hope this helps.

Wade
 
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