diffuser design?

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rober49

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Nov 29, 2015
80
13
I have an older original Oklahoma joe longhorn offset smoker. I was looking around the horizon smoker website & found that they make a diffuser for Oklahoma joe smokers. near the firebox the plate has holes that graduate in size the farther the they get from the firebox. I was at a local restaurant supply house & they have 18" x 26" heavy aluminum baking sheets with & without holes

( 3/16"). i'm thinking about getting a perforated sheet for next to the firebox & a solid sheet at the exhaust end. any thoughts?
 
I have an older original Oklahoma joe longhorn offset smoker. I was looking around the horizon smoker website & found that they make a diffuser for Oklahoma joe smokers. near the firebox the plate has holes that graduate in size the farther the they get from the firebox. I was at a local restaurant supply house & they have 18" x 26" heavy aluminum baking sheets with & without holes
( 3/16"). i'm thinking about getting a perforated sheet for next to the firebox & a solid sheet at the exhaust end. any thoughts?
I could be wrong, but I think it's supposed to be the other way around.
 
you're correct. I looked the horizon site again. the holes start out smaller nearest the firebox & get larger as they go. still-if I put the solid sheet next to the firebox does this sound like it work? since the holes are small maybe both sheets should have holes??
 
IMO, the holes should begin within about 6-8" from the FB. I think that some heat and smoke needs to get to the CC as soon as possible. I'm not a builder, but this arrangement works in my smoker.
 
I used a solid sheet, but you'll notice there's a gap on the sides due to the curve. I put a second narrower sheet at the end of the baffle with about a half inch gap.
I haven't gotten around to diffuser plates yet. It seems to work pretty well as is. There's a 30 to 50 degree difference from one end to the other, but I've learned to work with it :-)
Dan
 
the baking sheets are fairly stout & won't be directly over the fire so I think they should hold up. they're only $7.30 each so if the should fail it would not be that big of a deal. I have a slightly lighter gauge pizza pan directly over the fire of my weber kettle with a Cajun bandit smoker ring & it's holding up fine. I have a piece of steel plate that I can use as the angled piece covering the hole at the firebox. that would put the 1st sheet roughly between 5 -8" from the end. i'll give it a try until I have time to get to the local scrap yard & find some steel. i'll do a follow up & let y'all know how it goes.

the only other question is whether I should trade the solid sheet for another perforated one.

here's the horizon diffuser

IMG_1845.JPG
 
Last edited:
I have the Horizon type like in the pic and it works great for me. Why not try each one to give you a point of reference. But remember, the smoke and heat need a way to get up into the cooking grate area. Experimenting is the fun part of stick burning in an offset.

Good luck with it, Joe
 
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