Side Fire Box mod. Opinions please.....Merry Christmas!

[billbo]

I found a spare grate from my outdoor fire pit that I want to use for my SFB. The unit is a Char-Broil Silver smoker.



Using it as is would have the grate about 6.5" from the SFB floor.



With shaker basket on top.







This will leave about 5" of clearance to the top of the SFB



I could cut the side prongs of the grate to lower it if need be.



My question to all of you is this. Do you think this would put the shaker basket up too high as is or should I try to lower it more? I plan on making a baffle & tuning plates for the smoke chamber. My thought is it should work fine but I want opinions from all the experts out there. Thank you for looking and Merry Christmas!

 

[eaglewing]

According to this image:




I would have to answer you ... NO, it's not too high



My firebox looked like this last night for my Ham and my temps were as steady as they have EVER been...

 

[bman62526]

Higher is better than too low - so I think you should be fine.

 

[grandpajohn]

Try smoking something before you cut the ends, after using it then try the mods if you think they would help. It is a lot easier to cut then to add IMHO.

 

[billbo]

Good point Grandpa!

 

[bbq engineer]

Love a good experiment...Points to Grandpajohn on great advice. Try it out and then adjust as required, but I think it looks workable where it is.

 

[graybeard]

I'm thinking too high. 3 to 4 inchs seems better.

beard

 

[jirodriguez]

In looking at that... if you could suspend the shaker basket you wouldn't even need the lower rack. Maybe run some allthread through from side to side that the ends of the shaker basket can rest on? Would lower it to just even or a tad below the lower rim of the door, but still leave lots of room for ash and airflow.

 

[cheapchalee]

I think it will be fine, give you more air flow from underneath, more room for ashes also. As mentioned before try it you might like it. Change one thing at a time, then you'll know what each modification did to affect the smoker. As long as you can close the door I don't see a problem. You said that you were going to modify the tuning plates, so do that next.

Just my .02 cents,

Charlie

 

[rickw]

This is what I would do as well.

 

[thadius65]

Not to far off from where my Lowes basket sits. Should be fine.

 

[smokin' dick]

The grate in my Silver sits 5" from the bottom of the fire box and works fine. Was thinking of lowering it a bit though. Sits on two 1/4" rods. Try your set up out as is and see how you like it, you can always modify things after a good smoke. The tuning plates and baffle will do wonders for this smoker also.