Reverse flow theory

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Dave, did you say you thought it would be ok to use bioled linseed oil inside the cooker? I was thinking on using it on the reverse flow plate/drip pan. Wish I would have done it in stainless.
RW, morning.....  I don't see why not.....   If it has metals in it, they will not volatalize at cooking temps...  anyway, conditioning the oil rub at 400 or so, will seal in or drive off "light" stuff....  and food is not coming in contact with it....  If it's too thick to spread evenly, thin it with mineral spirits....  then allow to dry before firing up the smoker....  That would be one heck of a bomb.....   A smoker full of mineral spirit fumes...  I'd want to see it from at least 2 blocks away.....  Mineral Spirits is/was used in oil based paints as was linseed oil....    I used BLO and MS to condition cork grips on fishing poles...  worked very well...  then ate my lunch without washing my hands...  night crawlers, maggots BLO.....  I'm still here...
 
Well, I'm using it to 'condition" the oak handles, and thinking about putting a coat on there. Flax seed oil would probably be better, but I dont have any.  The pan is the only thing I really have to worry about rusting, ..

so I quess I'll go ahead and put some on there, I need to cook it off really good anyway, then it should stay coated with pam from the overspray from when I spray the grates after that.

Cant wait to try this one out, Im thinking its going to do well for a little cooker.
 
I better check the can to see whats in it. This stuff came from lowes, but I had some at one time that came from the cutlery store that was for cutting boards.

Thanks for the info, I have not put any inside the smoker yet, might just go with corn oil to be safe.I was just wanting that thicker, harder coating.
 
I better check the can to see whats in it. This stuff came from lowes, but I had some at one time that came from the cutlery store that was for cutting boards.

Thanks for the info, I have not put any inside the smoker yet, might just go with corn oil to be safe.I was just wanting that thicker, harder coating.
If you are leery about using it on the smoke chamber, just use it on the firebox and as you said regular corn oil on the inside, also the hardwood itself will give it a coating as a matter of fact I done that on my GOSM with great results.
 
Even though I have some things to wrap up on it, I decided to fire her up this morning and see how she breathed ...and see if I needed to make any adjustments.

I decided not to go with a valve to control the "choke", but rather to make some inserts that will hang on the opening. I have not decided to just make them flat plate, or if I needed them also to direct the airflow.  I needed to see how she cooks before I can determine that.....

Grabbed a $2.99 'light the bag" charcoal.

60364c73_fireup1.png
 
I ended up not doing anything fancy with the firebox vent, at first I was going to box in a section at the bottom of the firebox so I could incorporate a better vent system, but this being just a small patio smoker, I decided to keep it simple.

So its really not much more than a brinkman as far as the firebox is concerned, other than size ratio

0a683a2b_fireup2.png
 
Its actually come up to temp faster than I expected.   I was thinking that moving the air through the end cap would give it a lil cold start issue, But in less than 10 min, I had her pushing 400*, and thats with a washer stuck in both cooking chamber and firebox door jambs ( making sure paint cooks off and dont stick).

I did use the linseed oil on the reverse flow plate, brushed on a good coat before fireing her up. Then used a quart sprayer to wash the inside out good before spraying with corn oil ( all I had here)

These sprayers are the best thing ever invented for cleaning a grill, or spraying apple juice on my ribs.

4c1c3d47_fireup3.png
 
And of coarse, has to pick up a slab of St. Luis.

Im not doing anything fancy with them, just cooking at 350 to test the cooker, I did pick up some apple juice at 7 eleven to keep the from drying out though. I got a party to go to later and dont have time to do the proper way.

But looks like I can do 4 slabs easy plus sausage, and that how big I wanted it.

1e349b1c_fireup5.png
 
RW, morning......  Smoker looks really good...  I like it..  looks like it cooks great and the air/heat flow is what you were looking for..... 

I noticed the FB air inlet pie vent....   It has a reduced opening on the top pie....    Is that opening from previous experience or a shot in the dark....  It makes sense to me, just wondering how you figured the size..... 


When Skifreak modded his pie vent, he made the upper adjustable....  I thought his idea was pure genius... 


     .........
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............      Dave
 
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Dave, I thought about doing something like that, but the one I made my Mom seemed to work alright with out it, ....Something that can always be tweeked as well.

On the vent size, I was trying to go with 60/40 ratio that has worked well for me, but Im a little off. Im also thinking about putting some expanded metal in the holes as well, not sure yet.
 
Im running it at 350* to finish up this slab quick before I have to head to Tampa, its at about maybe a hair over 1/3 open.  While I seasoned it at 400*, it was about 5/8 open. Probably in the mid 80's here now.

The first pic shows what size chunks Im running, starting with three on the coals and adding about one an hour.  These are small for this cooker, I think when I cut them about twice that size and cook at 275* to 300* I will be close to the 2 hr mark I try to shoot for.
 
I will say Im very happy so far.  When I seasoned it, it came to temp faster than I expected.  Due to that, I thought it might loose temp fast, but when I seasoned it, it was at 400* , then I opened it and flushed a full quart of water with that sprayer in the cook chamber, and wiped the grates clean with a wire brush and then a rag , then wiped them with oil. It had to be at least 5 minute or better I had the door wide open. When I closed it, it was at 250 almost instantly, and back to 350 with in just a few minutes. I have not tried to run it ulta low yet, but played around between 325 and 400* and I had very good control. Almost as good as one of those mini's I built.
 
*****NOTE*****

These are not my famous ribs, just a very quick cooked somewhat half ass version of them, and that is definitely not my sauce, just some Sweat baby Rays one of my guys had in the fridge.

But , I will disregard my honor and pride and show them, since this is a build thread and not a cooking one. The color is darker than it should due to high temps,

9222552f_quickribs.png
 
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