# Old Country Brazos Info Needed - Tuning Plates



## Swampworks (May 8, 2020)

Can someone who has tuning plates for their Brazos please tell me how long they are? I want to make sure they sit above the opening from the firebox.

Thanks!


----------



## Smokin Okie (May 11, 2020)

Mine are 14.5" .

You haven't ask, but I will offer this.   I tried the tuning plates for three or four cooks and took them out.    They were more trouble and mess than they were worth.

My Brazos will run just fine end-to-end without them.    I put a 16" loaf pan across the FB end of the cook chamber below the cook grate ,  to use as a water bowl.     I will add pic of gauges.

Sometimes my temps end-to-end are even,  sometimes they vary by 25* either way.    I don't think it matters.   I just move my meats around about every hour.

For a while, I was using the FB door to regulate temps end-to-end.   If the door was about 2" open,  the increased air flow would throw heat to the stack end of the cook chamber.    But that ended up just being another variable I had to deal with in keeping steady cook temps.   I now leave the door shut and the baffle wide open. 

With the tuning plates,  my smoker becomes something of a reverse flow smoker.   I get the juices dripping down on the plates creating that flavor of burning fat.    Some like that,  its not something I shoot for.


----------

