Advice for Newbie build

[Gianni2507]

Hello Everybody and thanks for reading!

I am a complete Newbie to smoking but had this Idea for a while now, and since I have some time on my nightshifts I just started throwing something together.

When I couldn’t think of a great way to make adjustable air intakes for my firebox I started searching on the Web and found this wonderful Forum. I’m now several hours deep into it and questioning my whole build, not knowing if what I have in Mind will even remotely work for smoking.

The Idea was to have the constellation as in the picture for “hot”smoking/cooking, but being able to have the firebox several feet away and guiding the smoke through a 4” pipe into the box for curing/coldsmoking.

Just at a quick glance, is the propane tank firebox connected with a 4” Elbow going to be able to produce enough heat?

I already found out that I will have to make the door for the smokebox a lot more airtight for consistent temps but that should be doable.

What kind of air intake should I add to the firetank to control airflow and heat? I added a short stack with damper to the smokebox already.


Thanks for your input!

 

[DRKsmoking]

I am not a builder at all.
Others that are should be around to give you help and advise.

But from what I am looking at , WHAT is the propane tank doing there, is it just to show height.
What are you using for flame , heat or smoke.

Sorry I am not sure what I am looking at really with the tank there.

David

 

[tridiot]

I am not a builder at all.
Others that are should be around to give you help and advise.

But from what I am looking at , WHAT is the propane tank doing there, is it just to show height.
What are you using for flame , heat or smoke.

Sorry I am not sure what I am looking at really with the tank there.

David

I think he is using an empty propane tank as the firebox. Going to be connected to that 4" elbow going into the cook chamber.

So... that tank may be a little small for use as a firebox. I mean, those things are tiny, it's really hard to actually manage a fire in there. Not really a good shape for it, either - you want kind of wide and deep on the bottom so you can have a good solid coal bed. A tank like that, it's more a small footprint and would be a very small, compact fire. You planning on using charcoal or wood splits? With splits, they would be very small to fit in there - with charcoal, maybe you could do it and just add wood chunks.

For air intake - if you're planning on using that propane tank as a fire box... I guess I would say, cot a door into one side of it (opposite the cook chamber), full height from seam to seam (bottom to top, like) and maybe 1/4-1/3 the circumference of the tank itself. Weld hinges on one side. Use the door itself as your air inlet, no need for anything special for a 'hole' for air to enter from.

I'm not saying this is an idea situation - I don't think that tank is a great option as a firebox - but if you're dead set on using it, I guess that's what I'd do.

 

[millerbuilds]

Welcome to SMF from North Texas!
I have only built grills, but if you have the skills to weld and can get some plate steel, as stated above, your firebox is small and not the right shape, I would fab one that is more rectangle to give you more room to build and manage a fire. But once again, I am just monday morning QB'ing it.

- Jason

 

[Gianni2507]

I am not a builder at all.
Others that are should be around to give you help and advise.

But from what I am looking at , WHAT is the propane tank doing there, is it just to show height.
What are you using for flame , heat or smoke.

Sorry I am not sure what I am looking at really with the tank there.

David

Sorry I should have done a better Job explaining! I just stacked the parts I had together to show my Idea of doing it, it has to be converted into a firebox yet!

 

[Gianni2507]

I think he is using an empty propane tank as the firebox. Going to be connected to that 4" elbow going into the cook chamber.

So... that tank may be a little small for use as a firebox. I mean, those things are tiny, it's really hard to actually manage a fire in there. Not really a good shape for it, either - you want kind of wide and deep on the bottom so you can have a good solid coal bed. A tank like that, it's more a small footprint and would be a very small, compact fire. You planning on using charcoal or wood splits? With splits, they would be very small to fit in there - with charcoal, maybe you could do it and just add wood chunks.

For air intake - if you're planning on using that propane tank as a fire box... I guess I would say, cot a door into one side of it (opposite the cook chamber), full height from seam to seam (bottom to top, like) and maybe 1/4-1/3 the circumference of the tank itself. Weld hinges on one side. Use the door itself as your air inlet, no need for anything special for a 'hole' for air to enter from.

I'm not saying this is an idea situation - I don't think that tank is a great option as a firebox - but if you're dead set on using it, I guess that's what I'd do.

Thanks! That was the answer I was afraid of! Guess I’ll be looking around for a bigger box to work with then! The plan was a base of charcoal with woodchunks for smoke.

 

[Gianni2507]

Welcome to SMF from North Texas!
I have only built grills, but if you have the skills to weld and can get some plate steel, as stated above, your firebox is small and not the right shape, I would fab one that is more rectangle to give you more room to build and manage a fire. But once again, I am just monday morning QB'ing it.

- Jason

Thanks for the Welcome!

I definitely can weld but am apprehensive of “wasting” good steel plates on a smoker build lol. i’ll have to keep my eye open for another box!

 

[JckDanls 07]

It doesn't have to be square/rectangle... Round works well too ...

A rule of thumb is for the FB to be 33% (1/3) the volume of the smoker...

 

[JC in GB]

You may be able to get good heat and regulation by using a PID controller and a blower fan to control the airflow through your firebox. That is how I control the heat in my charcoal offset smoker. My $0.02

JC

 

[DRKsmoking]

Sorry I should have done a better Job explaining! I just stacked the parts I had together to show my Idea of doing it, it has to be converted into a firebox yet!

All good , I just did not realize you were going to use the propane tank as your fire pit.

Like I said , not a metal fabricator , Now I could make you a fire box out of wood if you want, lol

David

 

[JckDanls 07]

Now I could make you a fire box out of wood

Will it rust out or should it be primer/sealed and painted ??

 

[seenred]

Thanks! That was the answer I was afraid of! Guess I’ll be looking around for a bigger box to work with then! The plan was a base of charcoal with woodchunks for smoke.

Thanks for the Welcome!

I definitely can weld but am apprehensive of “wasting” good steel plates on a smoker build lol. i’ll have to keep my eye open for another box!

Hello Gianni and welcome aboard! As already mentioned, your firebox doesn't have to be square. Although my opinion is, it'd look better if the FB was square, since the cabinet is square. But you could search around and find a used piece of old pipe. If you could find a section that had a diameter that roughly matched the depth of your cook chamber cabinet, you could cut it down to the correct length to give you the 1/3 volume that Keith ( JckDanls 07 ) mentioned. You didn't mention the dimensions of your cabinet, but I'd say maybe an 18" or a 20" pipe would be about right?

Looking forward to watching how this goes!

Red