Hello from Louisiana...

[wonderlake]

Hello Everyone, new member here from Louisiana. I wanted to join the forum to share a build I have been working on for a few months now. I have observed several other builds on this site which gave me both inspiration and ideas for my own build.

About the builds...
I am building two (nearly) identical reverse-flow insulated cabinet smokers for myself and a friend. Overall dimensions are 40"H x 22"W x 22"D. The frame is built from 2"x2"x1/8" square tubing. The water pan & firebox is made from 3/16" plate, inner walls of cooking chamber made from 16 ga., middle walls of cooking chamber is from 1/8" plate, and the entire outer shell is from 16 ga. The doors are framed by 1" square tubing and wrapped in 1/8" plate. The smoker and doors are fully insulated with fiberfrax ceramic insulation. Insulation is 2" thick on top, bottom, and back, 1" thick on sides and doors.
The cooking grates are built with 1" angle and 3/4" #9 flat expanded metal, cooking area is 17"x17" on each grate. The charcoal basket is made from the same materials, dimensions are 15"x15"x5" deep. There is a 1" deep ash pan welded to the bottom of the basket (3" below). The air intake will be on the front of the firebox door, and will have three 2" holes, with a piece of aluminum plate in front to serve as the damper. Exhaust is routed from the rear bottom of the cooking chamber out the top, through a 2"x4" channel. The water pan will drain through a 3/4" pipe routed to the bottom of the smoker. This drain will be plugged at the top and capped at the bottom. Doors will be sealed by a 3/8" silica/ceramic rope seal made by equalseal.

I know I am leaving some details out, but if you have questions or comments please add them. I will attempt to add pictures, but might be restricted since this is my first post. This is my first time building anything like this, so constructive criticism is welcomed.

[wonderlake]

I cannot figure out how to post pictures. I have even searched the forum and looked through the FAQ. Can someone help please.

I click on the "Img" icon above the text box and it does nothing but this >>[/img]

[DunnSmoke]

Welcome wonderlake
I am in SE Louisiana.
You will have to host your pictures on a site such as photobucket, then post a link to the image.

[brutus1964]

welcome to the smoke ring.
_________________
Chargriller
Weber Kettle
Heartland Cookers 36 x 48 Rotisserie

"If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got"- Henry Ford

[wonderlake]

Let’s see if this works...

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[/img]

[k.a.m.]

Welcome to the ring wonderlake. As Dunn said you need to have a host like photobucket or flicker, or imageshack. Copy and paste the IMG code here but be warned photobucket now charges for third party handling.
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Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Hybrid Cooker

[wonderlake]

Thanks for the replies. I am having no luck with any of these hosts. Looks like flickr is the only free one, and I was able to create an album but can't figure out how to get them into the forum. I don't consider myself savvy on computers, but I have uploaded photos into other forums. This is the first time I'm required to use one of these sites.

[dmike25]

I share your frustration wonderlake. I've never been a frequent poster, but I've tried to always include pic's. A post without pic's just doesn't seem right. I thought I finally had it down with photobucket, and then they pulled the crap that they did. I tried a couple of other photo host sites that were suggested here, no luck. I have to put in a disclaimer here - I didn't spend a whole lot of time trying them. If it wasn't super easy I bailed pretty quick. I'm not a very IT kind of guy. Copy and paste still amazes me
I really look forward to following your build, pictures or not. I sure hope that there will be, as there just might be a cabinet build in my future. There are a lot of good cabinet smoker builds here to learn from.
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Mike

[wonderlake]

Well, I have lots of pictures to share if anyone is interested in having them emailed I am willing to do that. The smokers are nearly complete with fabrication. The doors need to be welded on that that’s about it other than a few loose ends. I’m having seals made and waiting for them to come in. I know this post is sort of lame without pictures but I am trying.

[dwilliams35]

[Canadian Bacon]

Photo bucket wanted almost $400 dollars..U.S just to offer third party hosting.....I refused to pay that....then a few months later they offered me a package for $119.00.
I have pictures on three other forums that were blocked...I paid the money and now I have all pics unlocked....but its still alot of money.
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Horizon Offset (Marshall RD Special)
30 " Electric Masterbuilt(Digital)
Large BGE
Napoleon Legend Gasser
20"& 26" Discada
Two of the fastest Thermapens ever made ... Black& Blue
LIAR #25

[wonderlake]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/158860816@N06/29SAEn

[dwilliams35]

[wonderlake]

You probably have more experience in working with steel than I do, and I’m no metallurgist but I’m quite sure it’s steel.

[Flyingj]

That's a nice looking build wonderlake! Thanks for taking the time to get the pics viewable. Looking forward to seeing the completed products.
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250 Gallon Trailer Build

[wonderlake]

Thanks. I’m not a welder by any means but I did take my time with the layout and fabrication. Although I did put in lots of time and effort I give most of the credit to others who have done similar builds to this.

The seals have not came in yet but hopefully they will be here in time for me to crank it up this weekend for a trial run. There will be a learning curve for sure.

More photos and a report of how well it manages temps will follow.

[tyjodav]

I'm in the BR area.

[wonderlake]

I finally got around to finishing things up. Got it cranked up yesterday and I'm pleased with the way it performed. It took a LONG time to achieve 225, a few hours, so I think I will need to get a weed burner to help out. Other than that, she cruises right along with almost no input from me. I will be putting some meat on next weekend so Im pretty excited about that. Ive been reading a lot about different methods to use with these cabinet style reverse flow smokers and opinions seem to be all over the place with regards to water vs sand, brick, etc. The wet to dry method sounds interesting also. My water pan in built in with a drain in the back and holds 5.6 gallons, not sure If I want to put that much water for a smoke... is there such a thing as too much moisture? I understand this topic can be debated and not trying to open a can of worms. I know ultimately Ill need to experiment and try different approaches till I find my way, but maybe looking for others experiences in cooking with this style of smoker (pitmaker vault, lonestar grillz, etc.).

Anyway, hopefully the link below works and you are all able to see the final product. I am happy with the way it came out, fit and finish is not bad for a novice.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskwu2SSo

[KMM]

Nice looking builds!
I don't have a dog in the wet vs dry fight.
From a pure physics perspective, the purpose of both is to provide a heat sink that provides a relatively consistent heat for even cooking. Alternatively the heat sink also helps to buffer temp loss when curiosity wins over and the cook cracks open the door to have a peek at his progress.
Have used both, and other than finding sand is be a bit easier to clean up after, I can not say one is far superior to the other.
Keep in mind 5.6 gallons of water will suck up a tremendous amount of energy and take a long time to stabilize! Therefore, I highly suggest you consider preheating the water prior to filling the tank. Personally, when doing a wet cook, I use a 24qt pot on top of the turkey fryer and bring the water up to a rolling boil before filling. For dry cooks, I preheat the sand by placing it in a metal five gallon bucket that is set inside a 30 gal drum 1/4 filled with hot coals.

[wonderlake]

Its hard to imagine sand being much easier to clean up than pulling a plug to drain the water, I guess it designs on how the smoker was designed. I thought about lining the bottom of the water pan with a thin layer of fire brick or lava stone submerging them with water, or placing a thin water pan on top of my layer of bricks. As I mentioned earlier, probably just a little bit of trial and error will help me figure this thing out.

I haven't considered pre heating the water first, but did think about getting a weed burner to pre heat the smoker.