ATTN: BBQ Guru's... Need Help Building Pit!

[whitetailslayer]

Here's the 411. I finally got onto a deer lease with 6 of my closest friends. It needs work. One thing I have admired is a lot of your DIY custom BBQ pits. I want to build one and build it right for my kind of cooking.

My brother works in the oil field and has delivered on my request for a piece of either 20" or 24" diam. x 5' casing...I think 1/4" wall.

I'll need to throw it into a brush pile and burn it.

My thoughts were to cut a 3' section for the cook area and use the 2' remaining for the fire box. I downloaded the excel file for smoker ratio calculations and to be quite honest, I kind of understand what it's saying. Please correct me if I'm wrong:
For a 24"x24" diam. fire box, the chimney needs to be 5" diam. x 27.5" long. I recall one speaking of having the chimney recessed inside of the pit. How far down?
When talking about "Air inlet opening" and "Fire box to cook chamber opening", can one please specify what this means? Meaning, Is this number in cubic inches? I'm taking it that the air inlet opening is the diffusers on the side of the fire box, correct?



Any help would be appreciated!!

[whitetailslayer]

TTT. I'm gonna build a custom trailer for this rig. I need to make a correction on the thickness I had stated the pipe was. It's not 1/4"..it's 1/2"! Needless to say, it's gonna be stout. I'm sure a 3500# axle will be required so I need to find one. So on the trailer framing, what size tubing or C-channel be used? Ga.? My brother told me how much it weighs per linear foot and I wanna say he said it was @ 120#/foot. So if I'm planning between 5-6' of pipe (600#-720#) total, should the pit be centered on the trailer? Or could I offset it? Ideally I would like to offset it so I can put in a storage box for wood, or a toolbox for misc. stuff, or a prep table.
I started playing with the design in Sketchup and this is what I'm trying to achieve.
It'll be a reverse flow pit.

[Todd]

BBQ trailer

this is what I did

4'X12' trailer out of 3x5x1/4 angle (just because I hand it on hand no $$$)
tong is 3" c-channel

Fish cookers r great to have but I could get by with just 1 and just 1 propane tank

good luck and have fun

[paintman]

I've always been told that the smoke stack need to be below the cooking level

[Tubby]

I've always been told that the smoke stack need to be below the cooking level

X2 but on a reverse flow I don't think it's as necessary

You could make your fire box 20" long to be able to have a little larger cooking surface. Don't forget the grease drain. Being that it's a reverse flow, it'll need to be on the opposite end from the firebox.

[czechaholic]

Here is a pic of mine...this thing is awesome!!! Cooks like a champ...many briskets,ribs,burgers,steaks,chicken and pulled pork smoked\cooked on this thing!!!

[whitetailslayer]

Grease drain! Good point! Should the deflector plate be channeled at the end to allow the grease to drain to a pipe? I guess in order for it to drain, the trailer would need to be slightly canted towards the nose correct (achievable by the jackstand)?

[whitetailslayer]

Here is a pic of mine...this thing is awesome!!! Cooks like a champ...many briskets,ribs,burgers,steaks,chicken and pulled pork smoked\cooked on this thing!!!

Ohhh... daddy likey. Give me the lowdown on this rig! Size, material, etc! That is the size I'm looking at making.

[Tubby]

Grease drain! Good point! Should the deflector plate be channeled at the end to allow the grease to drain to a pipe? I guess in order for it to drain, the trailer would need to be slightly canted towards the nose correct (achievable by the jackstand)?

Yes, the deflector plate should be shorter than the length of the smoke box anyway, so that'll allow the grease get to the bottom of the box. Being a reverse flow, having the tongue of the trailer angled down slightly will help it drain.

[fishologist]

my pit design

i put my pit inbetween the axles with the firebox in hte middle so there is no hot spots anywhere on my pit. its getting a 4 rack rotisserie in it as we speak

[fishologist]

it has a door in between the two halves that i can control how much heat comes int he smoke box i can also shut it off almost completely. improvements that are being made on it is smoke stacks on the firebox to release some of the black smoke when u put wood in. and a 3 inch ball cock valve to drain grease the 1 inch ones get clogged up

[paintman]

X2 but on a reverse flow I don't think it's as necessary

You could make your fire box 20" long to be able to have a little larger cooking surface. Don't forget the grease drain. Being that it's a reverse flow, it'll need to be on the opposite end from the firebox.

guess your right it wouldnt be nessasary on a reverse flow,none that ive built have been reverse flow,ive always heard the chew up wood,but with 1/2 inch that shouldnt be a factor,that thing should hold the heat like nobodys bussiness,awsome project

[doole44]

Think big I like mine...

[hellbndr23]

Air inlet is in the firebox and firebox to cook chamber is the opening from the firebox to the main pit. Both are in square inches in this spread sheet.

When doing a reverse flow weld a piece of angle iron in for a grease rail. run this at a slight angle from one end down to a pipe that goes to your grease clean out valve. Weld your plates to the side of the angle iron.

Theres a much better build pic somewhere that i cant find right now. I'll keep looking.

[hellbndr23]

Ok I cant find the one I was looking for. This one shows better though.

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