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Help With Cooker Mods

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Blutch

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I'd like to do two mods, maybe three, to my cooker.

I have an Oklahoma Joe's offset cooker.

The firebox is a mess. I'd like to make/have made a fire grate for the charcoal and wood. How should I proceed? I don't know the first thing about this.

I would like also to put in a 2nd shelf above the main one. Any suggestions on doing this? I'd like to be able to take it out when not using it.

Also, do I need a heat shield between the firebox and the main chamber?

Thanks for any photos, directions or suggestions.

Blutch
 
Blutch, if you can show us some pictures of the cooker, inside and out... we can tell ya exactly what ya need. Is it a vertical, or horizontal offset?
 
Sorry.. it is a horizontal.. very typical. The pictures in this link are not my cooker, but mine is just like this except it is bigger and there is no indented bottom to the firebox. The firebox is completely rounded at the bottom.

http://community.webshots.com/album/552091164FJbJUG

Otherwise this is what mine looks like.

I'd like to manage the coals/charcola better with a fire basket and put in a short shelf that I can remove inside the cooking area to put smaller items on - wings, fatties, abts.. etc.

Thanks

Blutch
 
Offset

I had a friend modifie my offset like this cut the bottem of the firebox and added a ashpit which slides out when full and don't have to disturb the fire easy cleaning also, had the stack moved to grate level on the side of the offset, you can either put the stack on the lid or on the bottem as long as it is cooking grate level, the sheild was an old 4" metal vent cut in half and sheetmetal screwed to the frame, smoked with these mods. and the fire lasted a whole lot longer and even temp. thru out!!
 
Offset

I forgot some other thing if your not into the cutting the bottom of the firebox use bricks to lay your fire grate on and it'll give you better air flow through the bed of coals,lump or wood,the down side is the ash accumliation.
 
Blutch,

Like Mark said, you can easily raise your fire grate by using bricks at the sides. This will get you some better airflow underneath as long as the bricks don't touch. DEFINITELY make a baffle (heat shield) to direct the heat from the fireox more evenly inside the smoke chamber. You can experiment with HD foil by making limited life models until you find the right configuration. You want it to vent that superhot air under the grill so it rises to evenly cook meat at any spot in the pit. Right now, the spot nearest the firebox is just about useless for anything but roasting marshmallows...

I never added a grate to my NB offset, but I don't see why you couldn't. Weld in some tabs and supports to make sure the new grate will be able to support a load and you should be fine.

Arlin
 
Thanks for the advice.. I use a grate now in the firbox which gets everything up, but the coals go all over the place.. I'd like to have a box made so that I can use the method. Is it possible to have a box made that will just fit right into the first box without cutting it? I'll take some shots of my fire box with the door open... where do you go to have this fabricated?

How do you attach the HD foil versions of the baffle to the inside of the cooker?

I don't understand what you are saying about the stack and its level... Right no my stack comes out of the side of the cooker at the top.

Thanks

B
 
Offset

I have found if you move your stack cooking grate level the heat is more even cooker wide without an extreme hot spot, I've also seen sheetmetal rolled into the stack and extend down to the cooking grid. Also Arlin is right with heat shield, it is necessary, I've found to take a metal coffee can and cut both ends off and cut it in half and place it directly over the outlet of the firebox. Hey I also live in Oklahoma Harrah so if you have anymore problem pm me with your phone number and I'll try to walk you through.
 
I met a guy who was from Harrah at the BBQ competition this summer at Bass Pro Shop here in OKC. I can't remember their name, but they had a great rig. He doesn't do much competing anymore, but decided to do this one. These were the nicest people in the world who gave me all sorts of information and lots of cue to try. I wish I could remember the name. He was there with a youngish daughter and his wife who was blond. Know him?
I think his rig was red.

I see what you are saying about the stack... I'm still wondering about putting in a 2nd shelf above the one that is installed already.

B
 
Offset

Yeah we've gotta a bunch of nice folk out here,No I don't believe I know this guy,I went to the bricktown bbq I hope they keep it up. Now back to the second grate without knowing what you have for tools could probably use a grill from a oven.I personally use rib racks if I'm going to do a mess of them on ol smokey.
 
That cooker on Skippy's site is identical to mine. I didn't know it was a "Longhorn" cooker.

I wish those pics were bigger.. I can't really tell what he did and the directions aren't real specific either.. If I could see the detail on the baffle I might be able to mod it.

Definitely a step in the right direction though!

Did you weld those straps onto your door? No doubt mine leaks there.

Thanks

MA
 
Westexbbq said:
Just my 2 cents on the baffle (heat shield 'tween the firebox and chamber)
I modified my horizontal offset with an ol' Texas license plate and it works for me.
Click to expand...

How did you shape it and attach it? Any pics?

Thanks

B
 
Blutch,

Yes, I welded the straps(1/8"x3/4") on the door and also inside the firebox. Nice thing about the Longhorn is you can remove the firebox and tote it to your local welder if you need to.

Skippy's baffle is a piece of hot roll or cold roll steel - not galvanized! that's bent at ~a 45 deg angle ~1-1/2" from the top. Actual dimensions of the larger part aren't really too important. All you're trying to accomplish is to deflect the heat/flame from going straight into the pit. Skippy's is larger than mine was.

Here's another idea too. This diffuser plate came from Horizon Smokers. Roger, the owner, is the brother of the owner of the original OK Joe's.

http://img60.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pb1907334so.jpg

You still have to have a little bit of a baffle to fill the hole out of the firebox since this baffle wasn't designed for a bolt together pit. Also adds some thermal mass to the pit and helps level out the dips and spikes.

http://horizonbbqsmokers.com/index.html
 
It's been mentioned many times on this forum, but I'll say it again here: To quickly evaluate the effectiveness of baffle changes on improving the uniformity of temperature in the smoke chamber, you can place some Pillsbury biscuits throughout the cooking grate and see how quickly the cook relative to one another.

I have never tried this myself, but I *have* used arrays of thermocouples and have done some computational fluid dynamics analysis on my smoker. This basically does the same thing, but produces much more colorful pictures.
 
So 'Badger where are these pictures? Have not see good CFDA porn since the last episode of "NUMB3RS" (not meant to hijack, but he brought it up.)
 
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