No grate in the offset fire box?

LordRiffenstein

LordRiffenstein

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Watching some Franklin videos, I noticed he doesn't have a grate in his firebox. He builds his fire directly on the metal and goes from there. I would expect that to result in bad airflow but his smokers seem to be running just fine.

Planning on trying this but was wondering if anybody has compared how their smoker runs with or without a grate.
 
My smoker is built the same with no grate in the firebox. One thing most smokers I have seen that utilize this method for fire management is a rounded bottom. I have no problems at all with air flow. The rounded bottom builds your coal bed for you.
 
I tried it with a smaller pit, ok joe longhorn.

it didn't work so well, the ash put out the coals. ran better with the grate.

probably has to do with the size of the cooker/firebox. in mine it only takes one split to keep temps and enough coals to light the next one
 
smoke ninja said:
I tried it with a smaller pit, ok joe longhorn.

it didn't work so well, the ash put out the coals. ran better with the grate.

probably has to do with the size of the cooker/firebox. in mine it only takes one split to keep temps and enough coals to light the next one
Click to expand...

I have a smaller pit so I'm curious how this is going to work.
Guess I'll run it for a bit without the grate and see what happens.
 
Franklin also runs wide open with lots of manual fire manipulation.
 
Stlsportster said:
Lots of guys with Langs put firebrick down on the bottom of the firebox and and ditch the grate. They say it keeps the coal bed longer and the radiant heat from the brick helps keeps temp swings down.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do! No Lang though. But I also leave the firebox door wide open so that probably also contributes to an abundance of air flow. :laugh:
 
We rotate Langs every two years for the catering business and toss the grates when new one's show up, I line the floor and sides with firebrick and we leave the door cracked open to get airflow moving into and through the cooker properly.
 
TuscaloosaQ said:
if i built a fire directly on the bottom i would most defiently want me a sacrificial plate under it instead of eating my 1/4 inch firebox out..... because i can promise you it will happen......
Click to expand...


I have wondered about damage to the firebox from this approach myself, and in the end thought that there might not be a noticeable difference in wear to the firebox in running the whole fire on the firebox floor, vs. running the fire on a standard charcoal grate that most smokers use, which most of the time over a cook will drop a mound of hot coals on the firebox floor anyways. Thoughts?
 
My Grandfather always had an old wood fired stove in his outdoor workshop,he would line the bottom of it with dirt or sand.He said it kept the bottom from rusting out.He would clean it out and re apply every year.Heat goes UP.The dirt or sand was a buffer from the coals,I guess.
 
I will add, if it is My cooker,I want a grate and an ash pan below it.That is just my preference.
 
I think "firebox burn though" is an old wives tale parroted by people who have bought cheap grills and offsets from big box stores. We have all seen the pictures of the cheap old rusted out Char Broil with a hole in the bottom and rusted out legs, and thats what sticks in your head. When was the last time you saw a pit made from 1/4" that was rusted all the way though like that? I'd say it's rare because it would take a couple decades.

Franklin BBQ pits run 24 hours a day, 6 days a week all year long. He oldest pit had been doing that for a decade. I don't see a backyard guy who cooks with it maybe once a week burning though 1/4".

I have had my pit for a year, cook on it about once a week, and it has no fire grate or ash pan. No signs of rust at all. I think the rust comes from more from the environment and neglect, not really from the fire burning.
 
No grate or ashpan for my smoker, it's 1'4", had it a lil less than a year and use it regularly with no problem. If you leave your pit out in the elements and don't clean the ash out I'm sure you'd get into some serious rust problems, but even then I think it would be YEARS before it would truly deteriorate 1/4" steel.
Water and ash is bad.
 
I build my fire on my ash pan, which is a quarter inch. It’s been about a year with this method and I’ve seen no damages yet. I clean the ash out after a few cooks or so. Otherwise I just move the ash aside as the firebox is 4 feet wide.

I agree that rust in most cookers is from neglect and not direct use.
 
I tried it this weekend and it worked well.
Usually, I'm struggling to keep a coal bed so I end up needing to use thinner splits to keep things going. And having to add them more often.

This time, I was able to use thicker but shorter splits. With the grate in, thicker splits wouldn't catch fast enough and would smolder. With them laying on top of all the coals worked better. Also ran with the firebox door open all the time. Surprisingly, I had the feeling after the cook that I used less wood which doesn't make sense. We'll see next time if this was just a feeling.

Just checked my Fireboard session and grate temp in the cooker was average of 250F. I had a few spikes but these were when I either used a bigger split OR when I almost closed the firebox door.
 
LordRiffenstein said:
Also ran with the firebox door open all the time. Surprisingly, I had the feeling after the cook that I used less wood which doesn't make sense. We'll see next time if this was just a feeling.
Click to expand...

Airflow through the smoker is limited by your smallest restriction. If that is not your intake, then leaving the door open will not increase total airflow (it may change the flow pattern in the firebox) and won’t have much impact in fuel usage or the cook.

Keep in mind, the air entering the firebox is ambient temperature and more dense than the 250+ degree air exiting the stack or even hotter air flowing from the fire box into the cook chamber. Your intakes may look smaller and yet still not be the governing restriction.

Also, FWIW, the 4 vents on my Lang allow enough airflow to feed a clean fire with chamber temps at 550-600 degrees on a 80+ summer day. There is no need to crack the door let alone open it at any reasonable smoking temperature. I think if you measured the flow rate coming out of the stack door closed, cracked, and open it would bust some myths.
 
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