Reverse Flow POS COS Brinkmann Smoke N' Pit

[colonel00]

I have had the urge to try this for quite a while now but the old smoker has been buried in the garage and doesn't get much use anymore. Well this weekend I am cleaning and playing in the garage and finally made it happen. Obviously this will only work with models where the whole lid opens. Basically all I did was remove the screws holding the lid on, rotate the lid around and drill new holes.



I need to get a better, thicker plate than what I have now. What is in there is 22 gauge steel I used as a baffle and tuning plates in the old configuration. It worked alright but wasn't a good seal around the firebox opening. Now in the RF setup I definitely need a better seal and thicker metal to keep that heat from going right out the exhaust.



I did a rack of ribs and some Spam today as a test. It worked as expected, poorly but maybe fixable. The diffuser around the firebox opening had too many leaks and the metal was too thin. I had to get a pretty hot fire and the temp gauge next to the firebox and exhaust was usually reading 300-350*. However, in the middle of the rack with an oven thermo and on the left, the temps ran right around 225*. I am hopeful that a thicker plate that is cut better to provide a better seal will force more of the heat down the cook chamber and allow for more even temps. I do still think it will eat more fuel this way but its all in the fun of experimenting. I also had to remove all of my "seals" around the lid to switch it around so now it leaks like a sieve again. In all though, it will be something fun to play with this summer.

[QansasjayhawQ]

That looks like fun - another thing that worked well for me was extending the exhaust with a piece of pipe down below the cooking grates at the far end of the cook chamber. That way the cook chamber has to fill up with heat and smoke before it can exit the cooker. Saves quite a bit of fuel that way . . .

[colonel00]

Yeah, you cannot see it in these pics but I have done the same with the exhaust. I used aluminum flashing to lower it down to the rack level. It definitely helped.

With this I was just bored and wanted to try something new. I will keep playing with it and see if it gets better. The ribs I cooked came out fine, its just a matter getting a better seal close to the firebox so the heat is forced to the other end.