Old Country Pecos Franklin/Millscale baffle mod

ChrsGuit · Sep 20, 2021

I was very happy with my Oklahoma Joe's Highland, however I felt the firebox size and stack diameter was one big handicap.
A buddy has an Old Country Pecos, I liked how his ran, so I bought one.

Instant regret... Kept having to run too hot of a fire to keep it lit, always battling flame outs and dirty smoke... Hot spot dead center, making the entire right half of the cook chamber useless. Smoker runs 320° and hotter in order to keep a fire burning, and with constant adjustment and babysitting.
After seeing how Franklin and Mill Scale have an outlet "scoop" deflector, I decided to get out the grinder and welder and do some modifying...
now, My hot spot is relegated to about 10" on the far right of the smoker.
Heat exits firebox at the grate level, instead of from bottom up. I can run larger splits, no flame-outs, no adjustments, and no "rollercoaster".
Also brought my high Temp down to 320° with box wide open and a big fire...
I can stay dialed in 250°-275 all day with little/no adjustment, minus a few small tweaks while compensating for outside temp as the sun comes out and day gets hotter...
Here's what I did... Definitely changed the game for me!

Back9Q · Sep 21, 2021

Photo?

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sandro · Sep 21, 2021

I've done the same to my small offset a couple of months ago—I confirm the outcome. I talked about it in a post here, let me find it

edit: https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4511384&postcount=47

I plan on fabricating one out of 11 gauge steel but frankly the foil pan prototype works just fine. I put a wireframe underneath it to support a water pan, and I'm really happy with the results

Lynn Dollar · Sep 21, 2021

Hey, lets give credit where credit is due ............. the Mill Scale 94 gallon is Aaron Franklin's design.

The two brothers at Mill Scale, I forget their names, were working with Franklin to build his smoker, of which he'd already developed his prototype. They then split with Franklin and went on their own , building his smoker design.

Anyone whose followed this from the get-go, knows this.

Mill Scale guys are fabricators / welders who do great at what they do, but not proven at pit design.

Cheech and Chong · Sep 21, 2021

Back9Q said:
Photo?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea, pics please.

SonVolt · Sep 21, 2021

Didn't the Mill Scale buys build some of pits used at Franklins?

Lynn Dollar · Sep 21, 2021

SonVolt said:
Didn't the Mill Scale buys build some of pits used at Franklins?

No. Franklin built his own pits.

Lynn Dollar · Sep 21, 2021

And I'm pretty sure this was the first prototype of a Franklin pit. I first saw this over three years ago.

elcapitan · Sep 21, 2021

SmittyJonz · Sep 21, 2021

Sounds like you were running too Big of Splits Or Green Wood.

Pecos and Ok Joe Longhorn run/cook Damn near the same. I've cooked on both in same weekend a few times. A $3 cookie sheet and a foil water pan worked for me.

ChrsGuit · Sep 26, 2021

Sorry guys, for some reason my photos didn't want to upload in my initial post.

sandro · Sep 27, 2021

Franklin and Mill Scale do not have the "scoop" on the bottom, it's open throat with the stepped deflector on top

ChrsGuit · Sep 27, 2021

sandro said:
Franklin and Mill Scale do not have the "scoop" on the bottom, it's open throat with the stepped deflector on top

Yes, this I know...
For clarification I was referring to the top portion as the "scoop" and the bottom portion the "baffle"
I knew, going in, that the Franklin pits were wide open, but I felt that perhaps (given the design of the old country, totally doing away with the bottom baffle would be detrimental...
I wanted to open it up to run better without going too far.

sandro · Sep 27, 2021

ChrsGuit said:
Yes, this I know...
For clarification I was referring to the top portion as the "scoop" and the bottom portion the "baffle"
I knew, going in, that the Franklin pits were wide open, but I felt that perhaps (given the design of the old country, totally doing away with the bottom baffle would be detrimental...
I wanted to open it up to run better without going too far.

That's very interesting. I did not place anything on the bottom and left it open to draft freely, while keeping the shelf on top. Same results

Back9Q · Sep 27, 2021

How does the FB/CC opening design on Franklin/Mill scale differ from Outlaw/Jambo in regards to performance and temp difference. Franklin looks like any food near the deflector plate would get blasted with heat

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sandro · Sep 27, 2021

Back9Q said:
Franklin looks like any food near the deflector plate would get blasted with heat

It does and 1/3 of the CC is unusable IMO, but that's part of the high convection design

Back9Q · Sep 27, 2021

So is the opening in jambo/outlaw better in that you can utilize full grate?

Going thru Jambo history it looks like forst units there was no deflector over opening. Recent ones looks like there is which appears to mimick Franklin design a little

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ChrsGuit · Sep 30, 2021

sandro said:
That's very interesting. I did not place anything on the bottom and left it open to draft freely, while keeping the shelf on top. Same results

My concern was that I'd have too much air moving without something to slow it down just a little bit. I decided to tack weld the baffle in place first, easy to remove if needed. I tested it out and it ran perfectly my first try, so I welded it in a bit more solidly...

sandro · Oct 12, 2021

Attaching picture of the final steel baffle I fabricated; 15x7x2", 1/8" steel, bolted with 3/8" nuts to the rest of the smoker

ChrsGuit · Mar 13, 2022

New Addition

I finally got around to adding this last weekend. The pit runs even better than ever now

Old Country Pecos Franklin/Millscale baffle mod

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