Johnson Custom Smoker Firebox

I would get the smoker you want and figure out the best way to clean out the fire box afterwords. I don't think cleaning the round fire box will be much of an issue.

He is pretty responsive. You might send him an email asking if he has a ash tool as an accessory.

I really like those T-Pits!
What Johnson pit are ya looking at, out of curiosity?

-D

I had the "Ultimate Chargrill Trailer" which is Johnson's 24x60 trailer model with a grill and warmer over the firebox. To clean out the firebox I would just use a dust pan...took maybe 30 seconds? It's one of those things which was super easy so my mind barely even recorded it. I used that pit 5 days a week for my BBQ food truck business, but my food was very good and I quickly needed more cooking space.

Johnson makes some very good smokers which are extremely easy to use. His method of reverse flow is a bit different than what you'd see on a Lang or Shirley, and in my experience it worked very well.

Which model are you looking at? Mind you everything he does is custom, so you can pick a cookie-cutter model and have it modified, or have him design you something from scratch. Only thing I hated about his pit was the grease drain was too damned small...they need to be 1.5" or larger and the one he put on my pit was 3/4" I believe.

SO42N8 said:

I was thinking about getting his patio model, either the rolling patio or the patio 360 which has a very interesting balanced pivot design. I'd have him put on the convex end caps instead of his new flat design. I just think it's more beautiful.

His designs in general are very innovative, which can be risky when you start talking about calculating things like smoke stack length and firebox/cooking chamber size ratios. However, I have never read a negative comment about how any of them draw so he seems to be nailing it. I also love the LSG 24x40 so the decision is a hard one.

The patio model has the pipe firebox where the door opening is a few inches above the bottom of the firebox. I worry the ash might be a little difficult to scoop out but it seems like not.

Click to expand...

Well the claim is, he's a custom fabrication shop.

-D

I have a LSG with the square FB and it literally takes a few minutes to clean, I use what I call a ash rake, it gets 99%+ of the ash and I rake it into a galvanized tub. I wait till the next day once all the coals are completely cold. The bottom of my FB looks practically like it did when new.