Smoker Design: How I Determine Air Inlet Placement And Why

The placement of your Fire Box Air Inlet Damper is very important! In this episode I explain how I determine the best location and why that location works best!
In this episode of the SmokerBuilder Podcast I explain how to determine the location of your air inlet for your fire box and why it is important.
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[@richardgracia7741]

Got use 120 gallon pit ,with no baffles. But I feel that firebox opening might be to big. Should I let it roll or try to restrict opening. Only real complaint is I lose about half the pit by firebox.

[@SmokerBuilder]

Before I would block off the throat I would run the stack only 30% open. Try that and see if it helps to push that hot zone back towards the firebox. My 100 gallon Legend offsets are built with larger than normal throat openings on purpose and this is how we run them. We wind up with a 6” wide hot zone using this method

[@richardgracia7741]

Ok thanks

[@igotJesus88]

What about a heat deflector? I built my own 120 gallon smoker. I’m unsure what I want to do. I was thinking of a shelf just over the grate like Aaron franklins pit.

[@SmokerBuilder]

I actually use a vertical plate in front of the throat opening to aim all the air straight up. Then run the stack 30% to 50% open. This will even temps out and yield to down cooking with a nice convection under the grate going back to the firebox called an “undertow”. There plate like franklins does work but can force the hot zone out farther

[@BenFeldman-kz7gt]

Frank, I always appreciate hearing your expertise on these matters. Does anyone ever use an electronic billow on offsets, like some people do with drum smokers, to control the amount of air and force of air getting into the smoker? I realize many people with offsets are trying to avoid electronic devices, but I am curious. Apparently, these popular wood burning rotisserie smokers, now being used at top Texas bbq joints, do control all these factors. Keep up the great content!

[@SmokerBuilder]

Great question. So there is a draft blower designed for use in stock burners called the Perfect Draft. I’ve not seen one personally or how well it performs but some people like them. It takes a lot more air flow to do this on an offset so a much bigger fan is required. I think the forced air would not behave the way I would want it to for my personal liking tho

[@PatrickFoster-s2m]

Please find 30 minutes and use a White Board to Explain. Thank you. This way is not effective. 💯💯💯. Maybe it's a great video for people with advance grill designers.

[@arthurpastor]

Frank Cox my man !!!! You are the man !!!!

[@TheJtotheH]

This makes perfect sense. I am trying to fit an offset smoker in an outdoor kitchen and can't have a door on the side of the fire box/smoker because it will be up against the a column. My air will have to come through the front or back of the firebox (facing the smoker). Do you think that will work? I was thinking, especially after this video, to put one pinwheel in front and one in back near the bottom of the firebox, and near the side. My fire will sit on a grill that sits on angle iron about two inches above the bottom of the firebox. I would love your thoughts. I love your material btw, keep up the good work.

[@tombrown1032]

Awesome information!!! So is a "violent" fire better than a calm fire? I hope that makes sense. I have a commercial offset (not one bought at a store) and am getting a wet sooty coating on some foods EVEN though I know its blue or even clear smoke 90% of the time. I am using hickory thats about a yr old.

[@SmokerBuilder]

Great question! So the sooty coating is most likely condensation from inside the cooking chamber. On the violent or calm fire, I prefer a calm fire with plenty of coal bed (not ash) The more exposed surface area of coal bed, the more btu’s you’ll have available for heat. If you are getting condensation forming on the inside-top of the cooking chamber then you likely are letting the air mass cool off too quickly and the water vapor collects and condenses. I would be curious if your cooking temperature and air flow are adequate. Most of the time I’m cooking around 275 or 300 on the dials but know that my cooking grate temperature is slightly lower than the dials indicate. I have 2 other videos talking about this subject. Cooking Temperature: Why I Think Dial Thermometers Are Junk kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZrWqIRtltWYeaM Fire Management: Why Is My Meat Black And How Can I Prevent This? kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYrLdpaOeLqSbqs Hope this helps!

[@tombrown1032]

@@SmokerBuilder Thank you so much. I put some fire brick in the fire box for mass. I bet that “hampered” flow around the coals. I also had the exhaust damper slightly closed…I will keep it wide open. Your advice and help is greatly appreciated

[@glennevitt5250]

Let's ask this too about once the fire is down and you got down to the ashes removing those ashes to build back up that fire bed again😎 Your thoughts on that

[@SmokerBuilder]

I take a shovel and empty my ashes into my firepit and usually just start fresh. Usually the easiest way to go. Thanks for watching