Size of Burn Box on my Offset smoker

[sonypete]

Hey Guys,
Building myself a offset smoker from a 55 gallon drum. I got a brand new drum for $40 only has a slight few scratches. I also picked up a mini drum for the actual burn box. I'm just a bit worried it might be too small. So I took a pic and want you guys to see it up against the 55 gallon drum for comparisons sake.What do you guys think, should it big enough to house enough lump or charcoal to keep it at 225 - 250 degrees?

- Pete

*Edit*
Dimensions when mounted sideays on finished smoker - 11.5" Diameter(Tall) and 13.5" Width

[SmokyOkie]

I think you should scrap the offset idea and build a UDS.

The guage of the metal on a drum won;t hold up long to the heat of the fire you would need in order to fie up the offset.

Thee size looks like it would work if you used charcoal to fire it. I don;t think it is big enough to allow for a log fire.

[sonypete]

Yea, I had considered a UDS but due to limited surface area I decided on an offset. I have a large house warming party to cook for so needed to cook a fair bit of food. That little can was only $8 so I can scrap it and build a bigger box. I would mainly burn with charcoal and or lump. I get too much creosote when using wood , so basically never bother with it as my main source of heat, other then a little bits of chips for flavor.

I'll have to hit up a local steel shop and get me some plates to build something up with.

[doctor phreak]

you might consider and doing something like this.....its from a member of another site now its big but you can modify it , this pic its just for reference but gives you a idea

[Dett]

Just picking up where SmokyOkie mentioned that the gage of metal is not sufficient for your small barrel fire box.

Here's an pre-made SFB from CG to consider - it's approx 18"x14": http://www.chargriller.com/store/pro...products_id=46



I'm still learning to master cooking with it on my CG Duo, so I can't tell you if it would be adequate for your barrel or not. But I can tell you it's made of sturdy steel. Hope this helps.

PS - Don't forget to look at building an better charcoal basket that was suggested to me on this SFB - see Peculiarmike's post on PigCicle's thread here.

[sonypete]

Okay ended up scrapping that little 5 gallon barrel and built a custom firebox. 16" wide by 16" Tall and 14" Deep. The opening between chambers is 8" by 3.5" and the air inlet to firebox is appx 5" by 2".

For a baffle I was thinking of doing a long plate of steel thats welded right above the opening between the chambers and would travel to the other side of the barrel possibly with a slight tilt upward as it get towards the far side. Cross Section would be something like this /-----\ so the heat and smoke would build up slightly till it filled the little concave area and then pour out from the side. What do you think??

Also any ideas what I could do to insulate the barrel a bit more, or should I not have an issue other then having to use slightly more fuel?

What size charcoal box should I build? I bought some expanded metal 44" long and 7" Tall. So could do a box with about 2" of space on all side in my firebox. This might be overkill so let me know guys, not sure how much charcoal/wood it takes to keep a 55 gallon drum at 225-250 degrees for extended periods of time.