SmittyJonz
somebody shut me the fark up.
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2013
- Location
- Burleson Tx
Thanks! Maybe I am really over thinking this but I am driving myself crazy here. Everywhere I read states the golden rule of having the charcoal basket bottom 24" from the first rack. Now I am assuming that all 55 gallon drums are basicly the same and I have a new drum marked dot "7a type a". So I have approximately 33" of inside height with the flat lid on. If I do my intakes at 2" with the bottom of the grate resting at 3" from the bottom and measure up 24" that's only 6" to spare for cooking area. I dont plan on using a diffuser and I am concerned 6" is not enough space. I have literally spent the last 3 hours reading on the subject and cant seem to find a definitive answer. Some say 18" and up, some say just use a diffuser, some say 24" is gospel, and some say +/- couple inches wont matter. Am I over thinking this?
You're overthinking it. Forget the 24" BS and build a basket 10-12" Deep that sits 3-4" off bottom. Measure down from the top for your grates to whatever looks right to you- if running a dome lid put first grate 2-4" down and second 8-10" under that - if flat lid go 6-8" down they another 6-8" under that.
You can see the nuts on side of mine to see my spacing. I have 3 grates - the bottom one I run a cake pan water pan then 2 cooking grates.i can't remember my measurement but the greatest distance is between top and middle grate. Everybody's is a little different, but this has worked for me for 100+ cooks.