PSA Franklin BBQ Pits-just around the corner PSA

thetrim

lkapigian said:

northGAcock said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

I just got an email asking how serious I was about buying one ( i was on the list day 1). Somehow $4000 for a smoker I have never seen any type of review or specs on seems a bit steep. I clicked the "I do not want to buy a Franklin Smoker but I do want to stay in the loop" button.

Ha man.....want ta buy a watch?

the lesbians that live next door to me asked what I wanted for my birthday I said " I wanna watch"............the got me a really nice Timex.......guess they misunderstood me 

That's pretty solid.  I had a couple gals living down the street, and I had a hard time even watching them do yard work.

Photo Egg

HeavyG said:

Griffin said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but from the pictures it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust the airflow. Either into the firebox or out the exhaust. I could be wrong. So how the hell do you adjust the temperature?

Traditional  pits just rely on the size of the fire or coal bed and don't have louvered doors or smokestacks to control airflow.

More heat = more logs/coals

Less heat = fewer logs/coals

I'm guessing Franklin's design works similarly. I could be wrong.

Think in some of his videos he just opens and closes the fire door to adjust.

alaskanassasin

HeavyG said:

Griffin said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but from the pictures it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust the airflow. Either into the firebox or out the exhaust. I could be wrong. So how the hell do you adjust the temperature?

Traditional  pits just rely on the size of the fire or coal bed and don't have louvered doors or smokestacks to control airflow.

More heat = more logs/coals

Less heat = fewer logs/coals

I'm guessing Franklin's design works similarly. I could be wrong.

How does the fire get oxygen? Genuine question 

HeavyG

Photo Egg said:

HeavyG said:

Griffin said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but from the pictures it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust the airflow. Either into the firebox or out the exhaust. I could be wrong. So how the hell do you adjust the temperature?

Traditional  pits just rely on the size of the fire or coal bed and don't have louvered doors or smokestacks to control airflow.

More heat = more logs/coals

Less heat = fewer logs/coals

I'm guessing Franklin's design works similarly. I could be wrong.

Think in some of his videos he just opens and closes the fire door to adjust.

I thought I remembered the doors on his cookers at his restaurant had solid doors (no louvers or cut openings). I thought he mostly closed the doors a bit  just to avoid knocking your knees into them while walking around his multi-pit area.

The doors on his upcoming home cooker have a lot of cut openings in them:

I can't imagine that opening that door a bit really affords much change in airflow quantity. It's also important to keep in mind the need for lots of airflow as you want to avoid creating a smoldering fire like in an egg.

Since I couldn't recall the details on the doors of his restaurant smokers (and that was bugging me) I went looking for a video and came across one from bbg guru Harry Soo where he took a tour of Franklin's pits. Heres a pix of the doors:

At that point on the video (around the 4 minute mark) one of the pit masters is showing Harry how he builds the fire. It's more about how many logs and how they are stacked/placed to achieve the wanted temp.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

HeavyG said:

Griffin said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but from the pictures it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust the airflow. Either into the firebox or out the exhaust. I could be wrong. So how the hell do you adjust the temperature?

Traditional  pits just rely on the size of the fire or coal bed and don't have louvered doors or smokestacks to control airflow.

More heat = more logs/coals

Less heat = fewer logs/coals

I'm guessing Franklin's design works similarly. I could be wrong.

That’s it. He’s 100% against choking down a fire to control temp (makes dirty smoke to starve the fire of oxygen). He’s all about 100% oxygenated fires. Just build them bigger or smaller to control temp
 

SonVolt

Opening the doors makes a huge impact on air flow. He states in his book that he always leaves the doors on his pits doors open. 

thetrim

All this talk has my house watering and thinking of my trips to Valentina's over the X-Mas New Years break...  I even had the honor of meeting @The Cen-Tex Smoker during one of my trips.

I went looking for their DDD appearance, and you all deserve to see this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBCYMD5gezo

Then I went to their website, and they're selling smokers now too.. haha

https://www.valentinastexmexbbq.com/

I still have dreams about the Real Deal Holyfield taco.

littlerascal56

Buy a MIG, TIG, and a Plasma cutter, and every welder can claim he is a Pitmaster builder!

HeavyG

SonVolt said:

Opening the doors makes a huge impact on air flow. He states in his book that he always leaves the doors on his pits doors open. 

Yet, in the video I linked to, one of his pitmasters only leaves the door cracked open an inch or two. Since the fire they had was caused by sparks popping out of a pit door perhaps their new practice is to keep the doors mostly closed in order to lessen any sparks popping out of the door and avoid burning down the restaurant again.

Leaving the door fully open versus partially closed isn't really going to have a significant impact on available airflow. Given the fixed size of his chimney/exhaust it can only flow via natural draft so much air anyway.

I have no idea if that potential "max flow" is achieved with a door opened 1, 2,3, 4 inches or more. Somebody should model that and report back to us. Inquiring minds and all.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

thetrim said:

All this talk has my house watering and thinking of my trips to Valentina's over the X-Mas New Years break...  I even had the honor of meeting @The Cen-Tex Smoker during one of my trips.

I went looking for their DDD appearance, and you all deserve to see this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBCYMD5gezo

Then I went to their website, and they're selling smokers now too.. haha

https://www.valentinastexmexbbq.com/

I still have dreams about the Real Deal Holyfield taco.

Always fun to meet forum peeps and even better when it’s at Valentinas! 

lousubcap

The latest from Texas Monthly:
https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/franklin-barbecue-pits-backyard-smokers/?utm_source=Texas+Monthly&utm_campaign=a28f7fe9b6-BBQ+3-16-20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_92f99d7313-a28f7fe9b6-53578655  FWIW-