My Rebuilt

[crude4u]

Somewhere back around 1997 I bought a smoker type barbecue pit. I phrase it that way, because whoever built it, didn't really understand certain basic principles of building a pit and frankly, neither did I. I bought it because it was heavy and I figured it would last me a lifetime. So here I am 21 years later and I still have it and it still weighs a ton.
I don't know how many of you in other parts of the country are familiar with Aaron Franklin and Franklin Barbecue here in Austin but he's made quite a name for himself doing what most of us have been doing for 40 years. That is, smoking great brisket, sausage and pork loins, among other things.
Our church cooks brisket for 600-800 college kids two to three times a year at our annual college retreats.
We have two 500 gallon pits but for the last two times we cooked, we ran out of meat. And that's after cooking 25 prime briskets, 200 pounds of links, and 100 pounds of chicken thighs covered with bacon.
So we began looking around for a thousand gallon pit. Used propane tanks are readily available around here so that's the usual way to size a pit for us.
I'll get into the rest of this story in another post but in the course of working on this pit, I visited Aaron and happened to see his personal pit that he cooks on for his family. Aaron has spent a lot of time and money designing, building, modifying and rebuilding the 1000 gallon smokers he uses for his business ( he has 8).
Anyway, when I say his personal smoker I realized that it was the same size as mine pretty much but had some interesting differences.
I'll post a few photos of his and then I'll show some of the work I did on mine and the finished product.
I'm not sure how to do this so maybe I'll post the photos of mine in a comment afterword.

[crude4u]

One thing about Aaron, is he loves to have great draw which he can control by varying the size of his fire. I personally prefer to regulate it using the damper in the door and a damper in the stack.
I also like to know the temp inside my cooking chamber, keeping it at 220-230 F. for the entire time of the cook. As you can see, Aaron has no thermometer in his pit and when I talked to him, he uses the hot hand method to check the temp.
What I found innovative about his pit is the collector at the opposite end from the firebox.
Nearly all of the pits that I've seen have a stack in the top of the chamber, which to me did not make any sense because it allowed not only the smoke but also a majority of the heat to stay above the meat instead of at the same level of the meat before exiting.
He is an excellent welder as you can see from the quality of the welds on his hinges and the collector.
I'd be interested in comments.

[Troutman]

I've seen some of these pictures on line and I know he's getting ready to launch his new line of pits, probably like the one you are showing, for the general public. My only issue is he's asking a lot of money, some of which is attributed to his celebrity I'm sure. More power to him I guess. For the pricing that I'm hearing (there was a post about it recently), his cookers better do a better job then the average stick burner or it's going to be hard to justify.

Thanks for posting, that's sure a sweet looking rig he's got !!! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with !!

[Steve R.]

Thanks for the post, very interesting!

[crude4u]

Here is a link to the first pit build I watched him do.

http://video.klru.tv/video/2365513482/

And here is another one on modifying a stick burner, which is what I have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gybrM6EQ6fg

[Troutman]

Seen both of those, they are very good !!!

[Huskee]

Does Aaron use his upper racks (if there are any) much? I know my upper rack gets hotter, slightly, and my stack happens to be located on the upper side. I use both upper & lower (main) racks and I haven't noticed the slightest difference in smoke flavor between the two. Some makers choose to mount the stacks in the center, like Aaron & Moberg for instance, others the upper. I wonder if we can assume then it really doesn't make that much of a difference, or if the makers who mount theirs higher don't know what they're doing, or haven't realized the impact? Regardless, that is a beautiful pit!

[Huskee]

I'm referring the the stack mounted high, not the rack. Wondering what the advantage is in real time. If I cook on my top rack, the heat travels across the meat as it does on Franklin's on the main rack, but it doesn't cook or taste any different, on my cooker. Curious what I can learn from this.

[crude4u]

I would say that it is a matter of efficiency and economics. Because of how often we cook, and how much wood we use for a cook this large, we want our pit to be as efficient as possible. So if your stack is at meat level then the heat will be maintained more consistently.
If your stack is up high, then you're losing heat and smoke before it has a chance to work.

[Huskee]

Hmm. I tend to disagree. In theory. This is why it's so interesting. The heat has to still pass by my meat to get to my stack regardless. I'd be interested to see beyond the 'because' and see real hands on fact.

[RonB]

Thanx - lookin' forward to seeing what you did to yours.

[DWCowles]

Nice!

[crude4u]

Thanks

[crude4u]

Okay, so as I said, up until recently, my pit sat in my backyard against the fence, mainly because it was too heavy to move around and use. But I got inspired and did some mods on it.
I tightened up the damper in the door and added a tighter latch. I added a thermometer at meat level, but the main thing I did was to add the collector a la Franklin and moved the stack into the collector from where it was originally.
I finished the work in late January just before i went to Mexico for a month and all I've done is season it. Since coming back, i see that I need to add a few more coats of paint as we have had some rain and it's showing some rust through in places.
At some point I will buy some larger diameter metal wheels and raise the front legs to match.
I also might have to put a motor on it to move it around. Lol

[Frozen Smoke]

Is the pit opening for the exhaust the same width and depth as that collector or is it a smaller opening covered by that collector? It's a interesting concept. If the pit has a big gaping hole the size of that collector it would seem to me to me it would run hot with little intake opening and use a lot of wood.

I also read Franklins pits are going to be shipped unassembled and unpainted. I'm sure he is trying to avoid the big deal killer when buying stick burners and that is shipping. But I see some inherent problems to a pit that is going to be needed to be bolted together or do you find a locator fabricator to do the finish welding? A lot remains to be seen on Franklin's pits but the the rumored price was $3 to $4 thousand? As Troutman says he will sell his share based just on his celebrity but for those folks with any stick burning experience will see the drawbacks and avoid buying.

[crude4u]

The opening into the collector is the same size as the collector that you see from the outside. The only reduction is the diameter of the pipe for the stack. Originally, the stack was was a 3" which I replaced with a 4". As yet I have not put a damper in the stack but I really like using a damper in combo with the damper in the door.
I have not heard anything about him making, or selling pits.

[crude4u]

how did you get to post a post with more than 300 characters. I always get a block when I do that

[crude4u]

Wow! Well, this is the first I've heard of
his since Aaron and I spoke back in January regarding my three pit rebuilt. Howerver, allow me to say this, the "brisket" market has suddenly ( and not so popularly) blossomed into the competitive market.
I could have a lot to say about his but having met him and having come to know him a little, I hope, and pray that he is the of victi some Madison Ave. marketing types who have convinced him to plunder the spoils of his fame-dom.
While I believe him to be a purist as it relates to barbecue and smoking, he is not immune to the spoils of economic war, to which he has paid the price and has earned the right to some reward. ( If you've tasted his brisket, you'll understand) Who among us has not burned for a moist, delicious properly ringed brisket).
However, I also believe that anyone who devotes himself/herself to the meat smoking art, can achieve the same level of success, for their own culinary satisfaction. One cannot blame another if he or she seeks to profit from long smoke filled smoke breathing hours paid as dues to perfect the heavenly, even divinely flavored perfection of a smoke ring and juicy moist slice of prime cut brisket. (please pardon the proseaic rendering).
Okay guys, I know it's a bit flowery but give me some help here. Lol. Hope you enjoyed it.

[Troutman]

I don't believe anyone is disrespecting Aaron, the guy is all but a bbq hero here in Texas. And I certainly agree, this is business and if you can capitalize on your name and reputation, then more power to you. I think what Frozen Smoke (if I can speak for him) and I are saying is that if the rumors of price are true, he may be pricing himself out of the market. As you know there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of pit makers out there he has to compete with. Bolt together, non-painted pits for the backyard pitmaster at a premium price may have it's draw backs.

But again, I really admire the guy. He seems really honest and down to earth. I certainly wish him a lot of luck in his endeavors and will be watching with keen interest.

[crude4u]

Troutman, I was really surprised when I stopped by his place and he came out and talked with me for nearly half an hour, epecially when his restaurant had caught fire and there were contractors everywhere for him to oversee. Great guy IMHO

[smokenoob]

you had me at wheels.....

[Frozen Smoke]

I wasn't trying to be disrespectful of Aaron and his accomplishments as Troutman said and thanks Troutman for pointing it out that it may sounded that way. He certainly earned everything he has and can market anything in any manner he wishes. We haven't even seen this thing hit the market yet so we will see when it does.

Aaron is clearly following in the footsteps of Myron Mixon where his brand is becoming recognizeable enough to appeal to people even remotely familiar with BBQ. So I'm guessing we will be seeing Franklin sauces and rubs hit the mass market if it already hasn't.

[Huskee]

Let's jump on that and sell Dalmatian rub for a premium

[Frozen Smoke]

Hey, now ya got me thinking!!

[Troutman]

Not a big sauce guy either ......

[Mudkat]

Great stuff all! crude4u Love to see your cooker in action and after all this dicussion I hope it's a nice Prime brisket!

The cooks for 600 - 800 college students sound awesome! Don't forget your camera for the next one!

[Troutman]

+1 - looking forward to the build and the resultant cook for that many, what an undertaking !!!!