Dream Stick Burner Design

[Nate Olewine]

I've been perusing the topics on here and I've seen some pretty good information scattered throughout the posts. I enjoy TIG welding (mainly stainless pipe for sanitary operations, but I digress) and I'm hoping to design an off-set smoker and start welding here at some point when I can find the funds. My question is mainly this: what design features would you guys like to see in your "dream" off-set stick burner?

A couple of items that keep me up at night (not really, but I love welding and food so there's probably some truth to that):
-stainless vs. low-carbon steel
-insulated vs. non-insulated
-wall thickness
-cylindrical vs. square/rectangular cooking zone (does it matter?)
-reverse flow vs. traditional off-set
-tuning plates vs. one single plate (if reverse flow)
-water pan (location, size, etc.)

I actually found a website out there that helps with dimensions of the stack, firebox, etc. but I'm just looking to get information from some experienced cooks. Go crazy with this thing! I appreciate the help and feedback. Maybe I can start moonlighting as smoker fabricator? Thanks guys!

[Breadhead]

Nate ... (Which is my son's name)

I admire your ambition to create a kick a$$ smoker but... You are WAY over my head!

You make em, I try em. If they cook good food... I recommend them to my friends.😎

However... I'll bet you find a few Pit members that can and will contribute to your project. The Pit is a very diverse group.👍

Good luck on your attempt to make an innovative cooker.

[Nate]

You tagged the wrong Nate lol.

[Nate Olewine]

Thanks for the welcoming. Maybe one of these days I'll get a prototype into production for selling. It's somewhat of a goal of mine, but my day job is running a brewery. Between that and just life in general, I don't have much time these days to weld as much as I'd like. I truly believe that people are willing to pay for quality, so I want to do this thing the right way from an aesthetics and operating perspective. With all that being said, if I can make a smoker that can handle 20+ racks of ribs and I never make a duplicate, well, I'll be just as happy.

[boftx]

I for one would love to know what sites you have found for this! My dream smoker would be a brick pit with a steel lining. I figure that would give me the ultimate temp stability. I'm thinking 1/4" steel inside the firebox, maybe thinner for the cook chamber.

One feature that would be a prime design consideration is ease of ash cleanup. A bonus would be a way for it to double as a grill to make reverse sears easy.

[Nate Olewine]

http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html

The above link is one website I've found that allows you to plug in some calculations for building a smoker. Seems pretty legit upon first look...

[_John_]

docblonder Designed a smoker that seems awesome on paper and as far as I know it has never been built. He has some specs on the site and it says he is drawing up plans as of 2014 but i'm not sure if he actually got anywhere. I'm sure he would love to see it built, and I would love to see if it works as well.