Building bricks/clay pot???

[John Furdyn]

Can you use regular "Building" bricks in place of a clay pot and water in your water pan. I did a search and found a lot of stuff about "Fire" bricks are they possible the same as building bricks ?? please advise. Thanks john

 

[Dave/G]

John, don't want to sound like a wise guy, but don't do it, they aren't the same. That's why they call them buidling vs fire bricks. Can't take the heat. Have been stories of nonfire bricks exploding

 

[John Furdyn]

Dave thanks that answers that. John

 

[David Lohrentz]

You certainly can use fire bricks, but the main advantage of the clay saucer is that the shape conforms better to the shape of the cooker, which means that you limit the hot spot on the outside edge of the cooking grate. A fire brick is a square peg in a round hole, so to speak.

That said, I have used fire bricks when converting to a cold smoker. I throw a few of them in the freezer, put them on top of the frozen clay saucer and then put a metal bowl with ice water on top. with just a couple of lit briquettes, you can run cold for a fairly long time in cool weather. All that cold mass takes forever to heat up.

Just don't let your family member catch you putting bricks in the freezer or they may reconfirm their suspicion that you have gone off the deep end.

 

[John Furdyn]

Dave
My family is already suspicious of me going off the deep end. They think i'm already on the fence. Sad part about it, I'm starting to think that way myself, or am I ???thanks john