Diffuser for the 26er

[Robert-R]

Was intrigued by Dustin Favell's post "Smoking on the 26er": https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?73904-Smoking-on-the-26er&highlight=smoking+26er and decided to make a diffuser for mine.

Had some 1/8" steel laying around from a previous project. Cut the disk out and realized it was too small. Measure twice and cut once, right? So instead of an upright (1x1/8 flat bar) rim... it turned into a plate.

Had to make a jig to position the pieces for the rim.

Got everything tacked up.

Realized it was too big. Measure once and cut twice, right?

Cut it down and finished the welding.

Added some tabs so it could fit under the cooking grate.

Should be able to do 3 racks flat.

Certainly does a good job with two racks.

Used a 3x3 snake for fire because I have gas assist. The burner tube would be a problem if I used a 22" charcoal grate for fire.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Robert, have I told you lately that I hate you!
Dang boy, you got skills! And tools!

 

[BFletcher]

You have skills! That is awesome.

 

[Jon Tofte]

That’s a great job and a great idea! Those ribs lying flat is what the 26er is all about and what sets it apart from the “regular” 22s. Looks awesome !

 

[Noe]

Good job on that diffuser, i use a 55 gallon drum lid as a diffuser.

 

[Sam Bee]

Now that is some skills...kickass job!

 

[Bill D-NC]

D@mn nice work ! ! !





BD

 

[Gary London]

Great work!

 

[Lynn Dollar]

That's pretty cool

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Excellent work!

 

[JimZ]

Really nice work. Those multi use pliers are great for cleaning the inside of your cone aren't they? What gauge is that material? Keep us posted how it holds up from warping and what not. I think i see one of those in my near future.

 

[Dustin Flavell]

Nice work Robert. Ribs look good on there. How did they turn out? What did you think about how everything cooked with the food that close to the diffuser? Curious what you think.

I’ve been slowly working on elevating the cooking surface up to give separation between the diffuser and the cooking grate.

Anyway, nice work. Love your builds. Keep you the work it sure inspires me to keep modifying my fleet.

 

[Joe Curau]

That looks great Robert. I am always very impressed by folks who are not only creative, but skilled at the work as well, neither of which I possess. Happy cooking with your diffuser.

 

[Robert-R]

Nice work Robert. Ribs look good on there. How did they turn out? What did you think about how everything cooked with the food that close to the diffuser? Curious what you think.

I’ve been slowly working on elevating the cooking surface up to give separation between the diffuser and the cooking grate.

Anyway, nice work. Love your builds. Keep you the work it sure inspires me to keep modifying my fleet.

Thanks Dustin and everyone else for the positive feedback.

The ribs turned out very good. Sauced one rack and left the other nekkid.

However, because I used a snake, the rack of ribs directly above the snake was cooking faster. I rotated the grill grate 180* about 2/3 into the cook to compensate.

I am in agreement with you that there should be more separation between the the diffuser and the cooking grate. I've since added tabs to my CB 26" rotisserie ring. The cooking grate will now be at least 8" above the diffuser.

This would be similar to Weber's setup for the European Master Touch kettle:

I have made a charcoal ring to set on the charcoal grate and will use it next time with a MM start instead of the snake. This should centralize the fire in the grill and make for even heat at the cooking grate.

If need be, I can add more tabs to the bottom of the rotisserie ring and move the diffuser to that location.

Pix of grill with rotisserie ring:

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Robert, I think the roti ring is a fine idea! Use what you have (until YOU build the better mousetrap)!
I need a four stall garage! Then I could park the car inside and have some shop space!

 

[Robert-R]

Have made some revisions to the setup:

For the last cook, used a charcoal ring from an 18.5 WSM.

Added more tabs to the bottom of the rotisserie ring to support the diffuser and mover it higher.

The cooking grate on tabs at the top of the roti ring.

Test cook.

280* and 3 1/2 hours later:

Result: this worked very well. Am totally happy with the setup and prefer it to using the snake. Fuel consumption was about the same as using the 18.5 WSM. Had almost 1/2 the fuel left with most of it unburned. Around the 2 1/2 hour mark, temps were dropping. Figured it was ash accumulation. EZ fix - a few sweeps with the ash remover and all was well.

 

[Dustin Flavell]

Nice update Robert. I have 3 slabs on now as we speak. I am using the coal ring off of my 18” WSM too and really like the results. I like what you did to raise your diffuser I think I need to do that too...

I noticed in your pictures you have a hinge on your 26er. Undone with the ring on. How do you like it and is the lid sturdy enough? I have the unknown on my WSMs but curious what your thoughts are on the 26” lid since it’s darn heavy.

 

[Robert-R]

Thanks, Dustin! Hope your ribs came out stellar.

A few notes on the hinge (copied from the 26" Performer build thread). I like it. One can still remove the lid. So that's a big plus. Don't think it was designed for the 26" kettle, but it works.

You can see where the plate on the hinge is flexing the lid. The lid is pretty heavy & will have to add a backing plate inside of it & a couple more nuts/screws to strengthen that area.

Added several bolts & a backing plate to the Unknown BBQ bracket where it attaches to the lid. Should eliminate some flex in that area of the lid.

Had to file a place on the slot to make raising the lid smooth. For some reason it was binding. You can see the notch on the upper part of the hinge. It falls onto the lower bolt as the lid is raised, which holds it open. To close it, you have to pull the lid up a small amount.

I also added a backing plate and 2 bolts/nuts to the charcoal bowl for the lower part of the hinge. No more flexy lid or bowl.
Pic from post #14 this thread - backing plate is visible at upper center to the left:

I recently helped a friend make a mini-ranch. He prefers to keep the lid bail - doesn't really like the hinge/action on my 26er. However, I'm used to it and I don't have to worry about dropping the lid - which I did with a 22.5 and caused some major damage.

 

[Rusty James]

Thumbs up!