I have had a Lyfe Tyme smoker for about 8 years and really like it. I am curious if anyone has created a baffle to disperse the heat coming from the fire box that will keep the temp even throughout the meat box? I am looking for ideas.

I just made a smoker with "tuning plates" to spread the heat a little better. Finishing a few minor details then I will have a lard party to see how it does. It sounds like a pretty good idea so I think it will work well.

I wonder if you could create something out of light-weight metal (ie. aluminum flashing) that would deflect heat. The only concern would be any burn-off from the metal.

I made one in about 10 minutes out of 20 ga sheet steel. Drilled a couple holes and installed it in my 10 year old Oklahoma Joe.

I think it definitely helped my hotspot.

I guess the baffle should be a long triangular shape that has the wide end at the fire box above the opening then tapers down toward the middle of the meat box at the bottom.

Am I missing something. I want a really cheap way to basically just set something in there. I do not weld.

Thanks Aggie Chemist. I'll try that.

As far as not welding, I really think you can use some thin sheet metal to do this. Just be sure it's NOT coated with anything. Galvanized is a bad option. If I don't have time, I'll probably layer 5-6 sheets of aluminum foil just to get the heat movement evened out.

just get some rectangular plates that are at a width where they sit across the bottom at an elevation high enough that heat from the fire box goes under the plates. Maybe about 6-8" wide so you can have 2-3 plates across the bottom and you can adjust the gap between the plates to balance the heat.

The thicker the plates the better they help balance. Mine are either 3/16 or 1/4" thick.

so these plates span across the bottom of the meat box above the opening to the fire box? This sounds like a great idea.

ENG...

I just picked up that exact smoker two weeks ago today. I've only put a few fires in it so far and a couple of those were just grilling. Are you getting hot spots or just a temperature gradient? I've noticed on mine when I've got the horizontal @ 250 the vertical is about 50 degrees cooler.

Good to see you have a crapper close buy when the brisket hits the end of the plumbing.

awesome Kenneth, you will love it. I get a temp gradient between the doors of 30-50 degrees and yes, about 50 degrees between the second door and the vertical.

That is a gorgeous smoker! What does that model run?

This one is the 20 x 40 and I picked it up in Uvalde for just over $1500. The lead time on the order was 5 weeks.

As for the crapper... There's a house under construction next door and I'm not going to move the pit just to take a picture. It weighs 700 lbs!

I have a big Oklahoma Joe's smoker and I had just got a broiler pan from the thrift store for a couple bucks and put the top part by the sidebox. It was a cheap fix that works quite well.

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I have a big Oklahoma Joe's smoker and I had just got a broiler pan from the thrift store for a couple bucks and put the top part by the sidebox. It was a cheap fix that works quite well.

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I did the same thing with mine, only with a steel sheet pan I picked up at Big Lots for a buck. Works fine.