Are you wondering which smoker to use to have delicious meat?
A reverse flow smoker is one of the best smokers that will give you the delicious meat that you always wanted. The reverse flow smokers are far better than other traditional offset smokers out there.
Because of the makeup of reverse flow, most pitmasters have made it gain popularity over the years in the U.S.
A reverse flow smoker has the capacity to distribute heat and smoke evenly. Not just even the distribution of temperature, but you can easily rotate it during the smoking.
These features and many more that we’ll discuss in the course of this article are what makes reverse flow smoker the best smoker among other smokers, like traditional offset smokers.
You don’t need to manually flip or carry out rotation when you’re using a reverse flow smoker. It’s built to rotate and with a thorough flow of smoke around the meat.
This makes it incredible when it comes to producing flavored meat.
What is a Reverse Flow Smoker?
A reverse flow smoker is a special design smoker, which forces the air that comes from a sealed drip pan opposite the cooking chamber to pass through the smokestack on the firebox and exit the chamber.
This is done to achieve a uniform temperature, which comes from the cooking chamber that goes inside the smoker.
A reverse flow smoker is an improved traditional offset smoker. It has more features than the traditional offset smoker.
The reverse flow smoker makes smoking meat more easily and evenly cooked without any portion left half-smoked.
The reverse flow smoker creates a more uniform cooking environment than the traditional offset smoker.
Because of the hot air that comes from the base fan, make it uniformly smokes all the meat. This feature makes it different from the smoker.
How Does a Reverse Flow Smoker Work?
The air comes from the cooking chamber, which reverses the airflow to pass through the smokestack on the firebox.
This process continues for several minutes or hours, depending on the amount of meat you’re smoking.
The reverse flow smoker allows the passing of heat from the firebox on the side and moves under a sealed drip pan to every part of the smoker box.
Once the heat comes out of the sealed drip pan and enters the smoking chamber, and goes straight to the cooking chamber in the opposite direction of the smoker. The smoke exits through the stack on the firebox end of the smoker.
Invariably, the reverse flow smoker is not much different from the offset traditional flow smoker. One of the major differences is in the design and its functionality.
The reverse flow smoker has an additional mental plate in the design. This additional metal plate makes it have an up and down cooking chamber. This is quite different from the traditional offset smoker.
Also, the plate metal protects the meat from receiving direct heat — it also prevents the meat from getting the direct smoke before it leaves the smoker chimney.
This is the main difference between the reverse flow smoker and the traditional offset smoker.
In the traditional offset smoker, the meat receives the heat and smoke directly from the firebox before it goes out of the chimney.
For the traditional offset smoker, nothing blocks the harsh smoke from reaching the meat, but reverse flow smoker the mental plate blocks the harsh heat and smoke from reaching the meat.
This mental plate functions like a heat sink that holds heat for a long time and distributes it evenly.
In the Cooking Chamber of a Reverse Flow Smoker Is The Temperature The Same?
No, the side close to the sealed drip pan receives higher intensive heat than the last edge.
Though the heat is consistent, it keeps coming and goes around the cooking chamber until the meats are evenly cooked. Also, the heat will be more indirect than it’s in the traditional offset smoker.
The traditional offset smoker sends heat directly and smoking directly to the meat from the firebox. That is why it’s advisable to always give a distance of 25 to 50 degrees in between meat, assuming you’re using a 4-foot cooking grate.
However, if the smoker you’re using rotates meat on its own like a rotisserie or the one that forces air out, then you can confidently leave your meat without bothering flipping while smoking.
Mostly, some smokers have a particular hot spot. This hot spot doesn’t mean the smoker is bad, but what matters is the equal distribution of the heat during smoking.
Don’t worry when your smoker has one side that is a bit hotter than the other, but you can be disturbed when it doesn’t distribute the heat equally.
Even the best pellet smoker out there has one-sided heat. The part is hotter than the other side of it.
What Make Reverse Flow Smoker Better Than The Traditional Offset Smoker
The traditional offset smoker doesn’t distribute heat and smoke evenly to every side of the cooking chamber.
The reverse flow smoker enables heat and smoke to be equally distributed around the cooking chamber.
The heat and the smoke aren’t just equally distributed but also have a consistent temperature throughout the chamber that makes the meat evenly cooked.
Consistency is one of the major advantages we have in the reverse flow smoker that you can’t find in the traditional offset smoker.
With a reverse flow smoker, you can set the meat away from the intensive heat while you attend to other things without not worrying about being burnt. Then occasionally rotate the meat during smoking.
If you’re the type that always fills the smoker with meat, the type of smoker you need is a reverse flow smoker that will evenly distribute heat.
How Can I Cook With a Reverse Flow Smoker?
It’s very easy to cook with a reverse flow smoker. I want to show how you can cook with a reverse flow smoker.
Now, let’s dive into how you can use a reverse flow smoker cook.
First, get your meats prepared and season with any spices of your choice. Then, trim off fat if you want.
Likewise, pill off the tough back from the racks of the ribs. Once you’re done with this exercise, you can either refrigerate it for another day or not.
Secondly, fill the smoker’s firebox with charcoal. The amount of charcoal you fill inside the firebox will be determined by the size of the firebox.
You can also use briquettes in place of charcoal — for more intense heat, you can add a few pieces of hardwood.
After you’re done filling the firebox with charcoal, go ahead to light the charcoal. The smoker firebox will transfer heat and smoke to the cooking chamber.
Thirdly, set the temperature of the reverse flow smoker. This is to ensure there is an even distribution of smoke and heat.
Allow the thermometer to be in the opposite direction of each other — while the probe is inside the chamber. However, it is important to know the hottest part of your smoker.
You’ll have to continue adjusting the cooker’s sliding vent to get a more consistent temperature. A temperature range from 145 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can set the temperature to 140 degrees Fahrenheit when you don’t want to always check what you’re smoking.
How Many Hours Are Needed To Smoke Meats?
There are different types of meat. Likewise is their cooking time. For you to know the exact cooking time for each meat, there are factors you need to consider:
- The type of the meat
- The thickness of the meat
- The temperature of the smoker
These are the factors you will need to check in every meat before you can boldly come up with the exact cooking hour.
However, most meat takes up to 6 to 8 hours on average for smoking, while brisket takes 22 hours.
Most of the pitmasters follow the general rule for smoking, that’s the “3-2-1 rule.”
This rule signifies that you allow the meat to cook for the first 3 hours, and after that, you wrap the meat in aluminum foil for the next 2 hours to enable the interior to cook properly.
The remaining one hour in the rule stated that you should remove the aluminum foil to allow the outside of the meat cooks to point to having a crisp exterior.
In the end, a slice of well-cooked meat will have a pink ring inside the dark area of the exterior.
The Advantage of Using a Reverse Flow Smoker to Smoke.
- The rate of burnt is minimized when you’re using a reverse flow smoker to cook meat. Because you can regulate the temperature to suit your time.
- It has a consistent cooking environment with an even distribution temperature around the chamber. This consistent heat allows equally cooked meat.
- It also maintained a constant distribution of smoke. The evenly distributed smoke gives the meat an equal favor.
- You don’t need to be scared about the meat closer to the firebox; the reverse flow smoker has a baffle plate that reduces the hot spot at the firebox.
- It maintains the same amount of temperature after adding more fuel to the fire.
- When you open the cooking chamber door, it has the capacity to return fast to the cooking temperature.
Conclusion
Since you have read through the article, I believe your doubt about reverse flow smokers has been clear.
You have a better knowledge about reverse flow smoke and how to use it.
Now that you know that a reverse flow smoker is better than other traditional offset smokers, it’s time for you to make your decision.
This information provided here is to guide you to enable you to make a better purchase decision.
A reverse flow smoker is a stress-free smoking tool designed for both experienced and beginner cooks.
With a reverse flow smoker, you can have the delicious smoked meat you ever desired.
