Thanks again for this post. I'm now practically glued to http://www.reddit.com/r/smoking thanks to you!



I'm now about to embark on a similar project with a Brinkmann Smoke 'n' Grill that's rusting in my garden. I have a few questions if you have time to answer:



1) My original smoker is an open bottomed design, just like yours. From what I've read, this makes for pretty poor fire management and therefore makes regulating/controlling heat a bit of a pain. How much did raising the fire bowl & adding the bottom vent seem to counter this if at all?



2) Do you have any other ideas about addressing the point above regarding fire management in an open bottomed design?



3) Inside mine, it seems that the water bowl can hook onto the "shelf" that the lower grill would sit on, making it unnecessary to sit the water bowl on top of the coals or on your neat little vent cap. I'll probably leave it this way as I can refill water via the door still. In your opinion, would this work or is there a specific need to have the water bowl so near to the fire bowl (does it require a higher heat)? Of course, I'd have to come up with an alternative solution to keeping the vent cap in place.



4) I'm considering adding a grill to my fire bowl to help keep ash & charcoal/wood separate (to stop the ash potentially choking the fire). You're clearly a man with a plan so I'm surprised that you didn't do this too and was wondering if you had a specific reason that I've missed or that you've not included?



Sorry for all the questions but your source smoker just seems so similar to mine - you seem like the perfect chap to ask!



Thanks again.