Vertical offset question

[JLCBBQ]

A buddy of mine is trying to convince me to build him a smoker and I'm thinking about trying a vertical offset this time, if I do it. I see a lot of examples built square, but not many that are built out of large pipe or tanks. Why is that? Other than possibly not being able to make slide out grates, is there a down side to going round that I'm not seeing? I'm thinking a 5-6' piece of 24" pipe (or a propane tank) stood up with 18"-20" of 20" pipe for a fire box would make a good little backyard smoker. Any reason this thinking is wrong? Have I just not looked in the right places to see examples of this?

[Smokin Mike]

JLCBBQ, Although it's not a offset, if you'll check out my 80 gallon vertical build in my signature line perhaps you'll pick up a few ideas.

The biggest problem with my cooker is the fuel consumption. We discussed this in another topic and the consensus was that I didn't have a large enough pipe between the firebox and cooking chamber. I have a 5" pipe currently and it was suggested that at least an 8" be used. The cooker does very well with exception to the fuel usage and it struggles on cold days. I believe both those issues can be fixed by the larger transition pipe and/or insulating the cook chamber.

You can use slide out grates if you make the door wide enough. You'll just lose some cooking area on the sides if you do that. My circular grates sit on some studs around the circumference of the tank, I had to get a bit tricky to make that work. I have to insert the grates semi-vertically, get them past the studs then settle them in place. Each set of studs, 3 per set, are all different lengths so I can get the puzzle together. Once in place I can spin them around if I need to get to some meat at the very back or just to re-position everything. I went circular because my tank is 24" diameter and I wanted every bit of grate space that I could get, however if the tank was a larger diameter I would go with slide out grates.

I've put plenty of commentary in my build topic for folks to get an idea of the challenges that I had working with a circular tank. Anyway, you're right, not many people have attempted to do this with a tank or pipe. I considered it a challenge and a little something different so that's why I went that way.
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My current cookers: 80 gallon vertical tank
The Ultimate New Braunfels Makeover

[JLCBBQ]

Thanks Mike, I've read your build thread a couple times, the tank size you used is pretty much what I'd be going for. Now that you use your cooker on a regular basis, do you find yourself actually needing to spin the grates during a cook, or is it one of those things you never really use? I was thinking of somehow making each circular grate a 2 piece split design, that way they'd be easily removable, but probably not moveable once set in place.

[Smokin Mike]

I'd say that the need to spin the grate is just occasional. Sometimes I will throw a 1/4 - 1/2 turn on one if I think one side is warmer than the other or I need to improve the air flow between grates. And there's the times when I will load up a grate with small food, wings, ABTs, etc and it's always nice to spin it so I can pluck the meat out of there. With only 7" between the grates it may be a little difficult to reach all the way in the back to probe for temperature or whatever needs to be done. I think having a hinged bi-fold grate or grate halves would be nice especially if you have fixed thermometer probes sticking in there.
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My current cookers: 80 gallon vertical tank
The Ultimate New Braunfels Makeover