Hark Tri Fire Mods
Hark Tri Fire Mods
Evening all. Thought i would share some recent mods i have had completed on my newly purchased Hark Tri Fire. Finished the first cook last week and found massive heat differences from hot box end to the chimney end and started doing my homework. Found out the best 2 mods for them seems to be a baffle and a charcoal basket for the larger cooks. Ended up finding a young guy by the name of Ricky who is a boilermaker. Came round and discussed what he could with what i wanted within the limits of fabrication.
He returned today with the final product which to me seems great. First cook happening tomorrow on it with the new mods. I will be sure to keep you all posted. Ricky now has these mods templated and is more than happy to help fellow Hark Tri Fire owners out with these mods (will ship at buyers expense) Feel free to contact me for his details.
Steve
He returned today with the final product which to me seems great. First cook happening tomorrow on it with the new mods. I will be sure to keep you all posted. Ricky now has these mods templated and is more than happy to help fellow Hark Tri Fire owners out with these mods (will ship at buyers expense) Feel free to contact me for his details.
Steve
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Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
That looks greatSteve...love the deflector plate!
Cheers
Chris
Cheers
Chris
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Going to share the schematics of the mods, so other owners can make the mods?
looks neat
looks neat
Cheers
Titch
Titch
Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Your boiler maker mate is switched on Steve , Very nice job and great thinking between the both of you.
Edit, Welcome back Titch
Edit, Welcome back Titch
If trees screamed when we cut them down, We wouldn't. If they screamed all the time we would.
http://www.aussiecue.com.au
http://www.aussiecue.com.au
Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Thanks for the replies guys. Hopefully you can all benefit from what i have done/am doing as well. I agree, any mod on this machine is an improvement and you cannot do much worse with it. I cooked up 4kg of ribs and 2 x tri tips (the same as last week that failed due to massive heat fluctuations)
The results are in and they are great. For starters, i had no issues with the charcoal basket. Topped with the new chimney i purchased this week as well, the coals were on top of the charcoal pile in it within 45mins yesterday and the box stayed well heated the entire cook. I simply topped with a smaller log of Australian Ironbark around every hour. Airflow wasn't affected in the 8 hours i was cooking. I tend to run mine a little hotter then needed and run the butterflies down to draw it back. Overall, only minor adjustments on this mod were recommended to Ricky.
The baffle plate did its job well. I was a little concerned about a small cutout that had to be made to fit the unit in affecting the flow but the results speak for themselves. I monitored temps last week and managed to log 100f difference, end to end. This plate, even with the small cutout drew that back to 15f at peak end to end difference. Smoke flow internally was also noted to be more even with more smoke across the bottom instead of a massive plume at the box end (yes i do run, for most the part both butterflies open)
I ended up running the ambient probe dead centre of the grill, at grill level using a temp range setting on the Igrill which alarmed if there was more then 20f difference. Heat dropped slightly when a new log was placed on but quickly ran back to 230f. I placed the Tri Tips at the firebox end deliberately to take advantage of the hotter temp which gave me, for the first time, a nice bark. I think i have this unit sorted now and am extremely happy that i have purchased and made the most of the design. If anyone is keen to ask question, PM me for Ricky's details.
Pics of the cook, sorry for lack of quality.
Rub being applied
Before Foiling
Tri Tip
Ribs
The results are in and they are great. For starters, i had no issues with the charcoal basket. Topped with the new chimney i purchased this week as well, the coals were on top of the charcoal pile in it within 45mins yesterday and the box stayed well heated the entire cook. I simply topped with a smaller log of Australian Ironbark around every hour. Airflow wasn't affected in the 8 hours i was cooking. I tend to run mine a little hotter then needed and run the butterflies down to draw it back. Overall, only minor adjustments on this mod were recommended to Ricky.
The baffle plate did its job well. I was a little concerned about a small cutout that had to be made to fit the unit in affecting the flow but the results speak for themselves. I monitored temps last week and managed to log 100f difference, end to end. This plate, even with the small cutout drew that back to 15f at peak end to end difference. Smoke flow internally was also noted to be more even with more smoke across the bottom instead of a massive plume at the box end (yes i do run, for most the part both butterflies open)
I ended up running the ambient probe dead centre of the grill, at grill level using a temp range setting on the Igrill which alarmed if there was more then 20f difference. Heat dropped slightly when a new log was placed on but quickly ran back to 230f. I placed the Tri Tips at the firebox end deliberately to take advantage of the hotter temp which gave me, for the first time, a nice bark. I think i have this unit sorted now and am extremely happy that i have purchased and made the most of the design. If anyone is keen to ask question, PM me for Ricky's details.
Pics of the cook, sorry for lack of quality.
Rub being applied
Before Foiling
Tri Tip
Ribs
Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Nice job Steve. Your Tritip looks better than the one I did last night. What internal temp were aiming for?
I'll have to have a think about your mods too. Haven't done any to ours yet.
Cheers, Wayne
I'll have to have a think about your mods too. Haven't done any to ours yet.
Cheers, Wayne
Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Finalised the last of the mods this week with the sealing of the firebox and smoking chamber lids with RTV Red (food safe) 650f gasket silicone. All in all i think i have produced what is now an amazing stick smoker. The fuel burns longer, heats the cooking chamber quicker and more even. Did a dummy fire run today with 1 x chimney full of mixed heat beads and lump wood charcoal. Threw in when ashing over and 1 x log of ironbark. Temps within 10mins in smoking chamber rose to 230f with only a 10f at most temp differential between ends. No excess heat/smoke loss visible from the lids either.
I hope this helps other Hark offset smokers. Again, fee free to message me with any questions you may have.
Steve
I hope this helps other Hark offset smokers. Again, fee free to message me with any questions you may have.
Steve
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Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Hi Steve, I think I have one of these but its not called a Hark I bought it from BBQ's Galore about 15 years ago and its called a Bar B Chef? anyway if its the same I wouldn't mind any info you can forward. I live in Melbourne, not sure where you are and your boilermaker are? did you move the Chimney from the right to the left?
'If you smoke it.... they will come'
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Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
The Bar-B-Chef is slightly different.lowen slow wrote:Hi Steve, I think I have one of these but its not called a Hark I bought it from BBQ's Galore about 15 years ago and its called a Bar B Chef? anyway if its the same I wouldn't mind any info you can forward. I live in Melbourne, not sure where you are and your boilermaker are? did you move the Chimney from the right to the left?
The Hark has full length rails either side to hold the grills, the Bar-B-Chef has bolts that the plates rest on. I made moveable plates for inside my Bar-B-Chef, they are full width as you can put them in between the bolts, the rail on the Hark means they need to be narrower.
Cheers
Chris
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
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Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Thanks Chris, I will sort something and resurrect this beast for large cooks, I was always happy with the results, just not happy with the heat footprint
'If you smoke it.... they will come'
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Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
Hi Steve,
What size is the Basket roughly? Also, how much would a basket cost?
What size is the Basket roughly? Also, how much would a basket cost?
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Re: Hark Tri Fire Mods
I made a basket by cutting a piece of the handi mesh that Bunnies have.egadgetjnr wrote:Hi Steve,
What size is the Basket roughly? Also, how much would a basket cost?
300 x 300 square base 270 high
Just cut a 870 x 870 square then cut 270 x270 square out of each corner then fold it up and fold the edge wires to hold it together.
Found a pic!
Cheers
Chris
Last edited by urbangriller on Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!