Need DIY plans for a smoker

[alltoys]

I want to smoke hams, turkeys, fish in temperatures down to -30 if possible.

I have heard of people making a smoker out of an old stove, fridge, even an outhouse.

Then what is the proper way to smoke the meat so that it doesn't turn black.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You may need to insulate the outside of your smoker box to hold the heat. SInce smokers usually get the temps about 180min to 225 or so max. A low heat on an uninsulated box would likely cool too much to smoke properly or you would have to have a higher flame to get it there resulting in excess use of gas, wood or charcoal (pick your favorite heat source) I prefer gas heat because it is easier to regulate and then use a wood chip smoking box on top of the burner. I keep restocking the chip box for a couple of hours till I get a good color on the turkey (I dont smoke anything else at least so far) and then I stop the smoke and just cook it at a low heat for about 8 hours total time. I also have a water pan above the fire to keep the smoker nice and steamy. This keeps the meat from drying out while slow cooking. You want to regulate your heat so it cooks the meat but not so hot that it dries it out to much either.
If I were building one for Canadian use, I would build the inner box of whatever size I wanted,then insulate this box with some Kaowool or rockwool blankets at least 2" of 6 lb. density rock wool or Kaowool would be just about right. I guess you could also use fiberglass, but it is hard to find a dense pack fiberglass which is what you need for heat insulation. I suppose you could attach it to your inner box and then squeeze it down to about half the thichness when you put the sides on. The outside could be wood or sheetmetal as long as you protect it from rain and water. It would need to be water tight to keep your insulation in good shape.

 

[ampsucker]

good advice, but you may want to google meat smoking and do some research. there are several schools of thought on best way to smoke different kinds of meat.

cold smoking is usually done at less than 100 degrees F. (38 C) it is probably best for fish (high in fat) sausages (don't want the fat inside the casing to liquify) and cheeses (don't want them to melt!). in that case, lack of insulation is a good thing and you want to do your smoking in the winter time in the shade. it can be done for short time (hours) or long time (days) and you can combine it with a salt/sugar cure or dry rub to make the meat storable for long durations if you do it long enough to dry the meat to the correct moisture level. a main consideration for this type of smoking is how will you keep the smoke going with minimal maintenance. for example, you don't want to have to get up in the middle of the night several times to add wood chips, so you need a good way to keep things going 12 hours at a time or so.

if you want to smoke/cook at the same time, then that's where some insulation and a water tub for steam will come in handy. this is done at a higher temperature for shorter time. this is easier to manage as it can be done in an afternoon. in this case, you are aiming for internal food temps of 145-180 degrees F and you may want to keep them at higher temps for several hours to tenderize the meat (pulled pork, ribs, etc.)

once you know what you want to do with the smoker, you can come up with a design. i was actually rebuilding an old oil barrel smoker just yesterday. it needed a new bottom barrel half which had rusted out. i am setting it up as a dual purpose unit with a separate smoke box for cold smoking and i will also be able to fire it up directly for hotter smoking. it will never be used as a high temp grill, though. i use a weber kettle and a gas fired grill for burgers and steaks. the smoker will probably not see temps much in excess of 300 degrees or so. for cold smoking, the separate box will allow me to tend to the wood chips without disturbing the meat/cheese/etc and also give me more control over temperature.

if you think about it, it's pretty hard to get wood to smoke in a confined space without getting the space over 80-100 degrees F. i'm thinking a couple of hundred watts directed in a small box of wood chips is all i need to generate smoke. possibly a soldering iron or small, handheld propane torch might work? i'm still ironing out the bugs.... in your winter climate, maybe this won't be a problem? you might have to do some experimenting.... today, i'm doing a test run with some bacon i brined overnight. should be interesting....

good luck and happy smoking!

amp

 

[alltoys]

Looks like there is a lot more to the subject of smoking than just taking a stab at it.

More research is warranted here!!!!

 

[ampsucker]

well, i did a trial run cold smoking in my new smoker. had several failures. here is what i tried and it was about 40 - 50 degrees outside with wind gusting in 10-15 mph range.

coleman single burner stove to heat peachwood to smoke point: couldn't adjust flame low enough without it going out. any higher and it was too hot.

small soldering iron to heat peachwood to smoke point: got minimal smoke. would have been better with sawdust size particles instead of the small splinters i managed to get with a hand ax.

propane tank with soldering tip (for copper pipes). this was quick, hot heat right where i wanted it, but too much of a pain to keep going.

i finally ended up lighting some charcoal on fire and putting 6 or 7 chunks under the box of wood chips. this gave me a couple of hours of smoke before recharge. but, i couldn't keep the temp inside the smoker under 100 F. it would climb anywhere from 105 up to 120. that was ok, but hotter than i wanted. i did cheese and bacon. the bacon came out to rave reviews the following day. the cheese - so so. not my favorite.

still need to fine tune the process. i'm getting a hot plate today. i'm convinced that is what i need to get precise temp control and still generate a good amount of cool, dry smoke.

i'm also working on a good plan for seperating the smoke generation outside of the main smoker like i mentioned in the previous post. i've seen guys do this with cardboard boxes and such, but i want an easy to detach metal box i can use the hotplate with and just plumb into the main smoker. maybe a small barrel with threaded bung or a something similar?

for hotter smoking/cooking, i'll just go with a small amount of charcoal or wood coals in the main unit. i'm adding a more precise draft control so i can fine tune the air entering and thus adjust smoke output as well as temperature. this won't work for me with cold smoking though, because there are too many air leaks around the rest of the unit and any o2 restricted fire will flare up quickly when i open the lid to check on progress/add fuel/ etc.

i also need to get a better system or racks and some hangers. but, it's coming along. the wife loved the bacon, so that is motivation to keep experimenting!

good luck with your project!

amp

 

[alltoys]

I am leaning to the smoker from Wolly World. It is propane powered it should work alright for my northern climate I have seen some remarks concerning the size of the wood smoke box being to small. That can be modified.

 

[ampsucker]

an fyi on gas powered smokers. you can't dry meat with a gas powered smoker unless the flame exhaust is directed outside the smoke box. this is because all gas produces water as a byproduct of combustion. that equals humidity in the air. if you want dry smoke, be sure to get a gas smoker that has the flame routed outside the box somehow or go electric. it will also be difficult to maintain a cool temp with a gaspowered smoker without the flame blowing out.

i just got my 9.99 hotplate from walgreens hooked up and am generating cool smoke at about 5 or 6 out of 10 on the dial. that is keeping my smoker at 82 degrees on a 45 degree day. its a 1000 watt hotplate, so i'm guessing about 500-600 watts is ideal for cool smoking in a 55 gallon size smoker.

keep us posted on what you decide! i've got a pork roast and some ribs and bacom thawing on the counter right now. overnight in the brine and then into the smoker!

amp

 

[wolverine523]

Dont know if this will help but, if you ever watch Good Eats on the Food Network, Alton makes a few different homemade smokers. One of them he used an old school locker. He used a hotplate, pie tin and some saw dust to generate his smoke for a cold smoke. Good show, some great recipes, and alot of science behind cooking.

 

[alltoys]

So electric might be the all round way of smoking. Didn't know that burning of gas would produce moisture and the limited amount of moisture would be a problem.

 

[ampsucker]

it's only a problem if you are trying to dry the meat to cure it or preserve it. otherwise moisture may be beneficial to the tenderness of the meat but that is usually then a cooking process which is much hotter than cold smoking.

purists will say the sulfur odor added to natural gas and propane can change the flavor of the meat as well, but i don't think most folks would notice it.

amp