Late 1800's Smoke House

[kc5tpy]

What a GREAT thing to have, bring back to life and experiment with!  As others have said, brings back fond memories.  I remember going to Great Grandfather's  ( Opa's ) farm and sneaking a peek into the wooden smokehouse.  The smells that came from there were unbelievable and the sausage was great!  The old folks had their sh8 I mean stuff together when it came to smokin/preserving meat.  Sadly we have lost so very much knowledge in a couple generations.  We here are trying to relearn skills the old folks learned from children.  I still remember Grandma making lye soap.  Opa only ever had a pile of corncobs smoldering on the dirt floor  to provide heat and smoke.  The smoke house was not sealed, I remember seeing gaps here and there.  I assume that was for air flow.  Of course that was in South Texas.  I can't speak to how that would work in Wisconsin.  PLEASE show us pict. of what you finally do and the finished products.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[canadiannewbie]

I look forward to following this thread, great story, good info, and my better half would not be impressed if I told her I was inspired and have a new project idea ;-)

Good luck, have fun, and congrats !

 

[frosty]

Instead of sawdust, could you use pellets? Just a thought.  So nice to see you have brought it back to functioning.

 

[black]

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[roller]

OK now that is just to COOL...And good for you for doing it for your Dad !!!

 

[roller]

OK now that is just to COOL...And good for you for doing it for your Dad !!!

 

[jirodriguez]

If you need sawdust give Todd Johnson of AMAZE-N-SMOKER's a call (or e-mail). He is a member and has great prices and is always on the look out for fellow SMF members to help out.

 

[JckDanls 07]

being the smoke house is so big.. i would go with pellets for the smoke as they put out more smoke than sawdust...

 

[1905]

I am stockpiling apple and hickory to use as my primary fuel for doing traditional smoking, for my upcoming new retail location.
I'm going to build a smoke house in my yard, as my primary smoking location, then I'll finish off packaging and storage at the store. Totally doing this, flying by the seat of my pants..I hope to borrow and share as much experience as I can, on this forum.

 

[tom walker]

being the smoke house is so big.. i would go with pellets for the smoke as they put out more smoke than sawdust...

Well now, don't go off half cocked. Too much smoke will ruin the meat(s).
I've seen my local specialty butcher produce sooty stuff. Too much smoke.
A smokehouse should have a very thin blue smoke flow inside; thin enough to still be able to breath when yoi go in.

This is so because the curing process is in weeks instead of a few hours and actually depends on the sugar/salt combination drawing out the moisture.
The smoke is mostly for flavor and insect prevention and is sucked into the meat as the moisture is drawn out.

I could be wrong but I don't think so.