New plywood smokehouse

[meat magician]

I am considering aluminum or cement backer board, have not decided for sure which but I am leaning toward the aluminum because it's lighter and will take less space.

 

[etcher1]

You should be, that a great look'in build.








e]

 

[hounds51]

Plus you can use a staple gun to secure and bending aluminum flashing and getting a professional look is easy with flashing. Plus the reflection helps with even heat distribution.
Dennis

 

[morkdach]

go to roll call intro and register as a member then you can see all the neat stuff

 

[hounds51]

Also you might want to consider using an adjustable regulator or needle valve, as you can get a lower temp control with it. Just be carefull if using an adjustable control, as if you turn too low, the flame can go out, but the gas keeps a comin. I use a maverick 73 and set my low temp alarm about 15 to 20 degrees below my current cooking temp. That way if you loose flame hopefully you can shut it off before she blows.

 

[atcnick]

Man that is a nice smoker. I would love to see construction photos sometime!! I'm looking for something like this for smoking sausage.

 

[stonebriar]

Excellent craftsmanship!

 

[miamirick]

that looks great, are those hard to clean and how long do they last?

 

[meat magician]

During my first run I was testing the temps and vent positions and if I close the bottom vent to far the flame will burn out on the stove as it depletes the oxygen inside. I did however find that since I have the vent below the burner I loose zero heat with it all the way open and it feels cool to the touch. The upper vent however does get hot (obviously

) and helps with the minor temp adjustments +/- about 15* depending on the position open/shut. Like the braided steel line for the gas an adjustable reg or needle vavle will be something I do some seriouse looking into thanks for the tip.

I do not know how long it will last, Think I'm going to give it a couple of good coats of water sealer and seal up any outside cracks too when the Nebraska ice caps melts in the spring

. May put some locking caster weels on the bottom too so I can wheel her in and out of the garage or move it under the awening if I keep on the deck. As it is I have to move it with a dolly.


For you guys wanting the construction pics...they are temporarily lost....I think I put the memmory card they were on into one of my trail cameras by mistake

as soon as I retreive it from the trail cam I will put them up sorry, I can be an idiot sometimes

Thanks again for the replies and compliments

 

[nwdave]

I've got all winter for you to locate the build pics.

PM'ed you about the stainless hose with needle valve.

 

[silverwolf636]

Same here. I'd like to check out the mechanics too.
--ray--

 

[nwbhoss]

I have a question about a plywood smoker build.
Do you guys worry at all about the glues used to make the plywood itself or the caulking and adhesives used to assemble the smoker causing any flavor or possible chemical exposure issues? I just cant help but think when the plywood is heated it may release chemical vapors that could cause problems??????

 

[smokin-jim]

Nice job. Great looking smoke house. I too would like to see the construction pics.

 

[rstr hunter]

Nice looking build, but I question this as well. Is this OK as maybe it takes more than 250 degrees to start this or ???

 

[mbreitba]

I too had the same question - I just built a plywood smoker but was assured that by properly "seasoning" it, I wouldn't have any issues. I was told to run it at about 200 degrees with full smoke for 3-4 hours, and that it should purge out any nasties.

FYI - I built mine according to this post : http://forums.mathewsinc.com/viewtop...r=asc&&start=0

The only alterations were that I used significantly less glue, and used pocket screws instead of biscut joints. Heading out to find a burner of some sort tomorrow, hopefully have the first load of sausage in it on Saturday.

 

[mbreitba]

Just picked this up for my smoker at Bass Pro Shops - figured I couldn't go wrong with it :

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st..._SearchResults

Comes with everything I need, regulator, burner, stand, pot (for chips and sawdust) and a lid that I can drill holes in.

Anything that I should watch out for? Also, I will be trimming the height down a bit so that it's not super close to my bottom racks.

 

[nwdave]

Whoa, what a thread!!!! Your link to that other guy's build was very educational. Anyone who's even thinking of building something similar needs to go to that thread. He's got all the bases covered. Lots of good photo detail. Man, I'm hyped. I have a vision

. It's gonna be a combination of several on this site, plus this other thread, aforementioned. Rain, Rain, go away..... come another day......Now, where did I put that CAD program??

As far as heat effect on Plywood goes: I talked with a couple of people whose opinions I respect and they said: Based on: I'm only using this unit for less than 200* smoker for sausage, jerky, other items for less than 200*, etc, etc....there should not be a real problem. Ply glue problem, NO, because of temps being lower than a GOSM. They both agreed that if I use backer board (that stuff you use for underlayment when laying tile ((have lots leftover from a tile job on the house)) ) around the "firebox" and up for about 24 inches, I'd be overbuilding. Oh well, why break a habit now. Thanks for all the help. Now about those build pictures of yours??

 

[meat magician]

Awww Hell! Them pics are buried under 25 inches of snow

I've been snowed out of my deer hunting spot since about X-Mas and can not get into swap any memory cards on my trail cams, where the pics accidently ended up, so it's going to be awhile for those

I looked into the temps and fumes leeching from plywood and to my understanding it is high temps and humidity that will cause plywood to leech formaldahyde(sp?) which is common in the glues used to fuse the layers of plywood together. Now what temps those are I could not find and rest assured when and if I do find out I will post them.

 

[mbreitba]

Finished my smoker up - running it through a seasoning right now - seems to work pretty well, but I'm having problems getting it to produce a lot of smoke. If I turn up the heat, it smokes better, but a lot of the smoking I'm going to do is probably going to be in the 165-185 range, and it doesn't want to really roll the smoke on until I get it to 200+ Any suggestions?

 

[brohnson]

I so agree with you, maybe line the inside with some tin and it would be better of.