Brick smokehouse

[SmokinDubs]

I just bought this house and came with this old beautiful brick smokehouse. I have only been smoking with my rec tec smoker. There is about 3 ft of ash and soil plus some other garbage in there. Underneath is concrete. Do I need to remove all the ash and put some type of grate down for the wood. Also there are the two holes one in the front and back. Do I need to partially cover these after the fire gets going? Any information would be great

 

[HalfSmoked]

Looks like a little house cleaning and you will be ready to go. Nice old building that looks like it has been preserved in great condition. Good luck with it and post photos so we can see the great results. Also welcome to the forum.

Warren

 

[motocrash]

As Warren said,give it a good cleaning and fire it up.Burn it out good before smoking,it might have been used it as a trash incinerator at some time - ask the neighbors.Sweet setup.

 

[SmokinDubs]

Thank you. Do I need to get all the ash out. Is there something I should put at the bottom once it's cleaned out or just fired it up there. In the picture you can see the small wall inside and then all the ash and debris on the other. I lit up a fire this last weekend. Also this is probably a dumb question. But should I wear a mask or something it was really smokey obviously in there and do I just hang the meat above on those rods coming through. I have never used s smoker like this. Should I add a kettle of water in there too? It's big enough in there to hang some serious stuff. I bought a 5 pound brisket and I felt like I was wasting my time with all the space! I just up some killer sugar maple dome apple some cherry. Hickory. I want to get after it. Do I need to disperse the smoke or just let it do it's thing. So many questions? All input is greatly appreciated
Thanks
Again

 

[HalfSmoked]

I would clean out as much old as I could like motocrash said they could have burned trash in there containing ????.
In days gone by that is how families preserved their meat and that could have been like 4 or 5 hogs at a time so it would of taken a large smoke house as you have.

Warren

 

[gary s]

Good morning and welcome to the forum from a muggy wet day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

Gary