First smoker build need some guidance

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A.Strybel

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2025
3
2
I have been doing a bit of researching over the past couple days on building myself a cold smoker and was looking for some help to finalize any thought so I can start buying materials. I'm primarily going to be smoking Keilbasa and occasionally cheese, ribs or a butt.

For the heat source I was wanting to use electric with a Auber AW-1520H or something similar and a pump style cold smoke generator, I'm still not sure on the brand yet or what size heating element to use. I see no use to sustain any temps over 250. Where I live daytime temps are usually above freezing in the winter.

One of my main concerns was the size of the box. I was thinking of something around 24" X 24" x 36" ID lined with wood then 1.5" Rockwool board and wood exterior. I'd use the 1.5 Rockwool just because I have it laying around from another project. One of my biggest concerns comes with how far minimum should the heating element be from the meat? On the floor I wanted to use a course of brick for heat retention. For the roof I wanted to have an open gable on a 45 degree and I was thinking of using a chimney cap from a Kamado Joe because it is an adjustable umbrella vent. As for the floor vent I'm not positive on what size or how many.

I love to hear some feedback and hopefully I'm heading in the right direction.
 
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A A.Strybel ... Yes... You are on the right path... Thinking your going to need as big of an heat element (120v) that you can get to reach 250 in that size of a box... I believe the biggest is 1800W ... I don't cook that high of temps as I only do sausage/snack sticks in mine... So I only need 170 degrees max... I use 2 elements, 800W (from a Masterbuilt MES 30) and a 1500w... My smokehouse is 36" x 36" x 48" ... The reason I use two is for a quicker recovery after opening the door...

For smoke I use a pellet tube as I never really cared for the pump style smokers as it looks like the smoke is too white to me instead of the thin blue smoke we strive for...

Vents... The exhaust vent sounds good... Intake/bottom vent would only be necessary to create a draft to dry the casings on the sausage since you will be using a pump style smoker... Once dry then you will want to close bottom vent since you will be using forced air from the pump smoker...

Hope this helps some...
 
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I got one to use in my Big Chief conversion, but got sidetracked.
 
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