Hot/cold smoke house build

[rlleveng]

Beginning plans on a hot cold smoke house but held up on the heat/smoke elements. I want to build it once and have it be multi functional for whatever I may need to smoke, however it will be heavily used for jerky, sticks, bologna, and other meats. My thoughts are to build the wood house on a cinder block base. In the bottom of the base would be a turkey cooker element holding a pan with wood chips. The cold smoke would be an external wood burner piping in smoke. My biggest concerns are below.

- what is the best option for the hot smoke, does the turkey burner seem like a good idea for simplicity and controlling Temps

-managing grease drippings in the bottom of the concrete pit

-hot smoking in a wood house and not creating a fire hazard

Looking for feedback, ideas, or opinions on my build.

 

[DougE]

SmokinEdge and indaswamp can give you some guidance on propane fired wooden smokehouses.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Beginning plans on a hot cold smoke house but held up on the heat/smoke elements. I want to build it once and have it be multi functional for whatever I may need to smoke, however it will be heavily used for jerky, sticks, bologna, and other meats. My thoughts are to build the wood house on a cinder block base. In the bottom of the base would be a turkey cooker element holding a pan with wood chips. The cold smoke would be an external wood burner piping in smoke. My biggest concerns are below.

- what is the best option for the hot smoke, does the turkey burner seem like a good idea for simplicity and controlling Temps

-managing grease drippings in the bottom of the concrete pit

-hot smoking in a wood house and not creating a fire hazard

Looking for feedback, ideas, or opinions on my build.

I use the turkey fryer burner just fine with the CI pan on top for wood chunks, but a needle valve is absolutely necessary to fine tune temps.

The CI pan also acts as a heat diffuser but my smokehouse house has 3’ x 3’ in the bottom for heat, then 4’ x 3’ on top for meats. At that transition, lower to upper, I place aluminum pans for yet more heat diffusion and as drip pans.

As far as the fire hazard with a wood box, you should be fine with the concrete block bottom. Mine is wood but I lined the floor with house bricks and the walls with cement hardibacker board.

Ask away. I’ll answer all questions that I can.

 

[rlleveng]

I use the turkey fryer burner just fine with the CI pan on top for wood chunks, but a needle valve is absolutely necessary to fine tune temps.

The CI pan also acts as a heat diffuser but my smokehouse house has 3’ x 3’ in the bottom for heat, then 4’ x 3’ on top for meats. At that transition, lower to upper, I place aluminum pans for yet more heat diffusion and as drip pans.

As far as the fire hazard with a wood box, you should be fine with the concrete block bottom. Mine is wood but I lined the floor with house bricks and the walls with cement hardibacker board.

Ask away. I’ll answer all questions that I can.

Needle valve on the propane tank? When you say 3x3 and 4x3, are you referring to rack size? What's the purpose of the hardi, fire protection? Did you just line the bottom where the fire is or the whole house?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Needle valve on the propane tank? When you say 3x3 and 4x3, are you referring to rack size? What's the purpose of the hardi, fire protection? Did you just line the bottom where the fire is or the whole house?

Needle valve in line feeding the burner. This gives very good control of the flame.

My smokehouse is 3x3x7’ the bottom 3’x3’ is lined with hardibacker for fire protection, the upper 3’x4’ is where the meat hangs, or I can also use expanded metal racks. I did not line the upper area but sometimes wish that I would have for the option of bbq at 225-250F.

This is the upper 3’x4’ area of the smokehouse, you can see the drip pans, below them is the 3’x3’ “firebox” area with the turkey fryer burner.

 

[rlleveng]

Needle valve in line feeding the burner. This gives very good control of the flame.

My smokehouse is 3x3x7’ the bottom 3’x3’ is lined with hardibacker for fire protection, the upper 3’x4’ is where the meat hangs, or I can also use expanded metal racks. I did not line the upper area but sometimes wish that I would have for the option of bbq at 225-250F.

View attachment 657120
This is the upper 3’x4’ area of the smokehouse, you can see the drip pans, below them is the 3’x3’ “firebox” area with the turkey fryer burner.

Do you have a pic of the bottom? Your saying that's a turkey burner with a CI pan and wood chips, the above that sits the drip pans?

Do you have a cold smoke set up piping in from outside as well, or you don't cold smoke?

Do the drip.pans catch enough to keep the bottom from getting rancid?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Do you have a pic of the bottom? Your saying that's a turkey burner with a CI pan and wood chips, the above that sits the drip pans?

Above this sits the drip pans. Properly smoked meats don’t drip much if at all, dripping is rendering and we don’t run temperatures high enough or long enough for rendering, we don’t want that. However I live in a very dry climate our humidity is usually less than 20% so most often I put water in the pans for added humidity in the smokehouse. They also spread the heat out more evenly and create one more barrier between the fire and meats. Sometimes I do run the temp up over 200F for ribs or brisket and then the pans function as drip pans.

Do you have a cold smoke set up piping in from outside as well, or you don't cold smoke?

The angle iron tray you see to the right of the burner is where I place a smoke tube with pellets for cold smoking, two work much better than one in the house.

 

[rlleveng]

View attachment 657125
Above this sits the drip pans. Properly smoked meats don’t drip much if at all, dripping is rendering and we don’t run temperatures high enough or long enough for rendering, we don’t want that. However I live in a very dry climate our humidity is usually less than 20% so most often I put water in the pans for added humidity in the smokehouse. They also spread the heat out more evenly and create one more barrier between the fire and meats. Sometimes I do run the temp up over 200F for ribs or brisket and then the pans function as drip pans.


The angle iron tray you see to the right of the burner is where I place a smoke tube with pellets for cold smoking, two work much better than one in the house.

How does the pellet tube work, how is it heated or ignited? Is there anything you would do differently or FYI in your build? Appreciate all your insight BTW...

 

[DougE]

How does the pellet tube work, how is it heated or ignited?

You start it with a propane or butane torch and blow the flame out once it gets going good.

 

[rlleveng]

You start it with a propane or butane torch and blow the flame out once it gets going good.

So in theory you could focus on a hot smoker and throw a pellet tube in the bottom for if/when you want to cold smoke?

 

[DougE]

So in theory you could focus on a hot smoker and throw a pellet tube in the bottom for if/when you want to cold smoke?

I don't yet have a smokehouse built yet, so I cold smoke in either my pellet grill or offset with just a tube. In smaller chambers such as these, ambient temps come more into play, but yeah, I cold smoke in them with just a tube burning.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Pop's pretty much started the plywood smokehouse (complete with hot smoking)

Found a burner for smokehouse

I'm planning on building my own wooden smokehouse week after next, provided my vacation coverage allows me to go on vacation 2/13-19. I'm winging it on the design, modeling it after the smokehouses my dad used in his store (Koch) in a scaled down version. But, the one thing I've struggled with...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[SmokinEdge]

How does the pellet tube work, how is it heated or ignited? Is there anything you would do differently or FYI in your build? Appreciate all your insight BTW...

Good advice so far on the tube. You should know that the pellet maze or tray was built first, then the tube was developed. The tray is used for lower elevation and the tube for higher elevation. I’m at 6400’ EV. So the tube works better for me here. I built a maze tray for pellets but I have trouble keeping it lit.

 

[indaswamp]

Pop's pretty much started the plywood smokehouse (complete with hot smoking)

Found a burner for smokehouse

I'm planning on building my own wooden smokehouse week after next, provided my vacation coverage allows me to go on vacation 2/13-19. I'm winging it on the design, modeling it after the smokehouses my dad used in his store (Koch) in a scaled down version. But, the one thing I've struggled with...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I got some ideas for my smokehouse reading through pop's build back when I was a lurker....good stuff!

 

[rlleveng]

Whats the consensus on finishing the wood on your build? I will be using untreated, probably pine, as I don't have red cedar. Are you finishing yours with a sealer to protect it from the elements, and any specific considerations as it concerns to food?

 

[rlleveng]

SmokinEdge do you have any issues getting temps high enough with your turkey burner? Is yours insulated? My build is roughly going to be 4x6, head-ish height. Again, im looking to do sticks jerky bologna bacon etc more so then BBQ. Also, what is your bottom vent set up? I think I'm just going to cut a partial cinder block in the base and find a way to damper it. That cut out will be a 6" stove pipe flange in case I ever decide to run an offset wood fire. I'm also making it 6ft deep so I could put a burn pit fire ring in the bottom if I ever wanted and have depth to hang not directly above the fire. Trying to cover all my bases.

Build starts tomorrow.

 

[SmokinEdge]

SmokinEdge do you have any issues getting temps high enough with your turkey burner? Is yours insulated? My build is roughly going to be 4x6, head-ish height. Again, im looking to do sticks jerky bologna bacon etc more so then BBQ. Also, what is your bottom vent set up? I think I'm just going to cut a partial cinder block in the base and find a way to damper it. That cut out will be a 6" stove pipe flange in case I ever decide to run an offset wood fire. I'm also making it 6ft deep so I could put a burn pit fire ring in the bottom if I ever wanted and have depth to hang not directly above the fire. Trying to cover all my bases.

Build starts tomorrow.

No issues at all with getting heat, but to much heat is easy in the warmer months. My house is not insulated.

 

[rlleveng]

Started my build today, blew a hydraulic hose right off the bat so didn't get as far as I would of liked. More thinking on it then building, but foundation and game plan is now set. Will be able to accommodate turkey burner, internal fire ring, or offset fire box. Next weekend I will frame out the wood house to set on top, cover with tin, and side with some rough cut pine b&b.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice start.

 

[SmokinEdge]

One thing to be aware of, while the block foundation is overall good, it also is a huge heat sink. It will rob a lot of heat at first so as your cook goes on the temps will eventually start rising unexplainable, but it will be that block foundation. These are long smokes or cooks where this will happen.