I need suggestions on making my own smoker

[rbranstner]

I am making a homemade smoker and need your input on a few things. I picked up huge wood crate at work that is 8ft tall and about 3ft wide and 3 ft deep. I took one of the walls off of it and made a door and I figure I can turn this into a really nice smoke house. I just need some input on what kind of burner I should use propane or electric. I have always used propane smokers so that is what I am use to but I thought about using an electric one since I do have a hard time keeping the heat down on my small smoker. But since this smoke house is going to be big and there is a lot more area to heat I am thinking the temp will stay down much easier than my small smoker. I am affraid that if I use an electric one I won't be able to heat the smoke house up enough. What do you guys think. Also I was wondering what kind of insulation I should use if any on this smoke house? One last think if I do use propane do you suggest I make a seperate box to hold the flame/wood and then pipe the heat and smoke into the smoke house or should I just put a burner into the bottom of the smoke house? Thanks guys for all of your help. This will be my winter project and I will have to post some pics when I am done.

 

[walking dude]

goat is the one to ask on this........i am sure he will be around........so hang in there

 

[peculiarmike]

I would use propane and a separate firebox ducted into the box. IMHO an electric heater would have to be pretty large and eat a lot of current to get a box that size up to smoking temps.
I saw a REAL log smoke house recently that used one of those little "box wood" wood stoves as a fire box. The stove outlet was piped into the lower wall of the smoke house with stove pipe.
My $.02.

 

[rbranstner]

I will try and post a few pics soon of my future smoke house so you can get a better idea of what I am working with.

 

[bombo80]

I have an idea on the crate you are talking about. We ship out large computer systems in custom made wood crates like that. You will have to look at insulating it, preferably on the inside. That way you can cover up the plywood, and won't have to worry about getting any off flavors from it.

I use an electric element from a Brinkman smoker/grill. I works great. I can plug it in directly, bypassing my thermostat, and get it up over 300* easy, and I am using an old fridge for my smokehouse. See my pics.

I would get a few hinges to mount the door with. then some thin adhesive backed roll insulation for the edges of the opening, along with a couple latches to keep it closed.

I would suggest you pick up some kind of thermostat too. I bought one designed for smokehouses. They cost about $160, check out Allied Kenco, that's where I got mine.

Now you need to think about how you are going to generate your smoke. To do it inside your box would create too much heat, before you get a good smoke going. Lots of people make smoke chambers, and duct the smoke into the house. That way you get all the smoke, but very little of the heat.
Again, look at my pics, and you'll see what I'm talking about. I picked up a scrap file cabinet, punched some 4" holes in it, got a single burner hotplate, and a cast iron skillet. That is my smoke chamber.

The inlet for the smoke will also be you air intake. You just need to put in a smokestack, with a damper that will seal shut completely. The cheap ones at the home improvement centers don't seal at all. ask me how I know

.

I hope this gives you some ideas. I would think that crate would work really well. You might even want to think about dividing it, and isolate your smoke chamber in the bottom of it. That way you wouldn't have to buy anything else. Alot of the smaller smokers have the smoke chamber in the bottom.

Later, good luck, and welcome,

Bombo

 

[rbranstner]

Bombo I really like your idea about seperating out the smoker so the heating element is in the bottom that way I don't have to buy another box to pipe the smoke in. I think I am going to do that. I am going to make it removable so depending on what I am smoking I can either use it or take it out. Who knows maybe I will love it and just keep it in ther all the time once I get use to it. What kind of insulation is good to use? I don't want something that will make my meat taste funny like some of the plastic stuff out there. Do you guys really think I need to insulate my smoker if it has 3/4 inch plywood for the walls and I am also going to put rough cut lumber on the outside for siding so it looks like an out house. I think that might be enough insulation to get me by. I am still torn between propane or electric heat. I will get an electric unit for when I smoke cheese I am hoping that will keep the heat down under 100 degrees since it is such a big area to heat. I am so use to propane that I will probably end up just putting a turkey cooker stand/burner in there with a hot plate like I have seen other guys do.

 

[bombo80]

I'm not sure what you could use for insulation. The extra wood siding will definitely help. I still think you might need to seal the inside with some type of polyurethane, or something that is heat tolerant, and won't give off any odor. I'm not sure about leaving it bare wood, unless you get some boards, like maple, oak, apple, etc., to line the inside with. That might be OK. I just don't like the idea of bare plywood for the interior.

Just another suggestion, you might be able to find sheet of aluminum, 1/8" thick, or so, and screw that to the inside, and seal the joints with a high temp aluminum caulking.

This forum is great for bouncing ideas of each other.

 

[cowgirl]

I am in the middle of making a wooden cold smoker with a separate fire/smoke box.
Here are some pictures of it....some are dry run pictures.



First coat of mortar...not the finished picture.





Another dry run picture to see how everything is going to fit.
This is not the fire/smoke box that I am going to use.




I'm working on a lighter fire/smoke box. Something easier for me to handle.




Hopefully I will get it finished soon.

 

[richtee]

We ARE talking about a WOOD box, right? So this is a cold smoker...

Anyway, I'd not like plywood as the interior walls, due to fumes from the glue. Guess ya could warm her up to 120 or so and stick yer nose in there.

 

[cowgirl]

Check out goat's smoker too......it's great! http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=11122

 

[rbranstner]

Yes this is a wood box but I am going to be using it for hot smoking and cold smoking. I don't usually smoke anything over 230 - 250 degrees. I am thinking about lining the inside of the box with tin or something like that as someone suggested. But I have seen a few pictures of guys just using plywood as walls and just leaving it without any insolation or anything. So I am kind of torn between should I put tin in it or not and should I insolate it or not. One question I had is when we are using our smaller metal smokers the walls are just really thin metal so there isn't any insolation there why it is important to put insolation in this wood one? Or isn't it maybe it just makes it easier to keep the temp steady. Thats the only part I am a little confused on. Hopefully you guys can shed some light on that for me.

 

[bbq bubba]

Here's Goat's wood pit, some good idea's........
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=11122

 

[zapper]

If you are adding a layer of finished siding on the outside you may consider placing the insulation between the "Box" and the siding. If you are going to line the inside of the box with metal you could insulate between the box and the lining. I will try to find a name of a high temp insulation that I have seen and post it. The insulation will help with effectiveness and stability of the heating.

There is no right or wrong way to build a smoker as long as some things are considered. The material choice, application and performance (at temperature in paticular) need to be thought through. And even then almost everyone will continue to modify existing builds and use knowledge gained to build a newer, different smoker.


As a general consideration, all fire as in open flame, smoldering wood or electrical heater, should be contained in a noncombustable enclosure and insulated or seperated from nearby combustable materials.

I would not hesitate to use a regular plywood box as a cold smoker chamber (120 max). I would do a test run to see if there was any offgassing of the plywood. (Kind of a break in run)

As far as smoke cooking or BBQ temps of 220 and up I would have to go with a metal or masonary chamber

 

[goat]

Hey, sorry to be just now getting here. I thought I talked to you via email, but it was another. I would like to see your crate. I think that you have a good start. The one I built is roughly 2'x2'x3.5'tall. I used a 1000W element. My smoker has 1 1/2 inches of insulation. The outside is 5/8 plywood. I know that some have expressed concerns with this plywood and rightly so, but this plywood was decking on an old house (xx years old) and because of that I am not the least bit worried with what "I" have. Everyone else is on their own. The inside layer of insulation is foil lined. I have not smelled any adverse aroma from it. If I do I will do as someone suggested and line it with aluminum. I broke mine in at 250* with no problems. I do not plan on doing a lot of "cooking" in mine. I mainly built it so that I could hot smoke some sausages, etc., at temps of 200* tops. There is a lot of difference in the two.

For what you have and what you are wanting to do, I would insulate with a couple of inches, line with aluminum, get a smokestack w/damper and tighten the damper up, and probably use propane. It is my thought that you would need a larger element than 1000w to consistantly heat that and then you get into 240v etc. Do not skimp on controls. If I can be of any more help, feel free to ask.

 

[rbranstner]

Well I took some pictures of this huge crate for you guys to look at. As you can see my fourwheeler is sitting right next to it so you can get an idea of how tall it is. I stood in the box and my hand barely touches the ceiling on it and I am 6 feet tall to it is a good size box. I think I can get all of my sausage done next year in 2 or 3 loads that will be awesome. This is going to be my winter project. I am going to be looking for some insulation and some tin to line the inside of it soon and then it is off to try and find a propane burner. It shouldn't be to much work to get this guy going since all of the structure is finished. What do you guys think.

 

[richtee]

The pressboard the sides are made of will disintegrate quickly if left to get wet. I'd consider a couple coats of a decent latex paint on the outside. BIG box...box...big big...

 

[rbranstner]

Yea Richtee I am going to put some type of treated wood on the outside for siding so it will hold up in the weather. I will also put something on the roof. I will be going for the out house look I guess. I'm sure my neighbors will love it.