My DIY Smoker

[bennylt]

I am a newby, and a glutton for punishment. I decided right off the bat to build my own simple smoker.

I stole Alton Brown's idea from good eats, consisting of a simple box, with an electric hot plate inside.

I am happy with the result, however since i had no idea of the BTUs of the plate, and how that would heat the volume inside my box. It is an ongoing experiment.

Trying to add pictures here!




With the hot plate on full blast, and an empty box, it will get up to 120* (60* oustide temp). So i probably need to come up with a better heating idea. Thats why i didnt close the bottom of the box. I may need to use some bricks and my charcoal grill or my mini gas grill or something allong those lines to get the temps up in the 220 range as you all seem to recommend.

BTW does the water basin that my friend has in his gas smoker do anything for temps. it seems in my head that steam might help conduct heat better then just air...

In the mean time, what can I do at 120*? I want to start using it!

 

[beer-b-q]

You will need to get a heat source that can get the temps up to at least 275*, that way when you load meat into the smoker it will be able to recover and hold temp...

I would suggest at least a 1000 to 1500 watt hot plate if you are going electric...

The water pan helps stabilize the temp inside the box and also adds moisture to the environment which helps keep the meat moist and aids in smoke ring development...

 

[bennylt]

This plate says 800 watts. So i will need to find a more powerful one.

In the mean time i wonder if i can use a secondry heat source.

Could i put already started lump charcoal in the same pan with my wood chips? Or maybe I can put them in a coffee can next to the plate for additional heat?

 

[beer-b-q]

Try it see how it works, basically nothing is set in stone so feel free to experiment...

Adding charcoal to the wood pan would work the same as if you had an ECB style and could be used as the sole source of heat if you wanted...

A warning though about the smoker being wood, I believe I would set it up on concrete blocks with the charcoal pan in the bottom surrounded by the concrete blocks as a precaution against setting the smoker on fire... Just a thought.

 

[bennylt]

Thanks. Yah i had planned on doing that if i started using any "real" fire. thats one of the reason i left the bottom open, so i always had that option. i also have a small travel type gas grill. i but i could use that in the way, surrounded by blocks with smker box on tim out of harms way.

Okay i'm going to go experiment.

 

[ddave]

What he said.

A guy on another forum had a wood smoker. About 6 feet tall and used a gas burner. Seemed to work very well. He loaned it to a friend who didn't pay attention to the grease buildup . . .

Burnt the smoker to the ground. Fortunately it was only the smoker.

Dave

 

[zapper]

jerky!!!!!

 

[mballi3011]

I was going to say I don't think I would use a charcoal source for heat cause you might just turn the smoker into charcoal. I would stay to some kind of electric heat source nut I'm a gasser with metal walls. It looks good and is a really good idea for like bacon and sausage.

 

[ddave]

CURED jerky

Dave

 

[treegje]

you can use it for cold smoking

 

[rickw]

It would be a great cold smoker for jerky and cheese.

 

[cowgirl]

Good looking smoker! You can cold smoke any cured meats...bacons, hams etc.. Also cold smoke spices, nuts, olives, honey...

cold smoked bacons and other things...

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=73131

here are some more ideas...

http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/...ew-things.html

 

[rambler]

You will have to close up the bottom of the box and have some type of control for how much air gets in the box. You will not be able to get up to heat and you will not be able to control the heat with any part of the box open. Even with the 60 degree or higher ambeint temperatures your burner cannot keep up with the amount of BTU's of the air allowed to move in or out. As the heat in the smoker increases you start a thermal circulation with the outside, cool air that is replacing the warmer air inside. It is a law of physics that you have to prevent by closing up the smoker. You probably would be happier with a sheet metal bottoms that would drain into a pan to collect the "drippings" from your meat

 

[jcurrier]

I try to keep my smoker at 90-100 for smoking cheese- did 5 lbs this weekend. and enjoyed one last night!

 

[iruptacopula]

I use two 1000 watt burners from walgreens. ($10 a piece). Make sure you have a good extention cord also. The one in the picture looks like a cheap one. Which is fine for most things but when you have high watts you need a better cord. 10 or 12 gauge.

 

[bennylt]

I cant thank you all enough for the advice. Seriously. I already make my own jerky, but not smoked. I cure it first then dry it on a furnace filter strapped to a box fan. sounds crazy but really works. so tender because the meat is never cooked.

So anyway, here is what i did with EXCELLENT results.

I have a big pile of bricks that i usually have set up as a fire ring. Well I restacked them into an oven of sorts with a chimney. the smoker box sat on top of the chimney, with bricks lining the inside bottom of the box for extra protection.

I made a charcoal fire at the bottom and my temp at the top of the box hit 200 within 30 minutes. I threw some hicory chunks on and had wonderful smoke but a little too much flame. So i put a tray of chips on the coals and that did the trick.

the temp floated around 225 for a while and I put the pork loin in. it seemed to work but after about 45 minutes the temp dropped because the coals were burning out. so i threw more in and it was back up in no time.

the problem came about an hour and a half into cooking. I left it for a little while, and my wood chips caught fire. the bricks worked fine and the smoker didnt burn or anything. but the fire spiked the temp up over 375. when i came back out and realized, i put the chip fire out and probed the meat and it was done already. it actually turned out VERY good. It had a 1/8" deep smoke ring. i guess that worked, but at some point my smoker turned into an oven.

I am going to change my bricks around a bit to allow the chip tray to be suspended above the coals, not on them. and i'll keep an eye on it a bit better. I'm going to try a chicken Saturday.