Natural gas verses electric indoors

[badss]

Hi all and Merry Christmas from the Great White North of Alberta Canada eh! I have a delima and am super depressed my fellow smokers. I cannot smoke! Too cold to use the GOSM as we pegged the -36 below F the other day. Too much snow! Great for sledding thou. What I am planning and am looking for recomendations on even in the design is to rig up a smoker I can use indoors in my garage year round if wanted. This would be a permanent set-up so was thinking of natural gas however have been reading some of the forums on the electrics and was thinking that maybe I'd go that way as one may not have to be so concerned about leaving it overnight or am I wrong here? I want simplicity but was thinking that the natural gas would be instant heat. I was also looking at the Amerique by Cookshack? I already have a hole in my roof from a previous oil furnace and was going to run a chimney out the top for smoke exhaust. That is the other issue....I need a smoker that is going to seal real well as we have lockers in the garage where we store our snowmobile clothing or quad stuff year round and I often have a classic car in there and do not want to smoke up everyting in the garage. This is a priority...I mean all of it for me. I almost opened the doors and tarped my smoker in so I could do up a batch of baby backs but it was just too cold. Any pics of anyone else riggin up a unit like the way I am thinking or information on the benefits of the electric verses natural gas or the other way around would be great. My budget would be in the $1000.00 to $1500.00 range in total. Again ...Merry Christmas everyone...and cheers to all my friends on the SMF ! Badss -Ray

 

[kookie]

Merry Christmas. I just had a thought that I thought I would pass on to you. What if you built or bought a small shorage shed and insulated and put your current smoker in the shed and piped out the exhaust out the roof or side wall? Then you wouldn't have to worry about smoking out your car and such in the garage. And if things did go a rye and you had a fire in the shed it would be less likely that you lost alot of stuff. And you could always put a work bench in the shed and do your processing in the shed. And when your not smoking it would give you more storage space. I am not sure on the prices of lumber or pre made sheds in your area, but using the prices in my area, I think the shed would be around or cheaper then buying another smoker like you are talking about. Just my two cents.

Keep us posted on what you figure out.

Kookie

 

[minn.bill]

i have to agree with the shed idea, i plan on doing iy myself being from minn.and working const ,the winter is my main time frame to smoke. i dont belive any way you do it near your garageyour not going to smoke everything in it. my2 cents.

 

[garyt]

Build like a Ice fishing shack, small but not too small. It might be a nice place to get away from it all. small enough for the smoker to help keep it warm but big enough for a place to do something else when you are in there. prep table, supplies, cooler for the beer, television' etc. Vent the smoker exhaust outside. A small exhaust fan like for a bathroom in case the smoke gets too bad if the smoker doesn't seal well. Boy I think I am getting ideas, it isn't too nice here either. Just don't listen to any one named Red Green, whatever he says usually don't work out.

 

[richtee]

Hmmm. Interesting. Almost ALL the commercial units have an "evac" fan. Before ya crack 'em, they can clear the smoke inside. Southern Pride makes some smaller units I know. The price constraints might be limiting. As far as a home built, I guess it's possible... well, I KNOW it is. Anything is possible given infinite time and resources, but we have neither. I'm gonna go poke about a bit.

As an aside, -36 has a couple advantages. No freezer needed, and drying jerky in that should be easy. Just set it out in the wind a day. Sublimation should do a right handy job of it!

On Edit: Well, a commercial unit probably is out of the question price-wise. Maybe the best thing IS the shed idea. Put it on runners or wheels if ya need to move it. The constraints you place on a smoking unit would be most difficult to acheive without precision machining/metalworking and HVAC design.

 

[badss]

OK everyone...great idea's and I have thought of the shed thing as well however the wife doesn't like the idea of another shed and I am somewhat torn here as I would like to have a designated place or smoke shack, I really don't think that I would venture that way unless we were to move out of town on an acerage then I would build like a small garage ....just for smoking...canning etc. I am thinking of adding onto my existing garage thou...that would be an option. I already have heat, satelite TV, Stereo, fridge etc so it would be nice to keep it in there. What other idea's Richtee do you have if I were to up the antie abit on $$$$$ as in your post I know I had ya thinking on a unit but it may have been over priced for my request???!!! What'ch ya thinking Rich...? Lets say I threw some more $$$$ in the pot so to speak ??!! I also have a buddy who is a machinist so machining is not a problem plus I have my own mig and welder however was not wanting to build my own as time is limited with my job...I'd rather invest the money and buy something so I have my free time to smoke. Thanks everyone for your idea's...anyone got pics of a set-up like I am contemplating??? Please???!

 

[richtee]

Well..Ok...how bout this then..a small shed INSIDE the garage? With external air intake/outlet and a sealed door? As long as you got the heat available, this would work... use a small fan to keep neg pressure in the housing , when ya open the door rigged with perhaps a switch, like for closet lights, the fan would come on, evac'ing any smoke in the small "room". Line the 'room" with drywall for heat protection. Hmmm... will keep thinking

 

[starsfaninco]

One thing I've seen is a double walled 304 stainless GOSM (under the Vermont Castings tag). The door is sealed (some sort of plastic/rubber gasket. Putting a sealed smoke stack on it shouldn't be too hard. Price last time I looked was around 500.00 US. Still not sure this would do for you though.


here's a link
http://www.myownbbq.com/content/prod...ils.cfm?id=339
KE

 

[dono]

hey , if you like natural gas I got an old beagle , can produse all you'll ever need :-)

 

[kookie]

Well it looks like you have alot of us thinking on your little project. I like the idea of building a sealed room in the garage for the smoker. I would sheetrock the inside of the room and insulate the wals and vent the smoker outside and install a fan on the vent for the smoker, and also put an exhaust fan in the room but not in the smoker. So you can vent the smoker first before you open the smoker door and then you can also exhaust the room before you enter it and while you have the smoker open. I would even make the room big enough to do some processing in it. nice having everything in one place. As far as controling the fans I would have swithes by the door to the room so you will remember to turn them on before you enter the room. Keep us posted on what you decide.

Kookie

 

[badss]

Well...thanks everyone for the info....but I think I just may bite the bullet and buy myself an Amerique. Its on wheels, insulated, stainless steel, electric with variable digital settings and cook times, even allows one to set the internal meat probe temp in the morning and once it hits the desired temp it goes into a hold mode. I know what some of you are thinking...too easy and not really smoking but hey, Richtee made a suggestion to check these guys out and I think in the long run this may be just what the doc ordered for my winter smoking anyway. Then I'll save my GOSM for the back of my fifth wheel for camping and hauling around. I will still have to vent it and am thinking that if I decide to purchase then I'll go with a free hanging hood style oven vent system and tie that in. Either way I am just waiting to find out how bad I am going to get beat up on shipping on this bad boy and if its not too bad...that sucker will soon be mine. Everyone came up with some fantastic ideas and I appreciate you guys bending your brains to help me out. I'll keep you all posted on my success. Thanks again and Happy New Year everyone! Cheers friends!
BADSS