Need some ideas for a smoke house

[squirrel]

Hi all, I want a small smoke house. I cannot build one as I don't have all the tools necessary, nor the talent. So, I want to buy something that maybe I can convert into a smoke house, and yes I am being very girly here when I say I want it to be cute. So, I was looking at garden sheds and large dog houses. Here's one of the sheds I liked, they come in 4x2 and 8 x3. My neighbor can make me a smoke barrel as we have already discussed it (he does alot of welding, etc.)  I wanna be creative here, so throw me some bones!

 

[dave54]

If your not in a hurry. find one you like and see if your

local school has a carpentry class or vocational school .

You buy the materials and they build it free .

  You get a better built smoke house ,they get expirence.

 win /win for everyone

 

[adiochiro3]

Looks like a great idea.  Shouldn't take much modification to make that shed work.  What do you wanna smoke that you can't in your current rig?

 

[beer-b-q]

The 4X2 garden shed you have pictured would be a nice size, you could use a hot plate as the heat and your A-MAZE-N-SMOKER for the smoke.  Not sure which size you got but if one isn't enough you could add a second A-M-N-S.  Even a second hotplate if necessary that would be an easy project not requiring a lot of building skills.  You would have to make some shelves for it though.

 

[alblancher]

Are you planning on a firebox or a small electric heater you will put a pan of wood chips on to generate smoke?  You may not need anymore then the building you are showing, a hot plate and a heavy metal skillet.  All depends on what you are trying to smoke.   

When I built mine the smokehouse looks fine but that concrete firebox and smoke tube looks like something from a junkyard.

Good luck,  I'm interested to see your next step.

Al

 

[alblancher]

Shelves could be nothing more then some 1/2 inch dowels from Home Depot cut to fit.  I think HD will even cut them for you. 

 

[squirrel]

Here's my thought - I have an existing shed, well grounded and full of 2x4's so I thought I could mount the new shed off the ground to the existing shed, with cynder (sp?) blocks under it. That would allow me to drill a hole in the bottom for a smoke intake.

I would use the 50 gallon drum modified as a smoker to pump in the smoke. Wouldn't I need some kind of metal plate surrounding the intake for heat purposes? I want to be able to cold smoke or medium heat smoke, so I'm thinking of using a damper type control at the smoker end. My neighbor, who is building the smoker part says he can install a damper control without a problem.

I would definitely use the dowel setup, for obvious reasons. My biggest issue with my current setup is, well, not enough room. I mean, if I'm gonna spend six hours smoking then I want to take full advantage of it. So, for an example, I have 30 pecan trees, if I wanted to smoke pecans I could only get maybe 2 quarts laid out on my current setup. Just not enough room. Not to mention my homemade cheese, flour for bread, other types of nuts, bacon, my cat.

Also, could I use the same stuff that you use on a dryer?

Anyway, be patient with me, I have no idea what I'm talking about here, but, in my own defense I always try to think outside the box, and am always open to suggetions. Thanks, you guys are the best!

 

[cowgirl]

It sounds a lot like my smokehouse..wooden smokehouse sitting on a cinderblock base..with a drum fire box.

 You don't have to drill a hole in the cinderblock base though... just use a 1/2 block where you want to place your smoke intake pipe.  http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2008/01/building-cold-smoker-smokehouse.html  

Also.. dryer vent tubes will work for cold smoking but you don't want to use it for very high temperatures.

 

[fftwarren]

that there looks great. get rid of the shelves and put meat hangers in it

 

[alblancher]

There is a rigid tube used to vent gas hot water heaters that I used.  It's not permanent but pretty easy to work with.  They also sell flexible joints for this tubing allowing you to make your angles.  There is also stove pipe tubing that is double walled but it it overkill if your smoker is far enough away from the firebox. 

 

[Bearcarver]

Cheryl,

Keep tapping the brains in this vast sea of information, and you'll end up with the perfect smoke house. Take your time. Don't jump at the first idea. Then you won't end up saying, "I wish I woulda".

I guess your smoke house will be the only one that allows a squirrel to enter??

Bear

 

[rbranstner]

That shed in the picture would be nice and easy to make into a smoker. Just a couple of vent holes and mount some racks and you are set. Then to find a burner.

 

[mballi3011]

It looks like your garden shed would make one fine smoker. With just a few things that you could get from Homeless or Lowe's you could have one fine smoker. You could even make the drum smoker or you could rig a small propane burner unit and it would serve you well. Then you could really be making some good bacon and sausages. I would almost be excited to see what you will come up with a smoke house.