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Hitech Redneck

Newbie
Original poster
Oct 14, 2020
6
3
Hello y'all. A newbie to this forum but not to smoking. So far I've used a round metal electric smoker that rusted out so I bought an aluminum one from Oregon but much too small and forcing me to buy chipped wood. I own a 70 fruit tree orchard (apple, cherry, pear, peach) with the majority being apple. When these trees die (I'm suspecting moles) I cut them up into 3" chunks and I have a large amount of dried apple wood. So far I've seen NOTHING on the commercial market that will allow me to use my stock. The charcoal offset smokers come the closest to what I would need but currently I'm being torn between building my own electric smoker out of single layer (non insulated) metal or consider a commercial charcoal smoker.
If I build my own (I have a small metal fab shop) I would build it out of 1/8" sheet metal, electric wand at the bottom of the smoker attached to a removable drawer holding the wood.
Questions:
#1 Firstly: last year I built a smoker out of 5053 aluminum but NO ONE so far can tell me if it's safe to use this metal to smoke food without any chance of food poisoning. Thoughts anyone?
#2 Does anyone have any recommendations about building a vertical electric smoker out of 1/8" metal with no insulated walls? Walls would be only 1/8" metal.

Suggestions/thoughts are very much welcome. I want to hear from anyone before I start building this new project.
 
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Welcome aboard. I'm guessing you have a Little Chief or a Big Chief box smoker? I got a Little Chief in the '70's and a Big Chief in the '80's. These are actually 'flavor smokers' when doing meat because you can't quite achieve barbecue temps. You can flavor about any meat in an hour or two, then finish on a grill or in the oven. In the middle of summer, in the sun, and with a blanket I can sometimes get 180° to 190°. I've cooked ribs to the proper doneness, but it's not a smoker for butts or brisket. Where they excel is smoked fish, smoked sausage, bacon, hams, and of course fish. I mention fish twice, because they are a fantastic fish smoker. When these smokers first came out, flavor pellets did not exist so they burned chips. Pellets work great, you only need to add a small handful at a time and you get a little more heat.

There are plenty of stick burning offset pits and many use a combination of charcoal and wood at the beginning, then feed wood during the remainder of the cook. The best advice is to buy a good quality offset. I don't mean you need to jump in and spend $6,000 or more on a Jambo, or Klose, Lange, or other custom pit builders. But you will likely spend over $1,500. For example, check out this model from YODER.

As far as aluminum, PK grills are cast aluminum, and people run them very hot. Two of my favorite smokers are vertical drums, and I have kamados, and a mini WSM, so every smoker I currently have is a vertical. I do cook a few times a year on hybrid horizontal smokers and like them too.

Let me chew on the idea of a vertical electric for burning wood. Got any sketches of your idea?
 
Welcome to SMF!
I’m sure some of the builders on here will be able to answer your questions.
If you don’t get the answer your looking for, post your questions in the builder forum, you will probably get more responses there.
Al
 
Thanks for the responses. Yes, I have the Big Chief, bought it 6 months ago. I'll keep it in mind for smoking fish, haven't done that as of yet.
I don't have a design as of yet for the new vertical smoker I plan to build but I should start on it soon. I will post a pic of the aluminum one I built last winter and haven't used it yet since I wasn't sure of the safety issue. BUT, I do like the way it turned out and was thinking of making one similar out of steel.
I actually tried to chop up the 3" slabs of apple into smaller chips to feed the Big Chief but the wood was so hard it was a futile attempt.
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Thanks for the responses. Yes, I have the Big Chief, bought it 6 months ago. I'll keep it in mind for smoking fish, haven't done that as of yet.
I don't have a design as of yet for the new vertical smoker I plan to build but I should start on it soon. I will post a pic of the aluminum one I built last winter and haven't used it yet since I wasn't sure of the safety issue. BUT, I do like the way it turned out and was thinking of making one similar out of steel.
I actually tried to chop up the 3" slabs of apple into smaller chips to feed the Big Chief but the wood was so hard it was a futile attempt.
Thanks for the suggestions.

I forgot to mention that jerky in the Big Chief is wonderful. My process for smoking salmon, steelhead and trout is very easy. I dry cure skin-on fillets for several hours wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator. Cure time is dependent upon thickness and how salty of an end product you prefer.
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The cure is rinsed off the fish, and fillets are lightly seasoned, then rest uncovered in the fridge overnight. Smoke time is also based on thickness and whether you like a moist or drier product, but usually takes 3 to 5 hours or an internal of 140°.
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I vacuum package on smoking planks for transport (the planks double for serving) or when freezing full sides.
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Post cure seasoning is totally up to you, black pepper or garlic black pepper are my personal favorite I make a pepper candy version that has both heat and sweet for some friends, and take it to a drier texture so it's like salmon jerky.
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YUM!! That sounds great, thanks, I will try it. We typically filet RedFish from the Gulf, leave it skin on and put it on the Grill with lots of Garlic & Italian dressing on it. Very good but not really smoked.
 
Welcome to the forums, glad to have ya join the fun

Chris
 
YUM!! That sounds great, thanks, I will try it. We typically filet RedFish from the Gulf, leave it skin on and put it on the Grill with lots of Garlic & Italian dressing on it. Very good but not really smoked.
I was raised on the Texas Gulf coast and we mostly fried, baked or grilled Redfish. Reds are lower in fat, which is not always good for smoked fish so you might want to try a small batch to see how you like it. That said, tuna is lower in fat too and I successfully smoke it the same way. Bottom line is, if you upgrade to another smoker, consider keeping the Big Chief, it has a place.
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Not sure what your budget is but a gravity fed vertical smoker may help you use that flavor wood.

Also from what I understand, any grade of aluminum can be considered food safe as long as the food isn't in direct contact during cooking.

I would look for a confirmation of that though.

Welcome from Wisconsin.

JC :emoji_cat:
 
Thanks JC. I've been looking for that confirmation for months and NO ONE can confirm so I've decided to put it in the corner and watch it just sit there. :-)) I like the design very much (one of my originals) so I'm thinking of making a steel vertical one very similar to the aluminum.
I have a small metal fab shop (and a full scale woodworking shop) so I experiment when I have the time. I've worked in the energy sector on the Gulf Coast and seen vertical smokers made out of oil field casing (very thick wall) but I want to transport this new one so I don't want it weighing 300 pounds.
 
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