Questions and suggestions for Southern Oregon

[roguesmoker2016]

I'm in Southern Oregon, and I want to start smoking. I already smoke cigars, so meat and fish are the viable next step.
I currently have a smoky joe thing, that I have tried to smoke with a few times, usually, ending up with burnt, or totally dried out meat and fish.
So, I figured I'd jump in head first, and having acquired a 7 foot tall, by 26" X 26" electronics equipment rack, with metal sides, I figured I'd build a smoker from scratch, and go from there. I hate having to squeeze everything into the little smoker. I am going to put a wooden door on the front and back, put in shelves, at different levels, all vented with holes. and have the top half for hanging, meats and fish.

I have questions....First, I am planning on using an electric hot pan, like in the smokey joe thing, to heat a pan above, Unless I should have the main heat source outside the cabinet, with the smoke vented over.

The rack is painted. Do i need to remove the paint? and if I do, so it will not rust, do I need to repaint it with High Heat Grill paint, or something like that?

I have a friend with a sandblaster, so I was going to do that.

Also, someone told me I should line the inside with wood, like a giant outhouse? and seal the joints to hold the smoke.

I am just getting started with this, and want to get it completed by the spring, for the fishing season. I will also be doing Deer and Elk and possibly bear. Also, my kid has been going duck and goose hunting alot lately, which is the reason I get started with this in the first place.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Rogue Gary

 

[mtnlakeman]

I'm also a newbie on the site, but have built three smokehouses and one similar sized smoker from a lab instrument thing. My smokehouse is virtually identical sized and I use wood to heat it with. I have propane installed as well, and use it basically to get the wood smoldering then turn it off. I'd rather have electricity, but didn't have 240V wired in. The reason I like electricity vs propane is because the propane produces moisture as it burns whereas electricity is dry.

As far as your questions are concerned if you use wood it has a spontaneous combustion point around 450 degrees depending on the wood used. So, if you want to hot cook something around that temperature (I hope not) or more likely get a grease fire from dripping fat or a flare up chances are you'll end up burning your smoker. Mine is wood studs with 2 layers of concrete board and then stainless over the concrete board so also have the wood thing to deal with.

Paint. Yes, I'd sandblast and repaint with something you know isn't toxic, or rub it down with several coatings of peanut oil and cure it like a dutch oven.

Heat - Having a hot plate in and a smoke generator on the outside will make it very versatile. For example, Nova lox and cheese you want to cold smoke and kippered fish, fowl or smokies/sausage you want to hot smoke.

I'm assuming it's not insulated so make sure the hot plate can heat the chamber to 200 degrees. Just make sure you have a baffle system of some sort to protect the hot plate from dripping grease. I use a roasting pan with water.

You also might want to put some sort of heat proof fan in there to create air flow so you minmize the hot and cold spots.

Wood lining. I'd stay away from putting wood over the metal because it will become a mold/rotting spot where the two meet because of the moisture that gets trapped between the two.

I put a slant to my ceiling that allows the condensate to funnel to the back of the smoker vs having it drip on everything.

Good luck and post some pictures.