Hello I'm a smoking novice, the only smoking I've been involved in (other than eating) , was in the PA and WV mountains with some old timers, (that I should have paid alot more attention too) that were preserving meat and seasoning sausage, bacons & hams. This was in a traditiional smoke house with a rolled up pc.of old roof metal for the smoke pipe, from the fire to the (uphill) smoke house. I was a 20sumthin kid back then and did not realize the value of their "old ways". Puddin, cracklins, scrapple mmmmmm.
Anyway, I have a couple of #100 propane tanks that I'm thinking might make a (cheap) first try smoker. (I am aware of purging & cleaning the tanks prior.....) I'm wondering (and thinking) of a vertical tank for the smoking chamber and laying the other tank horiz. for the fire box. I have found that link to the calculator for sizing things so that should take care of those critical numbers. For those that may not be familiar with my description of the #100 tanks, they are about 14,5" dia. X about 38" tall without the base or valve, and the type that you usually see in pairs right up against a house.
Finally to my questions,
is stacking racks of meat over each other ok? (due to small rack area)
is the vertical smoke path ok? (thinking that the chimney will be right out of the top)
does size matter? (is this too small to smoke properly)
in this vertical arangement do I need to deal with the drippings?
should I bring the smoke into the side of the bottom of the smoke chamber?
I'm quite handy with a welder, but not so much on a computer, otherwise I'd do a little scetchup drawing for ya. Down the road I plan on making up a larger reverse flow type, but I'm thinking that this will be a good project to "get my feet wet" on. I plan on using only wood for smoking, that is unless you smoking veterans suggest otherwise. This smoker that I've described will only be intended for cooking and not any big time preserving, mainly a learning project. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and if the whole thing sounds sutpid, don't be afraid to say so! I'm all ears!
Anyway, I have a couple of #100 propane tanks that I'm thinking might make a (cheap) first try smoker. (I am aware of purging & cleaning the tanks prior.....) I'm wondering (and thinking) of a vertical tank for the smoking chamber and laying the other tank horiz. for the fire box. I have found that link to the calculator for sizing things so that should take care of those critical numbers. For those that may not be familiar with my description of the #100 tanks, they are about 14,5" dia. X about 38" tall without the base or valve, and the type that you usually see in pairs right up against a house.
Finally to my questions,
is stacking racks of meat over each other ok? (due to small rack area)
is the vertical smoke path ok? (thinking that the chimney will be right out of the top)
does size matter? (is this too small to smoke properly)
in this vertical arangement do I need to deal with the drippings?
should I bring the smoke into the side of the bottom of the smoke chamber?
I'm quite handy with a welder, but not so much on a computer, otherwise I'd do a little scetchup drawing for ya. Down the road I plan on making up a larger reverse flow type, but I'm thinking that this will be a good project to "get my feet wet" on. I plan on using only wood for smoking, that is unless you smoking veterans suggest otherwise. This smoker that I've described will only be intended for cooking and not any big time preserving, mainly a learning project. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and if the whole thing sounds sutpid, don't be afraid to say so! I'm all ears!
