- Dec 19, 2016
- 1
- 10
The title of this thread says it all: I am certainly a novice at smoking meats, period! My dad always made us jerky and sausage from the critters we were fortunate to harvest that year. A few months ago, he built me a very basic smokehouse. I have used it a couple times. However, my father - the one who'd be directed this question - suddenly passed away due to a ranching accident very recently. The "temporary" smokehouse he built me now takes on a much more sentimental, permanent meaning; one of which I do not want to modify for any reason. It is basically a plywood box (approximately 8'x8'x6') with removable windows and a small door. He helped me seal up the smokehouse to TRY to prevent smoke from escaping. Under his guidance, I seal up the windows and door, put one smoke on my jerky using cool coals in a metal bucket/pit set on the floor, then go back 8 or so hours later to open the windows and let it dry for 4 or so days. Man, it was perfect!
I live in a place with a REAL winter (South Dakota), but I am from a place with what I now know as a pseudo-one (Texas). It is already subzero temperatures. My question relates to how you smoke things in winter. If I follow my Dad's method, the meat will certainly freeze quickly - perhaps even before the smoke completes! Does this matter? I Googled smoking meats in winter and ended up with more questions than answers: cold smoke, hot smoke, etc. I am truly confused.
Again, I don't want to modify this special hunk of plywood, but I am hoping to provide the rest of my non-hunting family with jerky. I remember my 8-year-old niece crying shortly after my father passed and said, "now who's going to make us jerky??" Hunting has a whole new meaning to me suddenly, and I am anxious to get send some jerky home her in Texas. Can someone who has to deal with freezing temperatures and has a similar setup and method as me inform me how you smoke your meat in the winter?
Thanks so much!
Brandi
I live in a place with a REAL winter (South Dakota), but I am from a place with what I now know as a pseudo-one (Texas). It is already subzero temperatures. My question relates to how you smoke things in winter. If I follow my Dad's method, the meat will certainly freeze quickly - perhaps even before the smoke completes! Does this matter? I Googled smoking meats in winter and ended up with more questions than answers: cold smoke, hot smoke, etc. I am truly confused.
Again, I don't want to modify this special hunk of plywood, but I am hoping to provide the rest of my non-hunting family with jerky. I remember my 8-year-old niece crying shortly after my father passed and said, "now who's going to make us jerky??" Hunting has a whole new meaning to me suddenly, and I am anxious to get send some jerky home her in Texas. Can someone who has to deal with freezing temperatures and has a similar setup and method as me inform me how you smoke your meat in the winter?
Thanks so much!
Brandi