Tragedy, reaction and resurrection! any suggestions?

[I-am-Chorizo]

It's been a while since my last thread

As things were getting serious with smoking, a year and a half ago I finally changed my "DIY" cardboard smoker to a "DIY" wooden smoker without much "Design thoughts".

It worked pretty well. Some design flaws started appearing over time but it kept getting the job done until tragedy hit 3 days ago in the middle of production (about 50 pounds of already cured sausages/bacon). The Smoker set aflame and burned down to crisp. All hard work lost in a few minutes.

Saddly, it turned into charcoal...I had to react quickly and solve the problem due to the amount of sausages and bacon waiting for smoking. So I rushed to a metal workshop, handed the guy rather sketchy plans of the smoker I had just lost and added a few comments (vertical smokers are practically unknown in my city, most people use small drums) and told him it was a death/life struggle. After two days, this is what I got:

What are your opinions, suggestions? Do you guys see potential or manifest mistakes? it was about $573 (using the exchange rate from Colombian pesos to USD) The material the used was Stainless Steel (Cold rolled sheet cal.20) and it has no iron frame.

I cleaned it throughly and started smoking right away...from the Parade to the front...It seems to work well, Just gets very hot in the outside. So this is my sad story...what do you guys think?

Greetings

Albert

 

[sandyut]

I dont know anything about vertical smokers, but looks like you got a nice and safer unit out of the tragedy.

 

[indaswamp]

What is the heat source of this new smoker? What are the inside dimensions of the cook chamber? How even is the cooking? any hot spots top to bottom?

 

[indaswamp]

Also-what temperature were you running when the smokehouse caught fire?

 

[Fueling Around]

At least the meat wasn't in the smoker when it went flame on.

 

[I-am-Chorizo]

What is the heat source of this new smoker? What are the inside dimensions of the cook chamber? How even is the cooking? any hot spots top to bottom?

The heat source is charcoal +wood sticks. the cooking chamber is a rectangular cube(?) 64cmx64cmx110cm. The bacon smoked well. It all gets pretty hot in the outside. I also got the builder to attach 44 mini hooks so that the actual capacity is about 220 sausages in one load (a link of 5 sausages per hook). One mistake already spotted; It has no deflector.

 

[I-am-Chorizo]

Also-what temperature were you running when the smokehouse caught fire?

No idea. I mean I was at work and my wife was the one using the smoker. She got into he house to use the vacuum sealer and when she got back, the smoker was all in flames. The wood was fairly isolated from the burning chamber. A friend suggested maybe the smoker wood was extremely dry from one an a half years of continuous usage and got ignited by the sole temperature.

 

[indaswamp]

No idea. I mean I was at work and my wife was the one using the smoker. She got into he house to use the vacuum sealer and when she got back, the smoker was all in flames. The wood was fairly isolated from the burning chamber. A friend suggested maybe the smoker wood was extremely dry from one an a half years of continuous usage and got ignited by the sole temperature.

For the wood to auto ignite, the chamber temp. would have to almost reach 400*F (around 200*C). If the wood was ultra dry, all it would take is a stray ember to land on the side of the wall while stoking the fire to light the whole thing off. Going with all stainless was a smart move. and yes, a baffle would help diffuse the hot air for a more even cook.