Now I'm a smoker

[Fang]

I keep bumping into that picture of the smoker Irishfield's daughter made on my hard drive. I always said I'd get around to making one some day. Well last weekend was it. After a very rough time in temagami in july I was ready for some easy down time. Weather was the worst it's ever been and to top it all off it was an 8.5 hour drive home on the holiday monday.

 

I had some crappy tire money burning a whole in my pocket and went by on friday to buy up what Yum swim baits they had left. Someone beat me to it. So I wandered down an aisle and saw a hot plate and like a bolt of lightening it hit me.

 

"Build the smoker and the meat will come"

 

1 hotplate, 3 wire BBQ shelf racks and a meat thermometer later I was out the door for around $50. Next stop was home depot. I made a couple of quick calculations on the drive over and picked out 12 1x6x5 cedar fence boards with the best wood grain and 1 cedar 2x4 for ripping down on the table saw for the base and shelf brackets.

 

Spent some time at the workbench in the garage scribbling down some measurements or for you non wood working guys - 4 beers long.

 

A couple of hours the last few nights with finishing touches and voila here it is. I made it look like a mini outhouse just to annoy the neighbours

 

 

 

 

Have made a few small runs with true north chips and set to medium on the hotplate and a heaping handful of dry chips I can get the temp up to 185F in about 30 minutes. If any of the more experienced smokers see anything that can help me get going please feel free to add your comments. Want to see if adding some started charcoal in with the chips will get me up to +200F temps

 

Will have to work out the bugs and get use to settings and times and then its on to smoked trout and salmon.

[GBW]

Spent some time at the workbench in the garage scribbling down some measurements or for you non wood working guys - 4 beers long.

 

A couple of hours the last few nights with finishing touches and voila here it is. I made it look like a mini outhouse just to annoy the neighbours

 

First off, WOW! NICE WORK!!!

 

Yes, 4 beers long also makes a nice toy box...

 

great call on the outhouse look for that exact reason, LMAO!!!

 

I would love to see how this works out with the heat situation as I would love to build one too. my "Mr. Meat Smoker" is not doing so well considering I'm the 4th or 5th person to have it...

[GBW]

now ya got me thinking (not good at this time of the night either )

would you be able to line the wall at the base with some form of heat barrier/protection and use a gas heat source to get to the hotter temps needed for some foods? As long as you have a minor air flow it should be ok, right?

If so, you could use something like this inside? http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/Sp...tha%2BStove.jsp

[Greencoachdog]

Lining the inside walls half way up with aluminum foil (shiny side in) may help raise your temps.

[bigugli]

You could mount a single propane burner instead of the hotplate. Only way to get higher temps with the hot plate would be through insulation and getting a better air seal along the walls of the smoker.

[Fang]

I sealed up the corners last night with the silver furnace tap and that reduced the amount of smoke loss I got in the first test runs.

 

Wood chunks work better than the finer hips in my opinion for heat.

 

Cranked up to 180F no problem. A little more research showed me that most homemade smokers like I made are actually 2 walls. They build the box out of plywood and then finish the outside with cedar or other panel boards. I really debated about the propane burner but on various smoker related sites I ran into a few instances where they recommended electric only for small wood smokers. I guess propane really kicks off the heat and as you dry the boards out any spark from the chips might cause problems.

 

I think this one's ready to do some back bacon this weekend. 1 hour in the oven until I get more confident with time and heat on this one and then 4 hours in the smoker

[legacey]

I'm a newbie to smoking and smokers.

 

I've recently done chickens and ribs and they turned out fantastic. I'm interested in finding out more about it though.

 

Anyone suggest any good cook books for smoking foods?

 

I've heard the book by the guy that does the outdoor cooking on food network isn't that great....I forget his name and show though.

 

BTW - that's an excellent looking rig you've made.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Paul

[Burtess]

Looks like a fine piece of work there!!

 

Don't seal her up too tight though, you have to let some air in for combustion of the smoke wood and allow some of the the smoke escape or you will run into problems of creosote build up etc.

 

And I would stay far away from charcoal in a wooden smoker, way to high of a chance she will be catch fire!

 

Burt

Edited August 14, 2009 by Burtess

[Dooops]

Wow, That's a great looking smoker.

 

My father had a nice store baught one sitting in his garage for about 2 years. I finally moved back and gave him a boot in the butt. He got a recipe from a friend and smoked some salmon and trout. Freakin fantastic!!

[Guest skeeter99]

I picked up one last week myself how ironic

 

 

was going to build one but stumbles across this in wally mart for 48.88 a smokin sidekick

 

a smoker that attaches to the side burner of your barebecue, it works really well

 

here is a link

 

http://www.smokinsidekick.com/home_page.html

[legacey]

That's too cool....

 

I used mine to smoke a moose and pork roast yesterday. Turned out great but still confused with some things like brining...is it necessary and chips?

 

I'll look at WM to see if they have those here...it would be great to finally use the side burner of my b-b-q.

 

Thanks for posting this...

 

Cheers,

 

Paul

[Jonny]

Nicely done, Fang. Love the "outhouse" motif!

 

I always pre-soak the wood chips in water before using them.

 

I would stay away from any adhesive-backed tape or any synthetics inside the smoker - just untreated wood, aluminum foil, steel or iron racks or spacers, etc. Nothing painted either.

 

---

 

The "Sidekick" looks like a good option too. There's a decent recipe book on the site...

 

http://www.smokinsidekick.com/pdf/recipe_book.pdf

 

If you want to bump up the smoke flavour, or you can't smoke for as long as you'd like, a little brushing with "Liquid Smoke" is good. You can get it in some grocery stores.

Edited August 17, 2009 by Jocko

[Calender Don]

I made a BBQ out of and 55 gal barrel and I have done small pigs the best I done are ribs small fire on one side and ribs on the other side keep the temp. at 200 F. use a good charcoal and I use Jack Daniels wood chips 2-3 pieces every 1/2 hour, about the time you finish your beer and get a refill. If you stand the ribs up the fat will drip off cook for 5 hours they come right off the bone the last 15 min. coat them in a good ribs sauce and eat.

[Burtess]

Come on..... get some meat on there and take some pictures!!

 

BBQ p o r n......... yummmm....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burt

Edited August 17, 2009 by Burtess

[Fang]

First batch of salmon and trout turned out OK.

24 hours in a soya soauce and brown sugar brine. Added some hot sauce but nowhere near enough. Mental note for next brine triple up the hot sauce

 

The bottom rack gets much more heat than the top so I'll need to rotate the shelves each hour. I was able to get better temps when I added 2 well burned charcoal coals to the smoking chips.

 

Here it is at 11 pm last night after 5 hours in the smoker. 2 pieces for lunch today at work and orders to bring in a bunch more tomorrow

 

next up will be smoked nachos and wings

 

[Rodwrap]

THE FOODS POSTED LOOK GREAT!!!

I'll toss my hat in the ((smoke))ring

 

 

 

My first craft is custom rodbuilding...my second is wood fired BBQ & catering....oh, I'm the gen. manager of a bowling center too,( starting 35th year in same place )

 

a rod

 

'nuff of that..on to the GOOD STUFF!

.....................

Que time...

 

 

 

 

pork loin & brisket

 

 

old boiler-horizontal smoker

 

Kiln dried wood is free & only 3 miles from home

Spending 12 years as a logging contractor made some good contacts!

 

 

can't forget my Sassy sweetie!! smoked beef femur bones

[Dean Ellison]

Here's my dry rub recipe I've developed over the years.

 

I use it mostly on pork, but it's good on poultry too, applied 24 hours in advance.

 

DEAN'S DRY RUB

1/4 CUP COARSE SEA SALT

1/4 CUP PAPRIKA

1/4 CUP (PACKED) DARK BROWN SUGAR (NOT THE LIGHT STUFF)

2 TBSP DRIED ONION FLAKE

2 TBSP DRIED OREGANO

1 TBSP FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER

1 TBSP GARLIC POWDER

1 TSP DRY MUSTARD

1/2 TSP CAYENNE PEPPER (OR MORE)

1/2 TSP CUMIN

1/2 TSP CELERY SEEDS

 

 

Enjoy!!!!!