# Build your own smoker



## smokerjoker

if any one is interested I can tell you how to build a direct heat smoker that works really well and is not expensive at all ....the only tools required is a drill and the only thing you need to purchase is racks and some screws and a  cabinet door handle.

buy a steel drum of food grade quality
drill about 12 holes 3/4 inch dia. one inch above bottom of drum
measure 24 inches down from top of drum and drill a 3/8 dia. hole drill four of them two on each side so that a steel rod can be place in through each set of holes . this is for your rack to sit on.
in the lid on the drum find the center and and drill two holes to recieve the screws for the handle ...buy one at your local hardware store for a kitchen cabinet. Mount handle to lid remove one bung.
build fire in bottom of drum place rack in drum and cover with lid.


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## Michael in FtW

LOL - you can also use a 30-gallon galvanized aluminum trash can.


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## keltin

Michael in FtW said:


> LOL - you can also use a 30-gallon galvanized aluminum trash can.


 
Or a cardboard box! Seems to work!


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## Fisher's Mom

keltin said:


> Or a cardboard box! Seems to work!


Cool links, keltin! They showed one made out of terra cotta pots on the second link. Maybe I'll try it.


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## keltin

Fisher's Mom said:


> Cool links, keltin! They showed one made out of terra cotta pots on the second link. Maybe I'll try it.


 
The terra cotta pot smoker looks great. One guy calls it the Big Brown Egg (play on the Big Green Egg). I like it.

Heck, I’ve got an idea and designs on making a small table-top smoker out of the biggest stock pot I can find at a thrift store, along with a cheap wire rack and an 8 dollar electric hot plate from Wal-Mart. It should work well….now all I have to do is find that uber-huge stock pot. Something on the order of 30 quarts or more.


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## Fisher's Mom

keltin said:


> Heck, I’ve got an idea and designs on making a small table-top smoker out of the biggest stock pot I can find at a thrift store, along with a cheap wire rack an 8 dollar electric hot plate from Wal-Mart. It should work well….now all I have to do is find that uber-huge stock pot. Something on the order of 30 quarts or more.


Don't you know you have to share on the playground?  If you have a design, why aren't you posting this?????


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## keltin

Fisher's Mom said:


> Don't you know you have to share on the playground?  If you have a design, why aren't you posting this?????


 
Well, everything is hand drawn right now, and while the theory is solid, I haven't tested it. But, if you like, I can get the plans in electronic format and post it or email it to you....but again - I've not tested this yet, so there may be some tweaks.....but I'm feeling pretty confident about it.


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## Fisher's Mom

OK, I guess I (oh....I mean we) can wait til you get done testing and tweaking. BTW I volunteer to test whatever meat you smoke in it.


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## Katie H

Michael in FtW said:


> LOL - you can also use a 30-gallon galvanized aluminum trash can.



If you can  find one.


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## Uncle Bob

I'm wondering if galvanized material would have Zinc in it. I know that zinc chloride fumes would not be very tasty. Maybe dangerous.  I don't know at what temperature this may or may not occur, but I wouldn't want to risk it. 

Smokerjoker... Neat idea, but how would one re-fuel this cooker??  Other than the obvious, remove lid, remove meat, remove rack, add fuel, etc. etc. Then reverse the process.


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## mitmondol

Now, this is ALL wonderful!
BUT!
Anyone has a plan for a COLD smoker?!
That's what I really would like to have!


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## keltin

All of these electric ideas work as a cold smoker, just turn the heat/energy down! The cardboard box method is especially suited for this (with low electirc element) because of loss of heat.


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## mitmondol

Keltin, you think they would work for really cold, long ( I mean several days)  smoking of sausages ?
That is what I'm after.
Not only smokey flavor, but preserving meat.


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## keltin

mitmondol said:


> Keltin, you think they would work for really cold, long ( I mean several days) smoking of sausages ?
> That is what I'm after.
> Not only smokey flavor, but preserving meat.


 
Yep, but I'd put them indoors in like a barn or something to protect from the elements (blowing wind, rain, etc). I read about a guy that cold smoked salmon for three days in a cardboard rig once, and really, it's no different than the old smoke houses of yester-year, just smaller. Just make sure you salt cure it right. Heck, you can make beef jerky with NO heat and a box fan in about 20 hours (or less)! Room temp!


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## Uncle Bob

mitmondol said:


> Now, this is ALL wonderful!
> BUT!
> Anyone has a plan for a COLD smoker?!
> That's what I really would like to have!


 
What ever size/type/style "smoke house" you use, and for how long, the last 15 minutes or so bring the sausage up to 137*-140* to finish it off!


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## justplainbill

*Galvanized Aluminum?*



Michael in FtW said:


> LOL - you can also use a 30-gallon galvanized aluminum trash can.


 
Galvanized aluminum?  What material are they galvanizing aluminum with?


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## Michael in FtW

You guys are tough on an old guy! 

_Galvanized_ was wrong ... the way the bottom of the trash can I used was rusted out ... it probably wasn't galvanized. But hey - that was about 35 years ago!


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## beerco

keltin said:


> All of these electric ideas work as a cold smoker, just turn the heat/energy down! The cardboard box method is especially suited for this (with low electirc element) because of loss of heat.


 
Not trying to start another smackdown but are you sure this would work?  If you turn the temp down so that you're below 100o will the element still be hot enough to produce smoke with the wood chips?

I was under the impression that for cold smoking the smoke was cooled in some sort of heat exchanger (i.e. a long pipe in the air) before it enters the smoking chamber to keep the temps low.

Alton Brown did this once on his show.


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## Constance

My husband has been building a smoker using some kind of tank. All I can say is, just don't let it eat you, like it did my him. He ended up with seven staples in his head and the hide scraped off his forearm to the muscle. 
My son-in-law suggested having "Man eater" painted on the side. Might be cool painted inside a shark.


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## keltin

beerco said:


> Not trying to start another smackdown but are you sure this would work? If you turn the temp down so that you're below 100o will the element still be hot enough to produce smoke with the wood chips?
> 
> I was under the impression that for cold smoking the smoke was cooled in some sort of heat exchanger (i.e. a long pipe in the air) before it enters the smoking chamber to keep the temps low.
> 
> Alton Brown did this once on his show.


 
Alton Brown, as far as I know, inspired the cardboard box smoker I posted. That's why I'd say it would work as a cold smoker. But I'm not a pundit of cold smoking. But yes, I'd imagine you would need to move the heat source outside the box and then channel the smoke into it to ensure low heat. Maybe Michael knows the answer?


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## beerco

keltin said:


> Alton Brown, as far as I know, inspired the cardboard box smoker I posted. That's why I'd say it would work as a cold smoker. But I'm not a pundit of cold smoking. But yes, I'd imagine you would need to move the heat source outside the box and then channel the smoke into it to ensure low heat. Maybe Michael knows the answer?


 
AB actually had at least three shows on smoking:

The clay pot smoker he used for smoking a butt at around 250o

The cardboard box smoker for a fish at around 150o or so, don't remember exactly.

The gym locker/flexible pipe/smoke source device for making your own bacon at less than 100o (again don't recall the exact temp).

I guess it all depends what you call cold smoking.

When I do a fish I usually like the temp at around 225 dome and pull when it's at 135~140 - definitely not cold smoked in my book.


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## keltin

beerco said:


> AB actually had at least three shows on smoking:
> 
> The clay pot smoker he used for smoking a butt at around 250o
> 
> The cardboard box smoker for a fish at around 150o or so, don't remember exactly.
> 
> The gym locker/flexible pipe/smoke source device for making your own bacon at less than 100o (again don't recall the exact temp).
> 
> I guess it all depends what you call cold smoking.
> 
> When I do a fish I usually like the temp at around 225 dome and pull when it's at 135~140 - definitely not cold smoked in my book.


 
I wonder if they have Alton Brown DVDs for sale yet? I've not seen all of those and would love to. 

But again, I'm not into cold smoking, and have never done it, but I do know Alton Brown said it can be done in a cardboard box.

I’m pretty sure cold smoking has to be done at 100F or less, and I believe the idea is that the smoke itself, and not the heat, cures the meat? I should Google it I guess!


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## mitmondol

Here is something interesting keltin

Smoking meats and sausages is one of the oldest methods of meat preservation


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## Bacardi

One item you may want to add is to moisten things up is stream or aka a water smoker.  I did the "big brown egg" pot thing and put it up against my friend brinkman water smoker...The water smoker produced much more moist meat.  All you have to do is fit a pan of water near the heat source, but make sure there's room around pan for the smoke to rise...


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## Michael in FtW

Shhh Bacardi - don't let them "Egg Heads" know our secrets ...


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## mitmondol

What I remember from a long time ago, wet sawdust was used and the process took several days. We used to take the meat/sausages to the smokehouse, which was a small shad really.We could choose what type of wood we wanted, but if we didn't have enough stuff to fill the place, it would cost more to ask for a specific wood.


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## beerco

Michael in FtW said:


> Shhh Bacardi - don't let them "Egg Heads" know our secrets ...


 
As a former water smoker I'm not so sure that the "steam" in the environment is what does it.  

On my ECB for butt I used to brine and use a water pan. The results were excellent. On my Big Avacado I skip the brine (first time was on accident) and the water and I think it's even better.

I'm suspecting it has more to do with convection and radiant heat than the water.  I've never tried a water pan in the egg but some do. It may be worth trying just to see.


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## Bacardi

beerco said:


> As a former water smoker I'm not so sure that the "steam" in the environment is what does it.
> 
> On my ECB for butt I used to brine and use a water pan. The results were excellent. On my Big Avacado I skip the brine (first time was on accident) and the water and I think it's even better.
> 
> I'm suspecting it has more to do with convection and radiant heat than the water. I've never tried a water pan in the egg but some do. It may be worth trying just to see.


 
Taste testing is your goal...Have friends and family assist you with blind tasting to determine if the extra effort is worth it.


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## ayeshaa

Yes, it is also easy to build your own fire pit*.* 

A do-it-yourself fire pit does not need loads of blue prints and fancy diagrams. All that you need is a decent fire pit plan and some creativity to make your own customized fire pit. A few hours of hard work would be enough to build a fire pit once you have procured the materials needed. A wood burning pit is one of the easiest fire pits that you can build as it does not involve much complicated fixtures. For a good follow up, skim through
firepitshelper(DOT)com/Fire_Pit_Plan.html


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