I'm looking to start a few projects this summer to keep me busy (and sane) and this sounds pretty cool. Anyone ever build one or know anything about them?

Smoke house like a cigar room, or meat?
I built neither.

meat

How big are you talking? Traditional or modern? Hard wood fire or electric/propane/woodchip style?

Traditional is the shit, IMO, but you need a hill or change in elevation for it to work so you can build your firebox away from the smokehouse. This way is most effective for cold smoking.

You can do a hybrid style with the firebox on the same elevation of the smoke house, but you won't get the same saturation of smoke since the smoke won't be coming up through the floor of the smoke house.

If you want the simplest one to build, just put together a good shack out of hardwoods with a propane or electric burner in one end with a pan for the sawdust/woodships/whatever and hang the meat from the other end.

Whatever you choose to build, make sure it seals goddamned tight and the smoke vents are lower then the lowest hanging meat.

How big are you talking? Traditional or modern? Hard wood fire or electric/propane/woodchip style?

Traditional is the shit, IMO, but you need a hill or change in elevation for it to work so you can build your firebox away from the smokehouse. This way is most effective for cold smoking.

You can do a hybrid style with the firebox on the same elevation of the smoke house, but you won't get the same saturation of smoke since the smoke won't be coming up through the floor of the smoke house.

If you want the simplest one to build, just put together a good shack out of hardwoods with a propane or electric burner in one end with a pan for the sawdust/woodships/whatever and hang the meat from the other end.

Whatever you choose to build, make sure it seals goddamned tight and the smoke vents are lower then the lowest hanging meat.


http://picsorban.com/upload/smokehouse paint.jpg

this is an artists rendering of said design....

How big are you talking? Traditional or modern? Hard wood fire or electric/propane/woodchip style?

Traditional is the shit, IMO, but you need a hill or change in elevation for it to work so you can build your firebox away from the smokehouse. This way is most effective for cold smoking.

You can do a hybrid style with the firebox on the same elevation of the smoke house, but you won't get the same saturation of smoke since the smoke won't be coming up through the floor of the smoke house.

If you want the simplest one to build, just put together a good shack out of hardwoods with a propane or electric burner in one end with a pan for the sawdust/woodships/whatever and hang the meat from the other end.

Whatever you choose to build, make sure it seals goddamned tight and the smoke vents are lower then the lowest hanging meat.

Hmmm, I want something that is good for smoking raw hams and turkeys. From there I'll get into other things. With that in mind, it probably doesn't need to be all that large. I have the means to build whatever, even got a restored John Deer crawler so I could adjust the elevation if it is worthwhile to do so.

http://picsorban.com/upload/smokehouse paint.jpg

this is an artists rendering of said design....

lol

Hmmm, I want something that is good for smoking raw hams and turkeys. From there I'll get into other things. With that in mind, it probably doesn't need to be all that large. I have the means to build whatever, even got a restored John Deer crawler so I could adjust the elevation if it is worthwhile to do so.
I can't help you with firebox dimensions, but if you are willing to do it build a traditional.

Could be as small as 4'x4'x8'. With a tradition (cold smoke) style house you can smoke cure everything, including cheeses and other things that won't take a hot smoke.

First thing is first; DO NOT BUILD IT OUT OF PLYWOOD

I don't care what some people say about plywood being safe for a smokeshack, I don't want the resins and whatnot close to the raw food. Just use whatever hardwood is handy. Make sure that the area above the vents is air tight, I can't stress that enough, air tight. For your vents you will want something thats adjustable to allow you to choose the amount of smoke and heat that stays in the shack. You are going to want to get several thermometers and experiment with firebox size and chimney length to get things to optimal temp/smoke volume in shack.

Here is a PDF on a more modern smokeshack design:
http://www.canr.uconn.edu/ansci/ext/build_smokehouse.pdf

You might want to get this book from amazon:
Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design (http://www.amazon.com/Smoking-Smokehouse-Design-Stanley-Marianski/dp/159800302X?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196727103&sr=8-1)

Here is probably the most basic of traditional style smokers:
Simple, Small Smokehouse (http://www.backroadhome.com/how-to-make-a-smokehouse.html)
You can pick up old wine barrels at places like Murdoch's that sell them to be cut in half and used as planters. Last time I saw them they were <$100.


Anyway, all of this really depends on what kind of smoke curing you want to do.

BTW, I also know a few guys that use an old wall tent with the meat hanging in one end and a fire built at the other end of the tent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL3UYyWlNmM

Some other info that might be of use:

Hot Smoking takes a few hours and the idea is to create the smoke flavor and cook the food at the same time. You want the heat in the chamber the food is placed to be between 130 and 180 degrees F. If you are using a Bar-B-Q, you would place the food as far away from the heat source as possible. If using wood or charcoal, you must tend to the heat constantly during the smoking, cooking process.

Cold Smoking takes even longer and often takes days. The food is placed so that there is no heat from the fire. You in fact want the smoke area to remain at room temperature during the smoking process. This is usually between 60 and 80 degrees F. Cooking does not take place during the process and microbes living in the food are not eliminated. For that reason foods that are cold smoked are usually cured with curing-salts. A good example of this would be Ham and Bacon. After they have been smoked for preservation and flavor, they must be cooked before being eaten.

The Combo This is a combination of Cold and Hot smoking. You smoke the foods at a low temperature for a longer period of time and then slowly over a few hours increase the temperature to the 170 degree temperature for cooking. Always check the internal temperature of meats and reach the temperature needed for safe eating.

Cold smoke for the fucking win.

I'm trying to have a serious discussion about smoking meat ...

http://www.onlinedatingguide.ca/images/gsr4.jpg

Wow, thanks a lot Supper!

No worries, I'm bored off my ass and have nothing better to do :bigthumb:

Alton Brown made a hot smoker out of a cardboard box for like 15 bucks.....

Oh, and a cold one out of some school lockers for bacon, Mmmmm bacon.

Duuuuude. You could hide your weed in there. its a house MADE for smoking. totally gnarly.

Alton Brown made a hot smoker out of a cardboard box for like 15 bucks.....

Oh, and a cold one out of some school lockers for bacon, Mmmmm bacon.
Alton does some really cool shit, but for a more... permanent... smokehouse I wouldn't use either of his suggestions :D