Home Made Smokers

[Wea300mag]

My winter home project is going to be the construction of a good smoker. Anyone out there build their own smoker? Do you have any proven designs or helpfull hints? If so, please post the info here, I'm sure others could use it too.

[dogtuk]

i built my smoker out of an old style fridge i use a 1100 watt electric burner with a thermostat it works great for anything from cheese to ham sausage fish and jerky i can control temps from 80-220 no problem here are a couple of pics of some sausage and buckboard bacon i did in the smoker and right now i have 100 pounds of ham in the smoker

[bowsandhose]

 

[Jason]

man that looks good  ,lets see A pic of the smoker.

[robodad]

Just be sure you remove ALL the freon tubes and compresser, my dad had one blow up in his face because he didn't remove the reservoir holding the freon and had sucker fish and insulation scattered all over the yard !!!

[dogtuk]

ok here are some pics of the smoker and some toys
coho going in



some sausages




my toys

[billythekidrock]

I know better then to post in a smoker thread after dogtuk, but since people are looking for DIY smokers I thought I would share mine again.

Mine is an old metal locker/closet. I screwed in some wood rails and stuck a thermometer through the door. I use a hot plate for smoking (with the door closed) and then use the propane burner to keep the temp up with the door cracked open to keep down moisture.

The rods are just oak dowels and I made the racks with chicken wire but usually use the smaller meshed ones.

[dogtuk]

billythekidrock

thats a nice smoker it does the job for those are some great looking sausages and jerky you got there is it hard to control temps in there with the propane i am thinking of going propane my electric works well but lately i have been having trouble getting it to smoke at low temps i need to try something else

[billythekidrock]

Thanks for the kind words, but I have seen some of your posts and you are the man when it comes to smoked goods.

As for the propane. It works ok. I think if I had better regulator it would be great. I just don't like the moist heat that propane produces, but my hot plate doesn't get hot enough.

[The Weazle]

I know its not homeade, but I use a masterbuilt electric smoker.  I have to play with the vents on it to keep the moisture down, but it keeps a steady temp and produces some killer stuff.  A special shout out to Dogtuk for all of his help with teaching me how to make my own meat products...

[popeshawnpaul]

Ok, that looks really good Dogtuk.  I wonder if I can convert an old dorm fridge into a smoker like that?  Any hints or ideas would be very helpful.  Great thread and something I've thought about a lot...

[dogtuk]

popeshawnpaul

you need a fridge that has no plastic in it that will melt i got my old fridge from the landfill didnt cost me a dime it is a porcilen lined metal fridge i removed all the plastic in it and lined it with some old sheet metal where needed cut a whole in the bottom and got a burner from an old stove and i bought a thermostat from mcmaster carr it was around 60.00 i also cut a hole in the top for a chimney
the small dorm fridge will work if you take all the plastic out and replace with sheet metal but that is a big job i would look around for a old time metal fridge be a lot less work i think

[Wea300mag]

Thanks for the great input dogtuk and btkr. My only real uncertainty is the heat source, electric or gas. It seems the electric would be easier to control. I did a search on the internet and all I found was a lot of people wanting to sell stuff. I guess it's time to get busy and just build one then fine tune it.

[robb92]

Check out the sausge maker they sell do it yourself smoker kits and the differnt pieces you would need:

This is the link for a due it yourself electric smoker
it lists all the parts and prices for the items:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=94

I have ordered a lot of stuff from them and the customer service is great.

[robb92]

Here is the link for the same site for a diagram for a gas smoker kit:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=90