SMOKER: How big is too big? Questions

[HTCS]

Building a smoker out of a 52X30 two door freezer that's 5 feet tall.  Too big?  plumbing it for propane and building some stainless racks for it.  Vents on the bottom and top with a main smoke chute with a flapper on top.  Anyone have experience with something this big that would be willing to share some pics and ideas?
HTCS

[Rick]

Not to big at all. Take a look at some of the monsters the competition guys run.

[Blacklab]

Yeah never. Rather grow into it than grow out of it. My biggest is all most 4000 sq inches cooking area propane is the heat source. Great for hungry crowds or lots of other smoked goodies  .

[Alchase]

My Grandpa had a detached single bay garage as his "smoke house". I do not ever remember a time when there was not smoke coming out of it, whole hams, beef, chickens, turkeys etc...
He would stoke the small fire pit couple times a day in what looked like an adobe pizza oven with about a eight feet of pipe running from the fire pit to the smoke house providing smoke.

[lamrith]

For a true smoker there really is not a "too big"  low n slow you are 150-225* so most heat sources should get you there.  then it is all about uniform temp and lots of smoke.  If you don't fill it every time it might not be efficient, but as mentioned better to have more room than to little...

Yeah never. Rather grow into it than grow out of it. My biggest is all most 4000 sq inches cooking area propane is the heat source. Great for hungry crowds or lots of other smoked goodies  .

NICE!  I like that setup!!  What do you use for smoke? chunks, pellets, chips?

[Blacklab]

Pellets mainly 

[HTCS]

Yeah never. Rather grow into it than grow out of it. My biggest is all most 4000 sq inches cooking area propane is the heat source. Great for hungry crowds or lots of other smoked goodies  .

Wow...that's nice.  That's what I'm shooting for.  This one is going to go down the road as soon as I get it done so I can build something like you have.  Impressive.  Thanks for the input!!!
HTCS

[Blacklab]

Thanks 

You won't be disappointed.

[swift]

Not to big at all mine will do up to 150# of about anything !
Propane heat and self made smoke generator for use with pellets

[Ghost Hunter]

Not to big at all mine will do up to 150# of about anything !
Propane heat and self made smoke generator for use with pellets

Sweet!  That's similar mine and 3 times as big.  I have a Traulson single door, Bradley disk feeder for cold smoke and hotplate for chips or pellets for heet.  Those comercial freezers work great!

[Whitpirate]

Not to big at all mine will do up to 150# of about anything !
Propane heat and self made smoke generator for use with pellets

Any design secrets and pictures of your smoke generator you'd be willing to share?

[BackStrappin]

Lets see a pic of what your working with , sounds like a fun project.

Here is one I made out of an old fridge a few years ago.







You could always go the Pellet hopper route too.  My fridge smoker runs on propane.  It's so well insulated that it is hard to run at a low temp like under 200 ish.  But once it settles in it will run pretty even for hour's .  Just got to keep an eye out to make sure the flame doesn't burn out.  It happens every now and then if I try to turn the flame down too low.

link to pellet hopper ... http://www.smokedaddyinc.com/products/pellet-hopper-assemblies.html

[NRA4LIFE]

You can never go big enough.  I thought my homemade smoker (old Hotpoint fridge) was big enough but I was wrong.  Had to buy another one.

[swift]

Not to big at all mine will do up to 150# of about anything !
Propane heat and self made smoke generator for use with pellets

Any design secrets and pictures of your smoke generator you'd be willing to share?

Pm me so I will remember to take some pictures and send you ! It's built on the smoke pistol type design using compressed air

[wildweeds]

4 foot square and 7 foot tall. 2x4 construction,sheeted inside,insulated with that thin foil. Slide vents up high,cold air intake below,cast iron propane burner stove below. Side burner Woodstock for charcoal. Fairly easy to get a temperature and hold it for hours and hours with either heat source.

[chinookie23]

Here's mine an old gun safe. Wish I could say I made it but.... Nope I bought it from a fellow fisher / hunter

[HTCS]

Here's mine an old gun safe. Wish I could say I made it but.... Nope I bought it from a fellow fisher / hunter

Any issues with your propane hose getting too hot down there?  New to this...curious.  I was planning on hard-piping mine in.  AND, is that stainless expanded metal or regular carbon steel?
Thanks!

[wildweeds]

The hose for fuel is disaster in the making. My dad had a hose feeder line. And yup it caught fire,burnt the house down with 120 pounds of sockeye  and the bottle was on fire at the valve. It really is a good idea safety wise to hard pipe to the outside and hose it from there to the propane bottle.

[HTCS]

The hose for fuel is disaster in the making. My dad had a hose feeder line. And yup it caught fire,burnt the house down with 120 pounds of sockeye  and the bottle was on fire at the valve. It really is a good idea safety wise to hard pipe to the outside and hose it from there to the propane bottle.

I like it...solidifies my thought on it.

[runamuk]

Here's mine an old gun safe. Wish I could say I made it but.... Nope I bought it from a fellow fisher / hunter

Any issues with your propane hose getting too hot down there?  New to this...curious.  I was planning on hard-piping mine in.  AND, is that stainless expanded metal or regular carbon steel?
Thanks!

It looks to me like the fittings are on the underside of the smoker and the hose is just being stored there when not in use, that hose isn't connected to anything that I can see.   

[chinookie23]

Sorry so late. Yes the hose is just stored there. It is all outside / under the smoker. Have had zero issues with it getting hot or even warm for that matter. Actually the issue I had once was my flame getting blown out.... Go figure.

[HTCS]

Sorry so late. Yes the hose is just stored there. It is all outside / under the smoker. Have had zero issues with it getting hot or even warm for that matter. Actually the issue I had once was my flame getting blown out.... Go figure.

Nice!