Who has an actual smokehouse or shack that you built? A couple guys have asked or wondered about mine. Build it yourself to get exactly what you want for your needs, but, it will always be just a wee bit smaller than you were hoping. Inside working space is roughly 54 x 40, just over 7’ high. 12 racks with space for 18. Racks are 40" x 18". Space for 3 per shelf. Stainless bakers cooling racks on sale at Amazon. Half lap joints, glued and screwed for the frames. Lots of adjustability and adaptability. A sheet of plywood to lower the ceiling to help raise heat if that’s ever needed. Fiberglass rods cut to fit in the shelf runners for hanging things. Cut down quarter barrel for the smudge pot. A small 5 gal stainless pot for super thin smoke. Keeping the fire in the house seems to keep the condensation out and off whatever is being smoked. Tried the offset wood stove build but in our climate and particular area it would sweat something fierce in the building. 4-ish inches of rock for the floor, concrete when I get my lazy butt mixing some sackcrete next summer. Recycled barn tin for siding. No chimney, smoke will run up and out the metal ribs, and through the adjustable gaps in the top and door. After a while you can put your hand on the tin and gauge the inside temps as well as look at the escaping smoke. This is a cold smoker that can get hot if need be. It gets hotter in the summer sun than it ever has with a fire in the pot. I hold all my smoking until now and when outside ambient air temps are below 40 and preferred to be at or just below freezing. No insulation. Sometimes smoking for days. Not able to do pictures here. Owl
Very nice spotted owl ! I know you showed cheese in your other thread. What other foods do you smoke in that house? What foods do you not smoke in there (since it's a cold smoker, and for other possible reasons like grease etc...)?
We smoke everything in there. It can be an hot smoker but we prefer the results of the cold smoke better since we aren’t smoke cooking. All species and cuts of meats, all kinds of cured meats and lots of fish. I don’t smoke sausages since I don’t like making it, other than bulk. No sausages really helps with grease. Grease is mitigated with cardboard on the floor or tin on the lowest shelf runners hanging over night and low temps really help with grease too. Eggs(deviled up coming), salts, nuts, hard and soft cheeses, crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, butter, mac&cheese, octopus, a lady friend used to like smoked tofu, corn, potatoes, asparagus, meat loaves. All kinds of thing. Try anything that crosses your mind, it might be your next best thing, like smoked cheez-it crackers was a big surprise that the kids wanted to try. We don’t do much bird, not too many veggies. A neighbor light smokes some fruits before making her preserves, it’s good enough but really not my thing. Reading up a salt curing shelf to try country hams. Owl
It’s a basic box build. Except for the stainless cooling racks on the racks it’s all scavenged or stuff that was laying around. Here’s a shelf or rack. I really pretty basic, seen to many times where getting too involved backfired and didn’t well at all. Old barn posts for the corners, covered inside. Old barn tin for the roof and sides. I made the roof as high from the top for storing racks that need to be out of the way. The space between the shelf runners is 4" for ease of sliding and they can stack if that might ever be needed. The door was the biggest pain, three different ways to close it, tight or hold the gap in place for draft and temp regulation, not sure it was worth the hassle. Just don’t make it a tight building. Leaks and drafts will actually help. The racks so far and as planned are the key to this thing. Sometimes the heat will run up the back or to one side. Being able to move the racks around will save your end results. Like with fish, smoke for a while then finish off with lite heat and time, if you can’t adjust the racks your results will really suffer with goo, cracking, drying out, even burning or being undercooked or both on the same piece. Regulate the heat and smoke with the lid on your smudge pot. Door away from your prevailing wind and rain. Two thermometers in the door, high and low until you can gauge by feeling the tin sides. Dry seasoned wood works and tastes better than wet green wood. Season your smokehouse on different days and for several hours before making any product. Cold smoking the brine is the preservative and most everything that started raw will still need to be cooked before eating, especially pork and bear. Don’t be afraid to smoke for days intermittently. Experiment in small batches to see what you and your family like best. Owl
