Charcoal Smoke House Question

[dennis5587]

So I'm thinking about building a smoke house, but I guess it may be considered a smoker in house form?  If I were to build up a base out of brick with a cedar house built on top of that for smoking, would there be any problems with that? I've been looking at the UDS's and trying to build a nice bigger more permanent version.  

I'm new here so I'm not sure if my picture will upload or not, but the picture may better explain what I am thinking.  In the event that the picture does not load, I'll explain.  I have two levels of 8" cinder blocks with a pipe going in towards the bottom of the pit for an intake.  I know this may not seem like enough air, but I plan on using a fan with an ATC so I think I should be fine there.  In the middle of the cinder block pit I was planning on using a basket for charcoal and wood for heat/smoke.  Above the cinder blocks is a 4' tall cedar "house" for my meat.  

Would this work, or am I missing something?  The only concern that I guess I should be worried about would be the Cedar catching fire, but with the fire in the bottom with the cinderblocks, I would like to think that it shouldn't experience hot enough temperatures to combust.  

Smoker%20Idea_zpsgi9qmhol.jpg

• dennis5587
• Sep 2, 2015

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j345/dennis_peterson1/Smoker Idea_zpsgi9qmhol.jpg

Thanks for the input.  

 

[trippy]

You could build a fire pit to the side of that letting the smoke and heat draft into it. As long as your going to be going low heat it will do fine.  If you could line it with a metal it would be much better protection to the wood. Keep in mind grease drippings will get onto the wood and it will grow to a fire hazard if anything got away from ya.  The volume of space you have in your house will dictate to how much fire you will have to run.

 

[pat1200]

A just concern for sure; over time the wood inside will become more susceptible to catching on fire at a lower temperature than what it takes to ignite newer wood.  You can see examples if you search net for "temperature wood ignites".  They have a couple of videos from safety organizations that will explain how/why.  Don't want to scare you but don't want you working hard on something that goes up in smoke (no pun intended).  I would keep your design as-is but stucco the wood on inside.  It's cheap, will last and take away possible fire problems.  My opinion.  Good luck.

 

[daveomak]

Place the exhaust stack out the side of the smoker.... condensate will not drip on the food if you do that....