My homemade smoker comes to life

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I ended up closing up the vent hole. That was enough of a draft to allow the wood chunks to burn, (note 55* rise in temp) with the damper shut. I put some good ole grey tape over the hole and plan to stop it up later. The smoker is pretty air tight as I have a seal around the door. I am going to drill a hole into the side and place a piece of hose thru it for conduit and run me thermometers thru the hose. I will then seal that hose with some high temp silicon. Sorry to ramble, but yes, I think I have enough leakage without the hole. I can see if it were gas fired the hole would be necessary for a clean burn.
 
I ended up with a 1000 w hotplate and have heat to spare. I would not use anything smaller. I might add that this was built mostly with scrap. The 2x4 frame came from some cement forms. The 3/4" plywood came out of a trash pile on the ranch where I was working. The layer of insulation inside the foil lined insulation (total of 1 1/2") came from a neighbors house remodel. A control box cover from a submersible water well pump was used to cover the outlet inside the smoker where my hotplate is plugged in. The controls, hotplate, chimney, and thermometer were purchased from Midwestern Research.
 
I'm thinking on building a smoker similar to this one for smoking sausage. Do you have a thermostat connected? Several years ago I built a large dehydrator using a small fan and a heat cone that screwed into a regular light socket. I installed a thermostat and it worked like a charm...

Anyway, thanks again for the info and great job on the smoker...
 
Yes, it is on a thermostat. Kind of like some of that Ronco stuff, set it and forget it.
 
Cool, I have lots of scraps in my shop and barn. I think I will begin my quest... Again, thanks for the info...
 
With the cost of shipping the smoker I want to Hawaii being so prohibitive, I am seriously thinking going this route. I'm thinking of using a propane single burner of some sort......
 
so goat........this is more than just a cold smoking unit.......you can hot smoke in it then?

the foil covered foam panels will not be affected?

tia

d88de
 
d88de, Goat's panels look to be the same as I have in my cold smoke shack. I had it up to 187 last week, I see no sign of deterioration of the panels.
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terry.......i am thinking more along the line of 250-275.........

since he's already had it over 200, maybe it CAN be used as a hot smoker


d88de
 
The temperature in this smoker has been up to 255*. No problem yet with limited use. If a problem develops, I will just have to go to plan B, no C, maybe D. I will fix it somehow.
 
goat......keep us informed........this sounds like a cheap insulated vertical smoker.........if nothing else........use the insulation on the outside.....but didn't i see here somewhere, that you are not supossed to use pine or plywood for the interior of a hot smoker exposed?



tia


d88de
 
Well, if it works at that high of temp, great.
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If I was going to go over 200, I would just use my regular cooker though. Wood and foam and 275 degrees would make me pretty nervous.
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I have some old redwood planks 2½" thick in my barn. They are from an old flume the was used to pipe water for irrigation. Water had been in them for 75 years. I don't suppose redwood would cause a problem for just smoking sausage. I wouldn't have to use any insulation with them. Now I have to figure out where to put the thing because I don't think I will be wanting to move it much... Just a thought...
 
I smoked some pork chops today with hickory and other than getting too much smoke in them, they were great. I have been watching the insulation and it's reaction to heat. So far no ill effects. I am sure that the insulation had to meet some pretty high temp requirements in order to get the insurance company's stamp of approval, or someones stamp of approval. I am not real worried, because I have not seen anyone get out of this world alive yet. Something is going to get you. Wouldn't it be nice if it were a smoked prime rib?
 
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