Hey guys.
Thomas Zimmerman here, 24 years young, married and first kid on the way. I have a home built cobbled together smoker, a #12 meat grinder from gander (its rebranded same one northern tool sells) and a 5# sausage stuffer. I also have a 2 meat mixers.....and their names are left frozen hand and right frozen hand!
I am relatively new to smoking meat of any kind. Got into things about a year ago to start using deer meat in new ways. I always made a ton of Jerky, and we have made some fresh sausage but always had more jerky than I wanted (you can only eat so much of one thing over the course of a year) and when I was dealing with 200 pounds of deer a year from just my wife and I, let alone my 4 brothers and other assorted family.......well I just thought it was time. We have had things made at the lockers over the years, and it turned out great but its just too expensive for my young families budget.
So...I bought some plywood and cobbled together an UGLY box last year that I have to screw the door on to make it tight to get my feet wet and see just what I could make. I have smoked about 300 pounds of sausages in that thing powered by some electric hot plates, and man its good. It maxes out at about 225 as long as its not too cold. I have been able to get some good beef and pork done as well, but its always a struggle to keep my temps up. Its a 2x2x4 box, so I can get alot of meat in there, but its time to upgrade in build quality. I also want to go propane so I can take it to the lake or various family functions and do anything from pork butt to apple pie in it. So after reading around here for awhile, its time to join up and start posting and get some feedback from others more experienced than me. I am going to go post my question in the other smoker build section if anyone wants to help me out.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone, when I get things finalized and get the smoker built, I will be sure to post pictures!
Thomas Zimmerman here, 24 years young, married and first kid on the way. I have a home built cobbled together smoker, a #12 meat grinder from gander (its rebranded same one northern tool sells) and a 5# sausage stuffer. I also have a 2 meat mixers.....and their names are left frozen hand and right frozen hand!
I am relatively new to smoking meat of any kind. Got into things about a year ago to start using deer meat in new ways. I always made a ton of Jerky, and we have made some fresh sausage but always had more jerky than I wanted (you can only eat so much of one thing over the course of a year) and when I was dealing with 200 pounds of deer a year from just my wife and I, let alone my 4 brothers and other assorted family.......well I just thought it was time. We have had things made at the lockers over the years, and it turned out great but its just too expensive for my young families budget.
So...I bought some plywood and cobbled together an UGLY box last year that I have to screw the door on to make it tight to get my feet wet and see just what I could make. I have smoked about 300 pounds of sausages in that thing powered by some electric hot plates, and man its good. It maxes out at about 225 as long as its not too cold. I have been able to get some good beef and pork done as well, but its always a struggle to keep my temps up. Its a 2x2x4 box, so I can get alot of meat in there, but its time to upgrade in build quality. I also want to go propane so I can take it to the lake or various family functions and do anything from pork butt to apple pie in it. So after reading around here for awhile, its time to join up and start posting and get some feedback from others more experienced than me. I am going to go post my question in the other smoker build section if anyone wants to help me out.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone, when I get things finalized and get the smoker built, I will be sure to post pictures!
