Smoke House Question

[meat-man]

I might be able to get my hands on a old walk-in cooler or freezer " I can't remember , it is aprox. 4' by 4' by 7' . I was wanting to know if I could cut a 55 gal drum run a stove pipe in to the walk-in and put a smoke stack on the opp. wall. would that work for a smoke house. I know it would take a lot of heat, but think about the amount of meat you could smoke.

Does anyone have any input on this

 

[ronp]

It should work, but that is a lot of cubics to get hot.

How much meat are you looking to smoke? Yikes!!

 

[walking dude]

mm...........hopefully mossy mo will be by soon.........he made one about that size..............your size is PERFECT..........so jump on it and get it........there are PLENTY of folks here that have made cold/hot smokers outta that size...........

 

[mossymo]

Mine is not close to that size (I wish.....), but my wifes, uncle has one of those railroad aluminum sheds in his backyard he converted to a smoker (Not insulated). He uses a burner from a turkey fryer for his source of heat to smoke the wood.

I haven't talked to him in depth about his internal shed/smoker temps much; he kind of keeps to himself about his smoking methods. But after 9 years he seems to be warming up to me and asking me some of my thoughts on smoking, so hopefully soon I will get more info from him.

Last Christmas he had buffalo prime rib I smoked, he was very impressed and asked me how I made it. Now, about 2 weeks ago he said he wanted a smaller smoker and asked what I prefer; I think he's coming around !!!

 

[meat-man]

Hey thanks everyone for the input. Hopefully the guy won't back out and not sell it to me. Some told me that I should get a turkey fryer and put it in there as well and but water on it for steam to help the cooking process what is your thougths on that.

 

[jerrykr]

If you plan on using a propane burner in a closed space, make sure that you feed it enough air so the flame does not go out. You won't be able to see it with the door closed. If it goes out, your smoker will turn into a propane bomb. Just be careful, that's all.

 

[vlap]

Good luck on it. You could smoke enough for bubba in that thing!

 

[dangerdan]

I would keep the heat source wood if at all possible. You could easily duct 1/8" x 32" x 8" steel(fabricated) intake and 100lb propane tank converted into a firebox into an opening made in the back at the bottom of the unit. This would certainly give you a large enough heat source. With some interior venting to even out the heat and a good stack you'd have a great smoker.

 

[dysartsmoker]

A friend of mine has a old milk cooler not sure of the size I think around 3 ft wide 4 ft high and 12 ft long. He uses a fire box outside of the smoker and a hot plate inside the cooler for heat source. Makes some great suasage and pep sticks.

 

[dysartsmoker]

Oh he also has a fan inside to move the air around.

 

[white cloud]

That is a good point jerrykr. I think I wood burn wood outside and add an electric heat element internally. Just a thought.

 

[meat-man]

Cool Thanks for all the input I am going to got talk to him tonight and maybe I can get CHEAP!

If it is big enough for BUBBA......lets face it that's BIG LOL

I will keep it posted on what I find out

 

[pineywoods]

Matt the only thing that I can think of that might not work is hot smoking but for cold smoking I think it should work fine. If its like most of the walk ins I've seen its thin metal inside and a foam type insulation behind that. I would burn outside and pipe the smoke in. I'm in the process of trying to finalize plans for a smoke house as well but no access to a cooler like you.

 

[meat-man]

I went and looked at the walk-in tonight and I think it is to far gone