smoker build questions

[davef63]

Attachment 23402hello all, im currently building a smoker in which i would like to use as cold and hot[to 225*].i have a small wood stove im going to place around six feet away from box to produce smoke.coming in with 6" pipe on bottom,out of roof with 4" dampered pipe.this thing is 4ft wide 3ft deep and 6ft high.insulted to r-12. here is the question ,what size burner would i need [propane btu's] or electric [watts] to get this up to225* if i wanted to? still not sure if im going with gas or electric.im in mn and its cold.open to any suggestions,as im just winging it. thanks,dave

 

[bbq engineer]

Wow Dave,

There are a lot of variables in your question...therefore it will be difficult to answer. The ambient temp will have an impact, the amount of heat entrained from the wood stove will have an impact, as will the overall tightness of the build and the efficiency of the insulation. I am not going to be able to help you with a direct answer, but here is a link that I found on smokehouse burners. It might give you some ideas. http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/smokehouse-burners.htm

I'd wing it too, and then have a back-up plan or a method to over build it up front and then you can dial it back.

Good luck.

 

[hounds51]

What are you going to use for outside walls? Also if you can Double insulate your ceiling/roof. If you are using T-111 I think you could get away with one of these http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_16460_16460

Or maybe even this http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_16707_16707
I am useing one of these http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_15490_15490
But if I had to do over again, I would have used the double burner. If you check out my photobucket, you will find that my smokehouse is close to your dimentions. http://s727.photobucket.com/albums/ww275/hounds51/

 

[davef63]

thanks,guys good info, i will try one of those burners and see what happens, with all the variables it might be a trial and error thing. dave heres whats in the works

 

[twinfallsid]

You would have been better to make the walls out of plywood. Even with the interlocking tongue & groove edges on your planks, that thing is going to leak hot air like a sieve.

You need to caulk every seam, or start over with plywood.

At a minimum, put kraft paper over the wood planks before you insulate, to seal those cracks better.

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[davef63]

twin falls, yeah i thought about that, but the glue in the plywood made me a little nervous. im using a 2" fire retardant thermax for ins that should help seal it then plywood on the exterior so hoefully it will hold heat, we shall see!? thanks,dave

 

[meat hunter]

Personally, I think that tongue and groove is going to work quite well, if you seated the boards snug again each other. After a couple smokes, it should seal up quite nicely. I can not tell from the photos, but the only concern I would have would be the corners, how tightly they come together. But if you go with the insulation like you have, and put a skin on the outside, say something like CDX board, or even more tongue and groove, you will have one great well insulated smoker. Provided of course the door is sealed up tightly as well. Build looks good, keep us updated.

 

[rbranstner]

I just built one similar to yours and I am using a turkey fryer burner to heat mine and I am having great results. I have on mine I have tongue and groove on the outside, then plywood, then insulation then the very inside of the smoker is Tin. I am able to cold smoke and hot smoke with no issues. One factor to keep in mind is that it has been below zero when I have been smoking so it will be interesting to see what it does in the summer. A turkey fryer burner with a needle valve installed works great for me. Any you can get them really cheap this time of year.

 

[rbranstner]

One thing I would suggest is to put some type of rope or seal around the inside of the door. I need to do that on mine it leaks pretty good out the door.

 

[davef63]

hey all,fired up the smoke house today just to see whats what. not bad, smoke roaring out the 4" chimney, with very little leaking around door. i dont think its enough to worry about,my commercially built cookshack leaks more than this. now just to come up with a heat source. i like the idea of a tube burner under a baffle plate. any thoughts on this? trying to get this pic thing down so i can show you guys what im up to. have them in photobucket but am struggling getting them in my posts. very computer challenged! thanks, dave

 

[nickelmore]

There is a good post from one of the guys here on photobucket. What I do copy the "IMG code" I think it is the last option and past it in the reply

 

[deltadude]

To answer your question about achieving 225 F, provided that you have insulated your box properly as per the input of several comments, you would need approx. 2000 BTUs to maintain 250 F at 40 deg ambient, or 2200 BTUs for 30 deg ambient. If your setup will be in the garage protected from the elements you can get away with 1800 BTUs.

So if you go gas or electric, you need to deliver the amount of BTUs to the box to maintain that temp. Notice I used 250 F, there is always heat loss or inefficiency, so better to go slightly above, you will have some heat sensing/controller to shut off anyway.

Here is a link to a nice DIY smoke house that appears to be what you might be trying to do.

 

[davef63]

thanks deltadude, yeah i think i will need alot less btu's than i originally thought. i fired up the smokehouse today with 4' of 6" pipe [from wood stove] and it got to 130* inside smokehouse. ambient air temp at 12* granted this was out of the wind [in opened up shop] now i might have to add more 6" pipe for cold smoking. leaning towards a small pipe burner with safety valve. thanks again,dave