Home Built smokehouses.

[seedspreader]

I am doing some research on this subject. I've done google searches and found some good things there. My question is how many people here have a homebuilt smokehouse AND you use it?

Anyone willing to post some pictures. PM me if you're willing to share pics but not sure how, or don't want to post them here.

[Delinda]

We have a smoke house and yes we use it. We raise 2 hogs every year and process them ourself. Dh smokes the bacon and we make link sausages in casing and smoke them. They are sooo good. Our smokehouse is about 10' x 12' and we built it ourself out of old oak barnwood. We dig a big hole in the center and make our fire in it, using green apple wood or sometimes hickory. In the summer when we are not using it we fill in the hole and use it as a garden shed. It's about time to fire it up again, it is usually Jan. around here before it is cold enough to kill the hogs. It is not unusual for people to stop and tell us our building is on fire, they see the smoke from the road

[MomOf4]

We have a smokehouse/milk cellar that was built by my great-aunt's family in 1888. I am sad to say we don't use it, but I am attaching a picture hoping it will help.

The foundation is built of field stone, and the milk cellar ceiling is about 6' high (turned into my paint studio, and doubles as root cellar storage in winter).

In the front is a well - when we re-roof it, we plan to replace the point for the pitcher pump to make the well usable again.

The smokehouse portion is only the back of the top part. It is about 10' wide (the width of the building), and 4' deep. The used a kettle for the fire. The remaining area in the smokehouse portion was used as storage, and still is.

My father remembers using it, so I have picked his brain some on it. We hope to get hogs and be able to smoke them before my dad is not around to show us how.

[Beeman]

The butcher that processed my hogs built his own. His first one was wood and tin about the size of an out house. His new one is block with a wood/tin roof. it too is about the same size. He uses gas to fire it with the controls outside the building so he can regulate the heat. It looks like they used an old gas stove for the parts.

[Jolly]

The last smokehouse I was in had a cast iron bathtub for the firepit.

Worked for them.....heck, in a building used for more than one purpose, I've used a #3 washtub with a few ashes in the bottom...

[Labrat407]

In the copy of this book, there is a chapter on building smokehouses and preparing meat. Some detailed illustrations. If you can not find it let me know I might be able to get you the info.