Who's "Still Smokin'?" (Meat, that is!)

[Jim S.]

Heh, I thought I'd add that meat part in the subject line so this didn't become a Cheech n Chong thread or some rant about tobacco use (unless you want to hijack it for either use -- be my guest, if'n you feel the need...heheheh).

Last week, two big things in my life happened -- I was on temporary layoff for the week, marking the first time in 35 years of working that I have ever been laid off, AND it rained over NINE inches on my farm.

Well, that wetness (about which I will not complain after 2 severe drought years) left little time to go "Up in Smoke," but Tuesday turned out to be a cloudy yet rainless forecast, so we pulled out the homemade barrel smoker...



...and an old salvaged outdoor table I got from someobody's trash, and a chair, and a wheelbarrow full of hickory firewood left from last winter...



...then we laid the thawed ribs and legs from a couple goats we killed last year on there, and mowed grass while it got done right! I pulled the leg meat and froze it in baggies, but the ribs we ate up like candy that evening...



...which of course led to popping a few tops during the whole dinner event and for quite some time thereafter, as we watched a glorious sunset through admittedly glassy eyes!




It was one of the better times I have had while losing money! A country boy can survive.

[whocares]

I'm still smokin....just cigs...

Great pics and looks like you know how to recycle wisely, enjoy your time off!!!

[7thswan]

Are you smokeing it for storage or to eat right away?

[Curtis B]

Can you diagnose smoker problems? I have one I need help with.

[Big Dave]

Did a brisket Mothers Day. Love my smoker. What seems to be your problem Curtis B?

[Janis Sauncy]

Nice smoker, Jim!

Did you design and build that all on your own or did you follow a "plan" (someone else's) or use a kit?

Janis

[Jim S.]

We ate the ribs, but pulled the leg meat and divided it into 6 one-gallon plastic bags and froze it. We will have smoked goat awhile from that.

Curtis B., I have helped others. What's the trouble?

Janis, I found pix of one made from double barrel stove kits on the Net. I then bought the kits in spring, when they are less than half price at farm supply stores wanting to unload them. If you get it all half price, get one single barrel kit and two double barrel kits, and you should be cheaper than ordering extra damper collars as parts even though you'll have leftover stuff. You don't have to weld on a handle like I did, you can bolt one on made out of conduit or pipe.

I stored that stuff, and bought the grates and gauge in fall when Wally World puts its grill stuff at half price. Then assembled it one fall weekend. The barrels held food-grade oils. I have less than $200 in it all, which -- while not free like many others strive for in building a smoker -- does mean that for less than the cost of a store-bought lil side-draft not too good smoker, I can smoke as much as 90 pounds of meat with excellent temp and smoke control. It is possible to make this for free with all scrap, but it would take a lot longer.

There are drafts in each of the connecting pipes, and in the chimney, so you can really control the temp and smoke well. The really nice part is that you can put broiler tinfoil pans on the diffuser under the grates, and keep water in them. Makes the smoker stay cleaner and helps tenderize the meat. The other nice thing is that you can use all wood to burn down to your coals, instead of using charcoal, if you wish. "Cheating" with charcoal just makes the process faster.

Couple assembly pix...

[Janis Sauncy]

Thanks.

I'm going to show it to my son.

I see the plastic "food grade" barrels all the time but, for obvious reasons, they won't work for a smoker.

Where would one look for the metal barrels?

Janis

[o&itw]

That one nice looking smoker!

For "cure" smoking, one of the best I have ever seen was made out of an old single door, rounded top, Fridgidare. It was enamaled steel inside, fiberglass insulation in the shell, and had enameled steel vegetable dawers in the bottom. They guy replaced the rubber gasket with wood heater door gasket material and put a couple of vents in the top. A fire was built in one of the drawers (he used lump charcoal and put green hickory on top) an old rectangular cake pan was put on the bottom shelf to hold water and meat was layed out on all the other racks. It was out behind the shed, because it wasn't to pretty, but he sure turned out a lot of great smoked meat, deer and pork sausage, fish, and even a couple of hams in the autumn. I think he had about $10 bucks in the thing... mostly for the door gasket.

[Welshmom]

I just built a trench smoker this past week and smoked my first home made bacon! Yummmmy! We had blt's tonight for supper!

I think I got about $18 worth of stovepipe in it, the rest was free/scrounged materials.

Smoke on!

[firegirl969]

Welchmom,

Please share how you built your smoker with us. Thanks, firegirl

[pookshollow]

You're making me hungry! :1pig:

Jim S., I love your barn - I'm an artist and I do a lot of barn pictures. Could I beg you for another picture with better lighting? Pretty please?

[Jim S.]

Janis, I got the metal food grade barrels from a person who makes goat milk soap and orders supplies in large quantities. Cookie or bread factories, cracker plants, potato chip places -- there are places almost in every community that could have some. I have seen folks make the smoker out of barrels that once held ethanol (used in the Southeast as antifreeze in fluid filled farm tires), and to me that would be OK since the ethanol would be driven completely off by the first fire. But some folks are finicky about what they use.

I have smoked in every month of the year, because of the excellent temp control of the smoker. You can smoke as fast or slow as you want. I could cure smoke in this, but I don't practice that. Besides the excellent temp control and range, what I like best about my smoker is the casters. From Harbor Freight, they are pivoted at one end and fixed at the other. I store it indoors, and that keeps it in great shape. Also, I have my hickory delivered for home heating use, and I make sure the smoker is inside, because hickory for smoking here costs double what you can buy it for to heat a home. If the cutter sees a smoker in your yard, the price doubles on the wood. So I have a "stealth smoker." I have smoked with hickory, apple, oak, and cherry. Each has its own unique taste.

The other features I like include the fact that the fire is totally separate from the meat in this design, so it is truly cooking by smoke heat only (which is why it could cure smoke), and I really like being able to put the roaster pans under the meat. Water in them creates a moister environment in the smoker barrel, and they make cleanup a breeze, and unlike many other folks who smoke meat, I insist on clean racks and a clean environment for whatever the food being smoked touches. I have been told I am too picky ("the smoke'll kill anything bad") but I would rather be clean than sick with food poisoning. The design of this setup makes it easy to clean. Best of all, the more you use it the better the meat tastes, as the smoker seasons.

This time, my barrel stove smoker wasn't about being cheap, though it turned out to be incredibly cheap to do with all-new parts, but I have built and seen some cheap ways to do it.

The cheapest smoker I ever built was a garbage can smoker. Find an old charcoal grill grate that will wedge-fit in a metal garbage can. Drill holes around the bottom of the can. Drill holes in the lid. Build a charcoal and wood coal fire in the bottom of the can, wedge the grate in, put the meat on, and close the lid. Zero dollars for that one. This one is similar:
http://cruftbox.com/cruft/docs/elecsmoker.html

I saw a variation of that in a 2-drawer filing cabinet smoker. The meat was in the top drawer and the fire was built in the bottom one. Free. I found a site showing how to build one: http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Pr...10Cold_smoker/

Saw one made to smoke hams by a guy who raised pigs. It was just a 77 Chevy van with the insides taken out, racks installed, and a salvaged wood stove connected to it. He smoked a lot of meat.

Here are some cool sites with smoker ideas:

Barrels:

http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/...irst-step.html

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/vi...r+finally+done

http://bbq.about.com/gi/dynamic/offs..._bbq_pit.shtml

How about a pit?

http://bbq.about.com/gi/dynamic/offs...ck/bbq/wdh.htm

A creative mind can make a smoker out of just about anything a fire can be built in! Have fun, is what it is all about. After typing this, I am now hungry and thinking about when I can get those two Boston butts out of my freezer and on my smoker!

[Curtis B]

I really need to post pics, but I can't yet so I will try to explain. I built a grill and smoker on a trailer the grill is a 300 gal drum and I have a seperate smokebox and fire box on it. The smoke box is about 2' square and 4' tall. The fire box is about a third of the size and hooks to the smokebox at the bottom by a 2x10 channel. I have a 2"dia pipe opposite the hot box at the top of the smoke box for "exhaust" and the opening of the fire box is about 3"x4" and adjustable. The problem is that i can't get the smokebox over 150 deg. I have the opening to the fire box right at the level of the fire, and have been told that it needs to be below the fire, but on my smaller storebought smoker it is the same height to the fire. I really want to get it working as I could put four LARGE turkeys or tons of other meat on at one time (we have a huge extended family and I allways cook).

[suitcase_sally]

I smoke fish, turkey, chicken, venison and pork.

[ronbre]

wow what a great idea..I'm saving your photos and think I'll email this to my son..we aren't doing a lot of meat right now..but we both love smoked meat..FIL had a smoker when he was alive and did coho salmon sucker trout as well as meat

[beaglady]

That smoker looks fantastic!

My DH made one that looks like a small outhouse on legs. It works really well, and can be regulated low enough that he often smokes cheese.

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by pookshollow

You're making me hungry! :1pig:

Jim S., I love your barn - I'm an artist and I do a lot of barn pictures. Could I beg you for another picture with better lighting? Pretty please?

Oh sure... that barn was built in 1937 out of oak sawed right off the place. How do I get a pic from you?

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by Curtis B

I really need to post pics, but I can't yet so I will try to explain. I built a grill and smoker on a trailer the grill is a 300 gal drum and I have a seperate smokebox and fire box on it. The smoke box is about 2' square and 4' tall. The fire box is about a third of the size and hooks to the smokebox at the bottom by a 2x10 channel. I have a 2"dia pipe opposite the hot box at the top of the smoke box for "exhaust" and the opening of the fire box is about 3"x4" and adjustable. The problem is that i can't get the smokebox over 150 deg. I have the opening to the fire box right at the level of the fire, and have been told that it needs to be below the fire, but on my smaller storebought smoker it is the same height to the fire. I really want to get it working as I could put four LARGE turkeys or tons of other meat on at one time (we have a huge extended family and I allways cook).

It's best if the fire box is lower than the smoke box. The floor of the fire box where the fire actually is built needs to be lower than the floor of the smokebox, and you want to take the smoke off that fire at the highest point of the firebox to run it to the smokebox. If I understand you, it is now being taken at the height of the fire rather than from the top of the firebox. The smoke is hottest at the highest point of the firebox and also has the greatest velocity potential. So the best place for heat is to take it right off the top of the firebox and run that into the bottom of the smokebox. My smoker does that so well that if I did not have the dampers in between, it easily would reach 500-600 degrees. You will probably have to add a damper to yours as well, if you adapt it to come off the top of the firebox, because you will have the hottest smoke at the greatest velocity this way.

The distance between the firebox and the smoke box needs to be as short as is possible in the design, because smoke temp drops quickly in a piping system. That is why commercial side smokers have the firebox directly hooked to the smokebox.

The advantage to the double barrel design is that it has two smokestacks out of the fire barrel, whereas a side-smoker has hot smoke entering one side and cooler smoke leaving the other. That can make for uneven smoking if it is filled to capacity. If you can orient your firebox to feed into your smokebox at both sides, it will make it work better and provide better temp control across the whole rack surface.

I hope this helps some. It's the best I could do without pix.

[MariaAZ]

I smoked a turkey (with veggies in the water pan of my gas smoker) this past weekend. DH had some for lunch yesterday and said everyone in the lunchroom was wondering about what he had that smelled so good

I've also tried smoking summer sausage (the recipe calls for baking in an oven but I want to experiment with REAL smoke).