Many lovers of delicious food once unequivocally decide: they need a smokehouse. You can do it yourself. It allows you to cook meat and fish. Products in the process get an amazing unique taste and unique aroma. It doesn’t look very much like the taste of products purchased at the store. The commencement of work is accompanied by an introduction to the intricacies of making hot and cold smoked smokehouses.
Manufacturing principles
Home cold smokehouse should be installed at some distance from the hearth. A dug hole should be located in the far corner of the site. In this case, you cannot use the natural height difference. In the pit there is a focus connecting to the camera. Use for this you need a chimney.
There is no need to arrange a place for a fire with a brick, it will be enough to carry out the laying of the walls of the hearth. The length of the chimney is usually 2.5 m. This parameter does not exceed 3 m. For this, a trench of 0.5 m is dug up. It is deepened by 0.3 m. The bottom and walls of the smokehouse for home smoking are bricked, the elements are fastened together with clay mortar . From above, everything is closed with sheet slate or metal, and then sprinkled with soil.
Instead of a chimney from a brick, a chimney can be laid in a trench. At the top of the hearth there should be a shutter with which you can change the intensity of the air flow, the removal of excessive smoke and the intensity of combustion. The damper of a home smokehouse can be made of sheet metal. The place where the chimney and the chamber are connected must be sealed. For this, improvised means are used. An excellent solution would be a clay solution. An alternative is the installation of a stove-potbelly stove. The chimney is made of chimney. And the smoking chamber is located above the level of the chimney.
Using a barrel to make a camera
Cold smoked smokehouse at home can be made from a barrel. A simple design can be made from a 100-liter tank. The tank volume can be increased to 200 liters. The lid is cut off from above, but the barrel must be cleaned and washed before use.
A hole for the chimney is made in the bottom. The barrel is mounted on blocks or bricks. From the lid or any other suitable material, a fat collection tray is formed. It will stand out from the products during cooking. The diameter of this part of the home smokehouse should be less than the corresponding parameter at the barrel so as not to block the passage of smoke.
You will need a grill that you can easily make yourself. It will house products. This option is one of the successful ones. You can fix the trimming of the fittings by placing them at the top of the tank. Hooks cling to the armature. Cold smoked home smokehouses usually have grates made from improvised materials. For example, from willow twigs. They are intertwined. The cells are fixed with a thin wire. You can use it to make the grill.
The rim is made of thicker wire. To do this, it should be wrapped around the barrel to determine the size. The grate for a home smokehouse can be one or more, in the latter case, the elements are located at different levels. The distance between the grids is approximately 15 cm. To mount the pallet to the walls, welds the rods, which will form a cross in the center.
A loop should be provided on the pallet, with the help of it it will be possible to get the product for cleaning. To fix the gratings, you can make loops, which are then welded to the walls. Sometimes screws are screwed into the barrel for this purpose. The chamber lid should be made of hardwood. It should not turn out massive, it should provide for small holes through which moisture will come out. You can limit yourself to a jute bag, which is poured on top during cooking. The bag is pre-wetted with water.
Making a cold smoked brick chamber
Smokehouse for smoking at home can be laid out of brick. This solution is better to use if you plan to engage in smoking constantly. Otherwise, on the site you risk getting a structure that will have an incomprehensible purpose and is rarely used.
The camera is equipped according to the same principle as the barrel. The bottom of the camera can be made from the lid of the barrel, and the materials you have chosen will do. For masonry, a sand-clay mortar is used.
Using sheet metal
To make a home smokehouse chamber, a sheet of metal is cut and formed in the shape of a cube that does not have one side. Elements are welded together. Before you make a home smokehouse, you can think about what materials and products to use for this. The basis can be a small barrel, as well as the case of a refrigerator or an old pressure cooker. Some craftsmen make electric smokehouses that can speed up the cooking process. In such a device, the effect of the electric heater on the chips contributes to the formation of smoke. Periodically, the heater is turned off, which allows you to achieve the desired smoke temperature when it enters the chamber.
Through the hole, smoke rises and passes through the grid of the unit, charging positively. When it enters the chamber, it interacts with products on hooks. They are connected to the negative pole of the block. Products attract positively charged smoke particles. They settle on the surface.
Production of hot smoked smokehouse
What is its feature? Hot smoked home smokehouse allows you to cook food in less time, because the process proceeds at a temperature ranging from 50 to 120 ° C. With decreasing temperature, the smoking time increases. Such a device is as follows: a container with chips or sawdust is located above an open fire or above a heat source, which can be a heated furnace.
The temperature at which the sawdust will smolder is very important to observe. Smoke from sawdust will penetrate into the chamber where the products are located. A pallet is set under them to collect the escaping fat. Excess smoke will be vented through the chimney or through the openings in the lid.
Making a smokehouse from a barrel
Hot smoked home smokehouse can also be made from a barrel. The main difference between this design and the cold smoking chamber is the need to equip the firebox. It can be placed in a barrel. In the bottom of the latter, holes are made through which ash will be removed. The same holes act as a blower for the furnace.
At the bottom of the container, a piece of wall must be cut. A firebox door is made from it. A piece of 200 x 300 mm will be enough. Hinges and a handle in the form of a valve are fixed to the door. For the furnace, one-third of the volume of the barrel should be taken away. The remaining volume will be occupied by a smoking chamber.
When a smokehouse is made at home for hot cooking, the chamber and the furnace must be separated by a 4 mm metal sheet. It will serve as the bottom of the chamber. It is fixed to the walls. A hole is made in the bottom of the chamber for installing a chimney. Its diameter should coincide with the diameter of the pipe at the top of the chamber. You should not get involved in the length of the chimney, because the extra draft in the furnace is not needed.
The pipe should be fixed to the barrel wall. Next, you need to deal with a pan for collecting fat, a lid with a hole for the chimney and hooks or grilles. In order for the volume of the barrel to be used more rationally, the furnace is placed under it. It is better to fold it from refractory bricks. A hole must be provided for laying sawdust and removing excess smoke.
The capacity should be installed on the furnace, and the vacated volume can be used for additional grids. In the manufacture of a smokehouse at home, you can equip a mechanical thermometer, which will allow for control. The sensor is carried out. This device will protect you from mistakes while you gain experience. A few drops of water can be splashed onto the surface. If it does not hiss, then there is nothing to worry about.
Small smokehouses
Mini-smokehouses are equipped in ordinary steel buckets. Shavings and sawdust are poured at their bottom, and a grate is located on top. In the upper part of the container in the walls, holes should be made for the rods. On them rings are hung. This will allow you to get two options for placing products in cramped conditions.
Smoke exhaust openings should be provided in the chamber lid. The capacity is set on fire, too intense to do it is not worth it, because the sawdust should smolder. The process will begin, after which you can lay out and hang products. Then the camera is closed by a lid. Smoking will take up to half an hour.
Alternative mini smokehouse
Smokehouse for home smoking should be compact. Another option is a metal box with a perforated lid. It is installed on a barbecue grill with burnt coals. As soon as you fry the kebab and sit down at the table, the smokehouse can be installed on the grill. This option will be a good solution for fishing or hiking.
After you understand the principle of the smokehouse and experiment with the barrel, you can think about creating a more presentable design. You can weld a stainless steel smokehouse or lay it out of brick. An excellent option would be to combine on the same site and in the same volume of the smokehouse and barbecue.
Smokehouse combined with barbecue
These works will require a lot of effort and time, but the result will exceed all expectations. First you need to choose a place on the site, mindful of fire safety. For convenience, sewage and water are connected to this place. Smoking fat at home in the smokehouse can be done in a stationary device, a sketch of which is developed at the first stage. When mixing the solution, it is better to use a concrete mixer, however, you can do everything manually. Small mechanization speeds up the work several times.
The process begins with clearing and planning the place, as well as making the foundation. The design is mounted on a tape base. In a dug pit, it is necessary to mount a wooden formwork, which is studded with roofing material. Next, a layer of rubble stone is laid and crushed stone is poured onto the surface of which the solution is poured.
Smoking fat in a home smokehouse will be more convenient if you equip a stationary structure. A day after the drying of the first layer of the foundation, you can begin to form the next. The number of layers will depend on the weight and size of the structure. The last layer should be leveled with a level, and also waterproofed after the solution has dried.
Instead of rubble stone, concrete can be used. But such a foundation requires reinforcement. For masonry, it is most convenient to use a red stove brick. Masonry begins with the mixing of a sand-cement mortar, to which lime is added. The ratio should look like this: 3: 1: 1. Water is added in such a volume that the mixture is similar in consistency to thick sour cream.
The second and subsequent rows are laid apart, the bricks are first located in the corners. The laid out rows should be checked for horizontalness. The angles are reinforced by the laying of the wire. A home chicken smokehouse can have a roasting pan for installation of which there are corners and fittings between the walls. The furnace is made of heat-resistant metal or cast iron.
If several bricks are laid protruding inward, the grate will be easier to install. For firewood and household appliances, you can provide a place in the scope of construction. This smokehouse is easy to convert into a device for cold smoking. To do this, a portable stove or hearth should be placed at some distance and connected to the chimney chamber.
Smokehouse recipes
There are many recipes for smoking in the smokehouse at home today. If you like pork, you can cook it. The meat is salted to taste, garlic and pepper are crushed in a blender. Pork rubbed with adjika, garlic and pepper. Chips are laid out in the smokehouse.
The meat is wrapped and fastened with skewers and threads. The product is placed in a smokehouse and left for an hour or two. Meat should be checked to taste. Getting acquainted with the recipes for the smokehouse at home, you can pay attention to smoked cod. For cooking, you need to clean it, take out the insides, and you can leave your head.
Having salted the fish, it is left for 2 or 3 hours, then the excess salt is washed off. The fish is laid on a wire rack, and the smokehouse is closed. At this time, you can peel potatoes, boil or bake. The fish will cook for about half an hour or 40 minutes. You can find out about its readiness by its golden color.
Cervelat recipe
Butcher shop delicacies are not credible. Flavoring additives, preservatives and other ingredients can be eliminated if you make homemade natural sausage with your own hands. To do this, you need fatty pork, as well as beef, sugar, pepper and nitrite salt. The meat should be washed, dried and chopped. He is sent to the freezer so that it freezes a little.
Then it is passed through a meat grinder, and the shells are soaked in warm water. Recipes for home smokehouse are very diverse. If you like sausage, then you can use the described. Minced meat should be tender and uniform, therefore, it is additionally beaten with a mixer for several minutes at medium speed. Then salt and spices are added, it mixes well again. With the help of a nozzle for a meat grinder, fill the shell with minced meat. Its edges are fixed, then the sausage is sent to the refrigerator for a day.
The next step will be smoking. It will take about an hour at a temperature of 60 ° C. Next, the cervelat is boiled, for which a thermometer is required so that you can monitor the temperature inside the sausage. Sausage is cooked over low heat until the temperature inside reaches 72 ° C. In time it will take less than an hour. Then the sausage is removed and cooled. The final step will be cold smoking, which takes about 12 hours. Only after that you will be able to get the well-known taste of cervelat.
Finally
Smoking is the heat treatment of products with smoke. It is formed in a confined space from smoldering sawdust. As a result, the food is partially dehydrated and saturated with a characteristic aroma. If you like this kind of food, you can buy a smokehouse.
However, such equipment is usually quite expensive, so home craftsmen like to make smokehouses according to their own scheme. The technology can be quite simple. The basis is a barrel or sheet metal. It is possible to supplement the design with a chimney.
An alternative solution is the method of manufacturing a smokehouse from an old refrigerator. However, it must first be properly prepared. Insulating material is removed from the housing, and holes are made in the upper part of the device using a file and a drill.