At the moment, there are quite a few ways to make a smoke-cured smoker with your own hands. It is worth noting that not all options require special skills and knowledge. Many of them are within the power of those who almost never faced the phenomenon of "amateur activity".
This article will provide some fairly simple ways to create a smokehouse. But first, some useful information.
Principle of operation
Hot smoking is one of the most popular ways to cook food. The smokehouse itself works due to the presence of a large amount of smoke. It stands out from wood chips or sawdust. An important condition is that it must be well warmed up. It is also necessary to ensure that the material for smoking does not catch fire, but simply smolders during cooking.
It is noteworthy that for each method of smoking there are special conditions for the structure of the smokehouse:
- if there is a need to make a device for cold smoking, then the hole for the hearth must be away from the compartment itself and must be connected by a pipe;
- if you want to make a hot smoked smoker for fish or other products, you must place a pit with coals directly under the cooking chamber.
And what to make a smokehouse from? About this later in the material.
What can you think of?
In general, your imagination is limited only by skills and the availability of materials. No more. You can make a hot smoked smoker from a gas cylinder, an old refrigerator, bricks and even a bucket. Let us examine in more detail some options.
Brick option
More suitable for use in the country. Since it is built for permanent residence in one place and is not mobile. You could even say that it is for professionals.
The best option for the right smoked hot smoked brick is a refractory material. If during construction you follow all the rules and do not violate the operating conditions, then it will last for more than a dozen years.
When implementing this option, it is necessary to ensure that the distance from the smokehouse to residential premises or plantings is at least several meters.
Second Life
Another option for a homemade smoke-cured smoker can be an old refrigerator. Or rather its body. To adapt it for such activities, it is necessary to remove all the insides, as well as equip the chimney. After this, you need to install a surface for sawdust (on the lowest shelf) and a tray for draining fat.
However, this option is full of disadvantages. Among them:
- the need to install inside an electric stove to use sawdust;
- lack of a tight-fitting gasket and a well-closing door (if the equipment is too old);
- obsolete materials can cause air to enter the hot smoked smoker, which should not be.
More mobile
One of the most “decent” options is a smoke-box made of sheets of stainless metal. Outwardly, such a device will resemble a box with the size that you ask it.
To arrange the shelves inside, corners are welded. This version of a smoked hot-smoked smokehouse, created by yourself, is quite convenient in that it can be used not only at the place of creation, but also on picnics, on hikes (of course, depending on size), and even in an apartment.
However, this seemingly simple and almost ideal option has its drawbacks. One of them is the inability to control the temperature at which smoking occurs. As a result, the food gets an unpleasant aftertaste.
Homemade smokehouse from a barrel
This option is almost the easiest (there is even easier). There are two ways to use the internal space:
- make at the very top of the barrel a few peculiar hangers on which hooks with products for cooking will be attached;
- or you can weld the corners, as in a box, and install food grilles and a grease tray on them.
It is noteworthy that for the preparation of such a smokehouse you do not need to look for expensive materials. Also, various professional knowledge and skills are not required.
What about two?
We know how to make a smoke-cured smoker from one barrel. But how to make the same unit from two of the same? Everything is a bit more complicated here. You will need to deal with both welding and metal cutting.
In fact, the final product will resemble the letter T. The structure is as follows:
- One barrel is located below and serves as a firebox. The upper part is cut so that a second barrel can be placed on top.
- She already serves the smokestack. It also welds corners for installing the grille. Half of the wall is cut out and hinged to serve as a cover.
The result should be something like this.
How much easier?
The above discusses a bit complicated ways of how to make a smoked smoked smoker from barrels and a refrigerator. But what about the most ordinary steel bucket?
The principle of creation is almost the same as with a single barrel. Only instead of hangers are installed grilles and a pallet. The disadvantage of this design is the rather small size. Because of this, it will not be possible to cook many foods at a time.
Now that the principle of operation of the device and its main options have been analyzed, you can proceed to the instructions and drawings of the smoked hot smokers themselves.
Smoking bucket
It’s worth starting with the simplest. The way to create a smokehouse from a steel bucket is quite simple and does not require large expenses in terms of money and time. For work you will need:
- the bucket itself;
- two steel grilles;
- trivet.
In this embodiment, everything is quite simple:
- the bottom of a homemade smokehouse is covered with sawdust;
- two lattices are installed at a distance of ten and five centimeters from the top edge of the bucket;
- make several holes in the lid so that smoke can escape;
- install the structure on a tagan, above a medium-intensity fire, wait until the sawdust begins to smolder;
- as soon as it becomes noticeable, you can put the food on the grill, the cooking time varies from 30 to 60 minutes.
More than a bucket
Now we have to understand in more detail how to make a smokehouse from a barrel. It should be noted that this option is much more complicated than a similar example described in the text earlier. To create such a design you will need:
- ordinary metal barrel;
- two or three gratings (optional);
- cargo (ordinary brick will come off).
Creating a smokehouse should start from the bottom:
- Several holes are made in the bottom of the barrel. This will ensure stable blowing of the furnace, as well as the ingress of ash.
- A small door is cut out on one side of the bottom. A size of 20 by 30 centimeters will be quite enough.
- Loops are placed along the edges of the hole formed.
- The door itself is equipped with a handle and bolt, for convenient use and hinges. Installed on a barrel.
- Further options are available. You can either make a mount for the hooks on which the products will be prepared. Or place a few metal gratings.
- By the way, it is recommended to make the furnace not inside the barrel, but immediately below it, using a heat-resistant brick. Thus, there will be significantly more space inside the smokehouse.
- Further, a hole for the house pipe is made in the bottom of the chamber. Make it long is not worth it.
- It is better to attach a mechanical thermometer to the wall. It will help to monitor the temperature inside the barrel, thereby simplifying the cooking process for those who are faced with this for the first time.
- Once all work with the container is completed, it can be placed on the surface of the furnace.
Hot smoked smoker with a water lock from metal sheets
Quite an unusual option that allows you to make a convenient and high-quality looking device, with a little trick to improve the quality of the prepared products. To build such a smokehouse, the following materials are needed:
- a pair of metal sheets 60 centimeters wide, 155 centimeters long and two millimeters thick;
- thin fittings;
- Bulgarian;
- apparatus for welding;
- joiner's corner;
- meter.
It is not recommended to start work without pre-prepared drawings. Otherwise, errors may occur in the calculations with the amount of necessary materials. It is also worth noting that any sizes can be selected. This is just a basic example:
- Divide the metal sheet with a grinder into four equal parts.
- Using drop welding, connect the finished workpieces to each other at an angle of 90 degrees each.
- Repeat the same with the remaining parties. The result should be a sealed design that looks like a box.
- From the second sheet cut the bottom for the smokehouse.
- Attach the workpiece to the main structure.
- Now you can make a cover. From five sheet blanks of stainless steel make a design that will be slightly wider than the main shape of the smokehouse. Also, it should be deep enough and easily put on the structure itself.
- Handles are welded on top of the lid for ease of use, and a small hole is made for the flue pipe.
- Now, corners are welded inside the body, on two levels. The lowest will hold a pan on which fat from cooked foods accumulates. The one above is intended for the grill, on which it is necessary to lay out the dishes themselves.
- Sawdust is laid out at the bottom of the smokehouse. And she herself is set over the fire.
Now it’s worth going back a bit and figuring out how to make the same smokehouse, only with a water seal. But first, some information.
A water seal is such a gutter located along the perimeter of the structure in the area of the lid. Before you start using the smokehouse, pouring drinking water into the gate, without bringing three centimeters to the edge.
The main purpose of this supplement is to seal unpleasant pungent odors, as well as fumes. Thanks to the water in the gutter, the smoke does not come out, which makes it possible to prepare delicious dishes.
During the operation of the smokehouse, water must be added to the gate.
Actually, the following changes must be made to the instructions:
- after creating the cover, it is necessary to measure where it ends on the body (being worn), and install this very gutter there;
- the width of this design is about four or five centimeters, it is made of the same metal sheets.
Now you can move on to the most difficult option.
How to make a smokehouse from brick?
In this option, we consider the option of how to make a hot smoked smokehouse, combined with barbecue. It will be quite profitable, and with proper selection of the right materials, it’s also professional. But it is worth noting that the process of creating such a design is very energy-intensive.
To build it, you need the following materials:
- trowel;
- shovel;
- Master OK;
- level;
- bricks;
- cement;
- sand;
- capacity.
First, the foundation is built:
- A pit is made in the selected area, the depth of which should not exceed 40 centimeters.
- Formwork and metal fittings are installed in it. It can be both wire and metal rods. All other steel elements are allowed.
- Pour the prepared structure with concrete and leave for two days, until completely dry.
Now you need to make a department for smoking. It is laid out of brick and in its structure resembles a fireplace. Its dimensions should be as follows:
- Meter length.
- Half a meter wide.
- And a quarter meter deep.
- In a separate niche, located to the left of the "fireplace", a blow is made. Here a fire will be kindled, and smoke will go through the entire structure and exit into the chimney. The door for laying firewood should be located in front.
- In the "fireplace" it is necessary to install devices for laying products.
- The first option might be the grill. In this case, on the walls of the fireplace it is necessary to make corners for fastening the shelves.
- The second option is to create a framework for smoking.
- Regardless of the choice, the design should be located on a kind of shelf made of heat-resistant metal, under which there will be a kind of passage for smoke. The shelf itself will serve as a pallet for collecting fat draining from the products.
- A door to access the food compartment is installed on the side of the structure itself.
- Next, a pipe is constructed above the blower to remove smoke with a visor. Thus, the smoke generated in this room will pass into the smokehouse through the tunnel under the shelf with the food frame and then rise into the chimney.
- Next to it, above the smoker’s compartment, you can build a barbecue. And next to the pipe make a shelf for drying firewood.
Firewood is also important
It is important to note that the taste of the dish will depend on what kind of wood will be selected for smoking. As the best options, it is recommended to use:
- alder;
- juniper;
- a pear;
- beech;
- Birch
- hazel;
- ash;
- maple.
To create a more refined aroma, you can mix several types of rocks.
Attention! Before starting to create chips, it is recommended to remove the bark from the logs. This will help to avoid tar release.
By the way, precisely because of this, it is not recommended to use conifers for firewood.
It is necessary to stack chips in the smokehouse, the size of which does not exceed three centimeters. After that, they must be moistened and leveled to the bottom.