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How to make a smokehouse from a wall-mounted water heater. The possibilities are endless: you can even make a smoker out of a bucket. Stainless metal smokehouse

Smoked fish and meat are classified as delicacies for a reason - smoking allows not only to give the products a unique taste and aroma, but also to significantly extend the shelf life. Products from the store, unfortunately, cannot be called smoked - for their mass production, the "liquid smoke" concentrate has long been used. As a result, the taste is mediocre, and their benefits are completely doubtful.

You can smoke completely different products: fish, meat and lard that are familiar to everyone, as well as nuts, cheeses, vegetables, and even fruits and berries. Of course, they need different modes: smoke temperature and smoking duration, as well as the wood chips used for this.

    Smoking happens:
  • cold, with slightly warm smoke 30-50ºС;
  • hot, with a smoke temperature of 70-120ºС;
  • semi-hot, at 60-70ºС.

The higher temperature regime the faster meat and fish cook. Giving the smoke the right temperature is a task solved by the correct design of the smokehouse.

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cold smoked

Its main difference is an extended chimney, in which flue gases have time to completely burn out, harmful carcinogens from them are deposited on the walls of the chimney, and products that are smoked are enveloped in a light fragrant smoke. Meat after such processing can be stored for several months, fish - from three to 12 weeks.

In the figure -, it can be installed on the site in country house. Dimensions are arbitrary, so the drawing shows only the main structural elements.

A cold smoked smokehouse consists of three main blocks: a firebox, a smoking chamber and a connecting one. The firebox can be built from blocks, bricks or welded from metal. It must be equipped with an easily cleaned ash pan - the smoking time of some products is several days, and the ash must be removed during the combustion process.

The smoke output is adjustable, when ignited and at the beginning of the firebox, the firewood emits dark acrid smoke, which can spoil the taste of smoked meats. Therefore, the firebox is equipped with a smoke damper that directs its flow either into the chimney or out. Most often it is made in the form of a cover of the combustion chamber.

For smoking, you can not use resinous - spruce, pine, or tar-releasing - maple, birch, firewood. The best wood is cherry, alder, oak and apple.

In the photo - a cold-smoked smoker from a wooden barrel, equipped with removable rods.

Due to the low temperature, the smoking chamber can be made from anything, for example, from metal or wood. The use of porous materials such as bricks is not recommended.- absorbing smoke, and after the end of smoking moisture, they form a precipitate, which eventually acquires an unpleasant rotten smell.

The easiest option is a metal or wooden barrel with a hole in the bottom through which smoke will flow. It is equipped with hooks or gratings for placing products. The role of the lid is usually played by wet burlap - it retains smoke inside the chamber, while absorbing excess moisture. The photo shows an example of a smoking chamber made of willow, covered with burlap on top.

The crucial moment is the device of the chimney. Him, just like smoking chamber, should not be made of brick, as it absorbs moisture and harmful substances from smoke. Metal fit better , but it is necessary to remove condensate and soot from it in a timely manner, otherwise an odor will form over time. The best option- a chimney dug into the ground. The soil not only effectively cools the smoke, but also absorbs condensate, and the microorganisms contained in the soil successfully process carcinogens from it.

Making such a smokehouse with your own hands is quite simple. To do this, you need to choose a site with a slight slope, providing natural smoke draft. A firebox is placed at the bottom of the slope. A groove is being dug on the slope, which will serve as a chimney. From above it is covered with sheets of iron, and a layer of soil is poured on them for better thermal insulation. The chimney is led into the smoking chamber, it can be made in different ways.

hot smoked

Hot smoking is a fairly quick process, from 15 minutes to several hours depending on the size of individual pieces of meat or fish. At the same time, the smoke is hotter, about 100ºС, and it is obtained not from firewood, but from special wood chips, so the design of a hot smoked smokehouse has its own characteristics.

  • Primarily, the furnace is located directly under the smoking chamber. It is not necessary to make a firebox on wood, you can do it yourself from a gas burner or electric stove. The main thing is to heat the bottom of the smokehouse to a temperature at which the wood chips begin to smolder.
  • The smoking chamber in hot smoked smokers is airtight. This ensures more even heating of all levels of the product - there can be several of them in the smokehouse, and also allows you to use the smoke completely, preventing it from leaking.
  • Some models of smokehouses have a lid with a water seal.. This water seal is a U-shaped recess along the perimeter of the chamber, into which water is poured. The edges of the lid fit into this recess, resulting in a barrier to air from the outside and smoke from the inside. The water seal not only allows you to isolate the chamber, but also reduces the amount of carcinogens in the smoke.
  • Removable bars or bars are placed on one or more levels for hanging hooks. Products are placed on them during smoking. BBQ grills can be used right size, if you make supports from the corner with your own hands under them and cut off the handles with a grinder.
  • Another mandatory condition is a tray for collecting juice and fat.. If they drip directly onto the bottom of the smoker, the fat will begin to burn, and the products will acquire a bitter, unpleasant taste. For fish, due to the low burning temperature of its fats, it is better to do it with an outflow from the chamber. The tray must also be removable, it must be regularly cleaned of grease residues.

A drawing with options for performing a smokehouse for hot smoking is shown below.

The best material for such a smoker is stainless steel, but they are often made from improvised materials, such as a metal barrel, as shown in the video.

Portable mini-smokers for semi-hot smoking

The above designs of smokehouses are great for a summer house or a village house, but you won’t be able to take them with you on a picnic or fishing - they are too bulky. In field conditions, they will be successfully replaced mini smoker in the form of a box with a lid as in the drawing. It can be made with your own hands and used both in the country and transported in the trunk of a car to a place of rest.

The temperature in such a smokehouse is optimally maintained at 60-70ºС, which corresponds to the semi-hot smoking mode. Preparation of products for such smoking is short, and their shelf life is about three days.

The design of the mini smokehouse is simple: a box with a lid, equipped with a drip tray and grates. The shavings are poured to the bottom, when the oil lamp is placed on the fire, it begins to smolder. Smoke fills the space of the chamber, and the food is cooked quickly. If desired, the lid can be equipped with a water seal and a small diameter smoke outlet, as in the photo.

Material for manufacturing - sheet steel, stainless steel is better. The thickness should be such that when heated, the walls of the smoker do not take away, otherwise, due to uneven heating, it is deformed. Usually used black steel 2-3 mm thick, stainless steel - from 1.5 mm. In any case, the gratings must have a stainless coating.

Video: how to make a mini smokehouse with your own hands.

Firewood and wood chips: how to choose the right one

The key to the taste of smoked meats is the right firewood. It is known that the smoke from different types of wood has a completely different flavor. The easiest way to use in this case is purchased chips, choosing the right one for each type of product:

  • alder- universal, suitable for meat, fat, fish and vegetables;
  • oak- mainly for smoking game and red meat;
  • willow, birch- game with a specific taste, such as elk or bear, as well as marsh fish;
  • cherry, apple- cheeses, vegetables, nuts and berries.
The moisture content of firewood and wood chips should be within 15%, otherwise too much steam will form, and the smoked meats will get soaked, after which they will not be stored well.

The cost of making a smokehouse is negligible, you can use improvised materials and leftovers. A handmade smokehouse and the right smoking mode will allow you to cook delicacies that are unique in taste and surprise your family and guests.

Updated:

2016-09-09

Many lovers of smoked food buy it in the store and do not realize that it can be cooked at home. How to make a smokehouse with your own hands, today we will try to find out. Thanks to it, you can cook food in the country, increasing taste qualities dishes. It is not so difficult to make it and you do not need to spend a huge amount of money to buy this cooking device in several ways of smoking:

  • cold;
  • hot.

Before you start preparing for the construction, decide which one homemade smokehouse you need.

In cold smoking, the food retains its body and texture, but this is a very long process that should not be rushed. Wait until fully cooked to avoid poisoning. And in the hot version, the food is cooked due to heat, takes on the aroma of smoke and becomes more saturated.

After you build a smokehouse at home, all that remains is to look for recipes for cooking your favorite dishes, which will delight your family with new tastes.

This is a very simple homemade smoker and easy to make. It works in this way: a fire is kindled, the smoke must reach the smokehouse, because all harmful substances will fall into the ground along with water condensate, from which the products become sour.

After construction, you can immediately start smoking your favorite products.

The smokehouse itself should be installed on bricks that are buried in the ground so that it does not fail and fall from wet soil. The drawings of the smokehouse are shown in Figures 1-2.

First, prepare the place, it should be flat and comfortable. It is advisable not to choose a place near buildings or trees.

Having chosen a place, find an iron barrel or box approximately 1x1 m in size. If there is no such device, it is worth taking a sheet of metal, bending and welding a barrel without a bottom and a roof from it. It will be possible to put a sheet of metal on the top wall, which will prevent smoke from escaping. The chimney channel is made above the level of the smokehouse. After digging it, overlay it with a brick with clay mortar. Connect the structure so that the entry is 20 cm, which will ensure the same distribution and exit of harmful substances. All joints are covered with clay mortar.

To install the camera, make a hole, line it with bricks or place a metal box there. If you put a box, then the bottom should be cut off, only the walls will be needed.

You make a smoking compartment from a lattice, which can be made from twigs. Attach food hooks to the structure. Place a shallow tray under the grate, leaving gaps between the walls for passage flue gases. Stretch a wet burlap cloth over the firebox to protect food from contamination.

To measure the temperature, hang a metal thermometer on the walls of the structure. Now it is known from the instructions how to build a smokehouse in the country - expensive materials are not required, and this version of the smokehouse will last for quite a long time.

Hot smoking facilities

Such a homemade smokehouse is no less simple; you can also make it quickly, without making any effort. Benefits include:

  • simple design;
  • the process is simple and fast;
  • installation anywhere.

Homemade smokehouse is made of stainless steel. There are separate requirements for the container lid: firstly, it must be quickly removed and installed, and secondly, it must be hermetically sealed, otherwise all the smoke will come out and the smoking process will not occur, and the products will deteriorate.

For construction you will need:

  • box;
  • gratings;
  • soldering iron;
  • pallet.

Consider the description of how to make a do-it-yourself smokehouse for hot smoking. To get started, take a box and weld grates to it, one or two. For a large number products, a tray is placed under the bottom, which is necessary for draining fat. Without a drip tray, food fat will drip onto the coals and impart unwanted odors and harmful substances.

Dig a hole that fits the size of the box, line it with bricks. Put firewood on the bottom, which, when burned, emit smoke for smoking. Suitable hard varieties, such as pear, apple, oak. Finely sawn pieces or sawdust lie down, which should be ignited. Put the food on the grate and put it on the firewood, which should smolder. The main thing is that the temperature is high, because at a low temperature the food will not cook.

Schemes and options for a hot smoked smokehouse are shown in Figures 3-4.

The cooking process takes about 2 hours. After the first hour, the structure should be removed and the heat checked. With a little heat, you need to add wood and continue cooking. A home-made smokehouse, built with your own hands, cooks food as tasty as cooked dishes in purchased facilities.

The layer of wood is laid evenly. Can't stack. For high-quality cooking, it is better to lay the products in one layer.

If there is no smoker box, you can use a large pot or barrel at home, but then you need suitable grates. Hooks can also be used in the barrel. To do this, weld a few twigs on top and attach hooks to them. Food in this position is cooked in the same way as on the grills.

Thus, a do-it-yourself smokehouse can be used for horizontal and vertical smoking of food.

Before making a smokehouse, you need to decide on smoking method products. It comes in two varieties - hot and cold.

Cold smoking allows you to save appearance products and their taste. The main disadvantage of this method is that it takes a lot of time. In this case hearth installed separate from the camera in which the cooking process will take place.

One of the options - at some distance from the smokehouse, a hole breaks out in which a hearth will be arranged.

It is connected to the chamber with the help of a chimney. The length of the chimney in this case is 2.5-3 meters. It is organized as follows: a trench is dug, depth which is 0.3 meters, a width — 0.5 meters.

A brick is fixed along its entire length. It should fit snugly together and fasten cement mortar. A metal sheet is placed on top of the trench and covered with earth.

As an alternative to brick, you can use chimney. A damper is organized in its upper part. It is needed to control the flame of the hearth and remove excess smoke from the product.

The flue at the junction with the chamber must have diameter 200 mm. It is necessary to ensure its tightness so that the smoke enters the smokehouse.

The product preparation process hot smoked takes much less time than when cold. In this case, the container with chips or sawdust is fixed straight into an open fire. The smoke from these materials during combustion must go into the chamber with the products. Under them is fixed a container for collecting fat from products. Holes are made in the chamber or a chimney is organized through which excess smoke will escape.

When a decision has been made about who needs a camera for smoking, you can begin to create it.

Preparation of materials and tools

To make a smokehouse, you will need:

  • materials for making a camera. It could be wooden planks, plywood, old gas stove, etc.;
  • strong fittings, whose diameter should be not less than 6 mm;
  • wire from steel, for the manufacture of gratings;
  • materials to create a chimney or directly by yourself pipe;
  • Bulgarian with a disc for cutting metal;
  • welding machine ;
  • nails and hammer;
  • measuring roulette.

from wood

A smokehouse made of wood resembles miniature house. There are walls, and a door, and a roof, and a pipe. Products cooked in a wooden smokehouse have a rich taste and aroma.

Case manufacturing

The body of the smokehouse is performed as follows:

  • The frame of the device is a rectangular structure, height which is 2 meters, a width 1 meter. It is assembled from beams.
  • frame from three sides finished with boards that fit tightly to each other.
  • On the fourth side a board is installed, also knocked together from boards. It should close tightly without any holes.
  • knocked together roof with tube hole. If there isn't one, then just do it. window so that it can be opened and closed at any time. After that, the roof is fixed on the structure.
  • Inside the structure are organized slots for tray and grate. For a pallet, grooves are made at the bottom of the structure, for a grate - in the middle.

Important! If gaps form between the boards, then this will have a negative impact on product quality. The gaps need to be sealed with tow.

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How to make a lattice

For the manufacture of the lattice, unpainted wire is required, with a diameter 5-6 mm. From it is performed frame, the size of which corresponds internal size smokehouses. Pieces of wire are fixed on it, with a diameter 3 mm. The distance between them is 2 cm. All parts of the grid are welded together.

A pallet is made from a metal sheet. Its size corresponds to the size of the grate, as well as the internal size of the smokehouse.

chimney

The chimney is carried out as follows:

  • dug up trench, whose length is 2.5-3 m, width - 0.5 m depth - 0.3 m.
  • The trench is laid out brick, which is interconnected cement mortar.
  • On a brick fixed metal sheet.
  • Above the earth is filled up, layer in 15 cm so that the chimney does not freeze in winter.

Assembly

dug up pit corresponding to the size of the smokehouse. Its depth is 40 cm. At the bottom of the foundation is laid rubble, along the walls with the help of reinforcement are fixed concrete blocks. Further all this poured with concrete. Installed on the foundation camera, inside which the tray for collecting fat from food and the grate should already be installed.

Attention! The assembly of the smokehouse begins with the arrangement of the foundation for it.

To the foundation the chimney is brought furnace

The final stage is the installation of a smokehouse. It is fixed directly to the foundation. Two structures are attached to each other. The device is ready for use.

Photo 1. A possible drawing of a wooden smokehouse with the indicated dimensions. The arrows indicate the direction of smoke movement.

From a bar

A log smokehouse is made in the same way as a wooden smokehouse, but here, instead of boards, the body is completely made of beams.

Case manufacturing

The body of the smokehouse is made of bars, 1.3-1.5 m long and 20x50 or 50x50 mm in section. They form the frame of the device. It is a rectangular box. Next he from three sides lined with boards section 20x150 or 25x150.

When making a body of bars, you need to decide on roof designs. If it is supposed gable roof, then guides are made from the bars, which are an isosceles triangle. A median is taken from the top to the bottom.

Then done doorway. Boards are stuffed, 20 cm long from above and below. A door is fixed in the opening, a roof with a hole for the pipe is installed on top. After that, the body of the smokehouse is sheathed with clapboard. A metal sheet is laid on the roof, while the hole for the pipe is not closed.

Inside the smokehouse are formed grooves for fixing the grate and tray. For this, boards are used, the length of which is 90 cm. Via screws they are screwed on the sides of the camera.

How to make a lattice

The grate is made of unpainted wire. First, a frame is made, the dimensions of which correspond to the dimensions of the internal space of the chamber. Wires are welded to it. at a distance of 4 cm from each other. The grid is ready.

The tray for collecting fat from products that flows out of products during smoking is made of a metal sheet. Its dimensions correspond to the dimensions of the lattice.

chimney

To make a chimney, you need to dig three-meter trench between the hearth and the smoking chamber, width - 0.5 m, depth - 0.3 m. It installs chimney which is filled with concrete. A layer of earth is poured on top, thick at least 15 cm. This will allow the chimney not to freeze even in winter.

Photo 2. Chimney from old pipe leads to a place prepared for the firebox. Thanks to the refractory bricks, it is quite safe to make an open fire there.

Assembly

Before installing a smokehouse on the site, a foundation is made under it. For this, it is dug pit, corresponding to the size of the smokehouse, depth - 40 cm. The bottom of the foundation is covered rubble, concrete blocks are fixed along the walls with the help of reinforcement, after which the entire pit is filled with a solution made of cement. On him fixed camera. Inside of which a tray must already be installed to collect the fat released from the products during smoking, and a grate.

To the foundation the chimney is brought. At one end, an iron square welded from a metal sheet is fixed. Its size should match the dimensions of the camera. It is installed on the foundation. At the other end of the chimney is organized furnace. It should be made of refractory bricks and equipped with a metal door. This will be the place where the fire is kindled.

The final stage is the installation of a smokehouse. It is placed directly on the foundation. Two structures attached to each other with metal brackets. The smokehouse is ready!

From plywood

The smokehouse is made in the same way as from wood, but here plywood is used for its lining. The disadvantage of such a device is low thermal conductivity.

Reference. In order for the plywood smokehouse to retain heat better, it is enough to make the walls in several layers and veneer the structure clapboard.

Stainless metal smokehouse

The main advantages of a stainless steel smokehouse - and security use. Its size depends on the user's needs for smoked products. To provide delicacies not big family a rectangular compact device will suffice. To supply a large family with smoked meats, the smokehouse must have an impressive size.

Case manufacturing

To make the body of the device, you will need sheets of stainless steel suitable for cooking, for example, AISI 304. If, however, as a basis to use old barbecue from the same metal, it remains only to close the extra holes, make a cover and grooves.

Photo 3. Cut from sheet metal a shape with dimensions of 300x300x400 is quite suitable for the body of the smokehouse.

Algorithm for making a smokehouse:

  • Sheets of material cut into, according to the selected device dimensions.
  • Details are welded between themselves.
  • Inside the case grooves are fixed for lattice or lattices.
  • From sheets of steel cover is being made, equipped with a handle and a small hole for the exit of smoke.
  • Under the cover inside the device grooves are made for water.

How to make a lattice

The grate is made of unpainted wire. A frame is made from it, the size of which corresponds to the internal size of the smokehouse. Pieces of wire are fixed on the frame at a distance of 4 cm from each other. All parts of the grid are welded together.

chimney

The chimney in this case not organized. The only thing that is done is a hole in the lid.

Assembly

A tray with sawdust is placed inside the smokehouse, a tray is fixed on it to collect fat from products, a grate or grates are installed on the grooves. The grooves are filled with water. Such a smokehouse is placed to open fire.

To do this, a hole is dug 40 cm deep. Its width and length must correspond to the size of the smokehouse. Next, it is laid out with refractory bricks. Further, fuel is placed here, ignited and a smokehouse is placed. It can be used even in an apartment. For this, the device is placed on the stove and left to cook food.

From an old gas stove

An old gas stove can be used to create a smokehouse. To make a device, in this case, you need minimum time and effort.

Case manufacturing

The old gas stove is ready housing for smokehouse. There are grooves for the grate and baking sheet, the grate itself and the baking sheet for collecting fat from products, as well as the necessary thermal insulation and seals to ensure tightness.

How to make a lattice

To make grates for such a smokehouse don't have to because they are already in stock.

chimney

To organize a chimney, the plates are drilled on the side walls 2-4 holes. Their diameter should be 10-15 mm. The same holes are made on the side walls at the top of the plate. Thanks to this, smoke will be removed both from below and from above the structure.

Assembly

Out of construction the brass is removed gas-burner . Instead, fuel will be located here for open fire. A baking sheet with sawdust is placed on it. A baking sheet is fixed on top to collect fat from products. A grate is inserted into the center of the stove, on which food will be cooked. The device is ready for use.

Photo 3. The smokehouse from the old oven has already been in business more than once - traces of soot on the surface confirm this.

From the boiler

No need to rush to throw away the old boiler. Its body is suitable for creating a smokehouse.

Case manufacturing

The first thing to do is lids are sawn off devices. After that, the inner tank is removed. A hole with a door is cut out in the outer tank, like a damper at the stove. To him the barrel is welded without bottom and external tank. This is necessary to create thermal insulation. At the bottom of the structure, above the hole with the door, grooves for pallets are organized, and in the middle - for the grate.

How to make a lattice

For the manufacture of the lattice, unpainted wire is used. A frame is made from it, the size of which corresponds to the internal size of the structure. Pieces of wire are welded to the frame at a distance of 4 cm apart., door hinges, metal corners, handle, hook and metal sheets. The principle of making a smokehouse:

  • From sheets cut out 2 hulls, the size of which is equal to the diameter of the pipe section. A small hole is made on one sheet, after which it welded on one side of the pipe. On another drive fixed loop, handles and hook. With the help of a loop, the sheet is fixed on the other side of the pipe. This will lid smokehouses.
  • Inside designs corners are welded. They will serve as guides for the location of the pan, where the fat flows, as well as grates for groceries.
  • Down below pipes corners are welded that will become her legs.

How to make a lattice

?

For the manufacture of the lattice, unpainted wire is used.

A frame is made from it, the size of which corresponds to the internal section of the pipe. Wire cuts are welded to the frame at a distance of 4 cm

So, in the construction wood, beams or plywood it is possible to prepare products by the method hot and cold smoked. This is the main advantage of the smokehouse. The disadvantages include the fact that the presented materials have short operating period.

The advantage of the design stainless steel is that she simple in manufacturing and transportable. It can be used both in a private house and in an apartment. Another advantage of such a smokehouse - long operating period.

The disadvantage is that you can cook food.

smokehouse from the old gas stove make easier Total. Here all the details are already done. Another plus is that it can be used both in the apartment and in the country. The design has long operating period, but here you can cook food only by hot smoking. This is the main drawback of the device.

The main advantages of the smokehouse from a boiler and a pipe is an long shelf life. Flaw - impossibility of cold smoking products.

Making a smokehouse from improvised materials is a matter quite simple. The process takes a little time and does not require a lot of effort, and ready product will last more than one year, delighting with delicious smoked delicacies.

Useful video

Check out this video that shows you how to make an impromptu foil smoker.

There are two main ways of smoking - hot and cold. Both use smoke to process food. This is general principle, but the differences between the two methods are significant.

Hot smoking:

  • the product is affected not only by smoke, but also heat- up to 100 degrees;
  • smoking time - from an hour or even less to several hours - depending on the product, for example, small fish can be ready in forty minutes, large game - within a few hours;
  • the finished product is partially baked and soft in texture. When you try to cut the part crumbles;
  • the shelf life of such dishes is no more than a few days

Cold smoking:

  • the product is exposed to chilled smoke, the temperature is not higher than 50 degrees, and this is for dense meat;
  • the process is long - it can last several days up to weeks for large hams;
  • the finished product is not just smoked, but also dried, dense, sometimes the structure is even denser than that of the original raw materials.

The difference in smoking methods is achieved by using a variety of designs for this process. A smokehouse for the cold method involves cooling the smoke, that is, a significant removal of the combustion chamber from the food container. hot smoker, on the contrary, consists of a chamber located directly above the source of heat and smoke.

There are many options to make these and other devices with your own hands. However, how to make a smokehouse suitable for cold and hot methods, that is, universal? There are still such options, although they are very few.

We use the height of the smoking chamber

From which home craftsmen do not make smokehouses with their own hands! Unnecessary household appliances are used. This is refrigerators. different models, washing machines old-style (round), now water heaters are being added. And also gas cylinders... And of course, barrels, buckets and similar household items.

However, you can literally make a container for a smokehouse with your own hands - as in this version. It is necessary to take two 200l barrels, burn them from the inside and clean them well. Then they are welded together. With hot smoking, no more manipulations are required. We hang the products, lay the chips on the bottom. Don't forget to install the grease tray. If it is necessary to carry out cold smoking, it is necessary to place moistened burlap between two barrels. The smoke passing through it will be cooled and the burlap will act as a filter.

How to choose the design size? It is in order to be able to smoke both hot and cold, you need to make the container higher. In any case, its height should be at least three times the diameter. And of course, it matters which products are chosen for smoking. If small fish, game birds, domestic chickens are one thing. And when it is planned to place carcasses of goats, sheep, hams of pigs, elks or bears in the smokehouse - there are such options! - then the structure should have three meters, or even more in height.

Feature: The effect of cold or hot smoking is achieved by placing products in the smokehouse. If you need cold - hung above, hot - below. There are several options for the location of the cross, where hooks with meat, lard, fish are hung.

Smoke separately, heat separately

To make a smokehouse for both hot smoking and cold smoking, it is necessary to provide options for both cooling the smoke and using hot. However, hot smoking does not mean hot smoke, the author of the following device decided. With his own hands, he managed to create not a simple smokehouse, where smoke is supplied by a special smoke generator, and heat, if necessary, is provided by a heating element.

However, it's better first. Capacity - a large refrigerator. Conditions: integrity of the inner chamber, dismantling of the freezer, sealing by sealing all holes.

Now about the smoke generator. This is a container in which there is another refractory chamber with three holes. One - to supply air with a compressor; the other is for igniting wood chips; the third - to remove smoke into the smoking chamber. Chips to produce smoke are placed inside, and the smoke enters through a special metal sleeve into the former refrigerator, where a pipe is cut into the bottom side for connection with a smoke generator.

The smoke generator supplies smoke to the smokehouse - the smoking process is in progress. But there is another device in the main camera. At the bottom of the "refrigerator" is a heating element with a capacity of one and a half kilowatts. It turns on when you need to achieve the effect of hot smoking. A temperature sensor is located in the center of the tank, and a thermal relay helps to control the heating element.

With the help of a heating element, we can raise the temperature in the chamber

Feature: The choice of cold or hot smoking is due to the inclusion of a heating element: if it is cold, one smoke generator works, if you need hot, we turn on the heating.

Advantage: Wood chips last for several hours - at least five, thanks to the relay, the temperature in the tank is regulated.

For hanging products in the main chamber there are removable crossbars, and if you place grates, then meat, fish, lard can not be hung, but laid out.

Lastly, a few important points for those who smoke products at home, including in a do-it-yourself smokehouse:

Chips for smoking - not sawdust! - are made from alder, birch, oak, linden, and it is desirable to remove the bark from the first two, but fruit trees are considered the best, for example, apple, cherry, pear.

Before smoking, the product is prepared, namely, it is kept in brine or marinade, and for cold smoking it is stronger and the aging time is longer. Immediately before being placed in the chamber, the product must be hung for half an hour or an hour for the brine to drain and dry easily, excess moisture in the chamber is useless. There are recipes where the products are boiled at the preparatory stage for smoking.

To protect products from soot during smoking, they need to be wrapped with burlap, gauze or other loose fabric.

By following the simple rules of smoking, you can cook real delicacies for your table - tasty and healthy. And an assistant in this will be a do-it-yourself smokehouse.

2017-01-05 Evgeny Fomenko

There are many options for what can be done from an old boiler:


 The body of the potbelly stove is made from an old boiler

We mark with chalk the places for two rectangular holes, for the door and for the firebox, and cut them out. We position the device so that the hole from the heating element is at the top. We weld a mesh of reinforcement from below, weld the holes from the pipes.

We weld canopies on the doors, small strips of metal so that they do not fall through and a small latch. We fix the bottom corners as supports. To extract in place of the hole for the heating element, we cut out a circle according to the diameter of the ventilation pipe.

  • Washbasin from a leaking water heater. We take out the tank, cut off the water inlet and outlet pipes and upper part. We fix the leak by welding it. We clean the container and paint with enamel. In the place where the pipes were located, we weld the crane.
  • Trash can. From the body you can make a beautiful urn. We cut off a rectangular piece of the casing and make even cuts from the bottom, 20 centimeters each, and bend them. We twist into a pipe and fasten with rivets.
  • A place to grow vegetables. Having cut the container along, we get two comfortable flower beds, having welded supports to them and filling them with earth.

    • Video "How to make a potbelly stove from an old boiler":