# Anyone made a meat smoker on here?



## demographic (Dec 4, 2009)

A mates father owns a bit of land with woodland on it, lots of cherry trees, birch, ash, beech, apple and several other indigenous species that I can't remember.
Anyway there's power lines running over a part of the land and the power company has cut down a swathe of trees (I fully understand why they did it and agree with their reasoning) under the lines.

The decent sized logs we are cutting up for firewood and we plan on making a pretty small charcoal burner (mostly just to give it a go and see how we get on) to use up some of the smaller stuff. 
But...it has occurred to us that cherry wood might just make some really nice smoking wood. 
Anyone got a home-made smoker and if so is there a chance you could post some pictures of it? Just to get a few ideas?

Thanks, Scott.


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## Turkeyslayer (Dec 4, 2009)

Lots of good ideas and pics here http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=95346


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## trapshooter9 (Dec 4, 2009)

I have done a fair amount of research on this topic as I too plan on building a smoker (I currently use an offset smoker). Do a search on UDS or upright drum smoker. These are also called ugly drum smoker. Very easy to build out of a 55 gal drum and inexpensive. The consensus seems to be that they are very easy to use too. I got my drum, now just need to get it built.


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## blades (Dec 4, 2009)

used an old (1950 vintage) GE refrigerator. No plastic in them days and glass batting for insulation in them. Really tough to find anything like that nowadays though.


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## jags (Dec 4, 2009)

You mean like this: (I built it out of a hot box that was taken out of a bakery).


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## Kong (Dec 4, 2009)

Like Blades the only one I ever built was from an old refridgerator, which I think was probably a GE too.

They used to have the motor/compressor in the bottom and a chest up top. The one we made we just ripped the guts out of the bottom and the little freezer section out of the top. We ripped the seal out of the door because it was rubber and might get hot and melt. The I shot a hole through it (side to side) with a 12gage slug to put two hole through which we passed rebar to hang meat and fish from. We cut a hole in the bottom, 6" diameter if I remember correctly, and then ran stove pipe about 20 feet to a burner that we made out of a 55-gallon drum. It was outside on a hill so the burner was downhill by about 5~6 feet. The 'fridg had stainless racks in it too, I remember they were good for smoking fish, we did some hams in it too, which worked well. I'm sure we didn't have over ten bucks in it, because we didn't have over ten bucks back in those days.


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## Iska3 (Dec 4, 2009)

jags said:


> You mean like this: (I built it out of a hot box that was taken out of a bakery).



That's a great idea! We called those proofers. We had a bakery go out of business around here. I'm sure there has to be a few around for next to nothing. I used an old refrigerator for years but your idea has them all beat.


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## jags (Dec 4, 2009)

Iska3 said:


> That's a great idea! We called those proofers. We had a bakery go out of business around here. I'm sure there has to be a few around for next to nothing. I used an old refrigerator for years but your idea has them all beat.



Thanks for the kind words. What really had me sold on using the proofer was that I KNEW is was food grade and not a plastic or rubber part on it. I can maintain an easy 120F - 400F temp. It may not go low enough for cheese, but basically anything else does great in there.


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## LipDawg (Dec 4, 2009)

This is 160lbs of kolbasi smoking over cherry.


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## warjohn (Dec 4, 2009)

Apple is my favorite wood for smoking.


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## trapshooter9 (Dec 5, 2009)

Here's my offset smoker. As you can see, I like to use cherry. This type of smoker is good if you don't want to use a lot of charcoal. You can maintain a nice wood fire in the burn chamber. The down side is that it is a lot harder to regulate the temperature than vertical type smokers where you can regulate oxygen flow a lot better.





Here is the nearly finished product (chicken, pork shoulder, beef chuck).


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## demographic (Dec 5, 2009)

All great information folks, thanks very much.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to use for it but a mate and I built a wood burning stove a while ago that's currently doing nothing so we might use a gas cylinder to make the smoker out of to go on top.

After making sure its well purged before we start cutting it open, obviously.


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## kennertree (Dec 5, 2009)

Here is my little offset smoker that a made a few mods to.


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## kennertree (Dec 5, 2009)

I installed a baffle plate to help even out the temps throughout the smoke box, also installed a convection plate to allow the heat and smoke to come through and run the length of the smoke box.


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## kennertree (Dec 5, 2009)

I moved the stack to the opposite side and increased the diameter of the stack and made it longer to get a better draw. I lowered it to about 3/4 of an inch above the grate. Uner the convection the smoke box is lined with fire brick to help hold heat and regulate temps as well. My next project is going to be an ugly drum smoker.


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## demographic (Dec 5, 2009)

kennertree.
I notice you have heat resistant rope around that door, how have you attached it? Does it need to run in a groove or have you managed to glue it on without a groove to hold it in position?

I have some fire rope but on the stove me and a mate built we didn't put any on the door which I personally always felt was a bit of a compromise and would have rather used some to seal the door properly.

If it sticks well onto a surface without a groove it makes things far and away simpler to do.
I like the idea of the baffle plate.

What kind of thermometer do you use and what kind of temperatures should I be seeing?

Scott.


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## kennertree (Dec 5, 2009)

The gasket was put on with gasket cement and its on flat metal without a groove, you should be able to find it where they sell the gasket. Make sure you have a clean surface and it should bond really good. This type of smoker is a cheap made smoker and there are gaps everywhere. It still has a few gaps but they are small. As far as temps go I can get it pretty hot. I smoke chickens around 275, sometimes hotter. For ribs and pork I keep it 210-225. The thermometer I use is a taylor digital meat thermometer that I bought at lowes. I drilled a hole in a brick and used jb weld to hold the probe in. I put it on the grate right next to the meat to get the most accurate temp. The thermometer on the outside of the smoke box will have a 40-50 degree tempature difference.


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## trapshooter9 (Dec 5, 2009)

jags said:


> You mean like this: (I built it out of a hot box that was taken out of a bakery).



Nice motorized barstool in your avatar. In the paper today it said the authorities in our neighboring county (Licking County, Ohio) are ebaying the one confiscated from the owner who crashed it after drinking 15 beers. He was charged with DUI. He told the cops it had a max speed of 38 mph! They are auctioning it to apply toward his unpaid child support.


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## mickeyd (Dec 5, 2009)

kennertree said:


> I moved the stack to the opposite side and increased the diameter of the stack and made it longer to get a better draw. I lowered it to about 3/4 of an inch above the grate. Uner the convection the smoke box is lined with fire brick to help hold heat and regulate temps as well. My next project is going to be an ugly drum smoker.



very nice work ! Why did you move the stack ? dont you want the smoke to travel the length of the smoker box before going out the stack ?


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## kennertree (Dec 5, 2009)

Thanks. Most of the smoke comes from the firebox and moves all the way down to the end of the convection plate. The side closest to the firebox has small holes drilled so only a little smoke comes out there, so most of the smoke has to travel all the way down the smoke box then across the grate and up the stack.


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## mickeyd (Dec 5, 2009)

oh I see, the fire box doesnt just have an opening into the smoking area it travels under the baffle ! ingenious! 
MD


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## kennertree (Dec 5, 2009)

mickeyd said:


> oh I see, the fire box doesnt just have an opening into the smoking area it travels under the baffle ! ingenious!
> MD



I copied it from a smoker forum, there are all kinds of mods that can be done to these smokers to make them more efficient.


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## redprospector (Dec 5, 2009)

I'm going to have to try some of those tricks on my little cheap offset smoker.
Offset is my prefered type of smoker, but I have grown to hate the cheap smoke-n-grill I have. I've got an 80 gallon pickup bed propane tank I'm going to cut up (hopefully this spring) for my next smoker.

Andy


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## Ol' Brian (Dec 6, 2009)

Here's my homemade BBQ Pit:









Here's what it started out as:







Racks:








Inside the firebox:








Opening from the firebox into the smoke chamber:







Lately I've been using a lot of wild cherry to smoke with... LOVE IT!!!


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## kennertree (Dec 6, 2009)

Nice smoker. I think I've seen that smoker before, did you post it on the bbq forum?


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## Ol' Brian (Dec 6, 2009)

I don't remember posting it on the bbq forum, but I did post it while I was building it on the Hobart "Weld Talk" forum if you have ever hung out over there.

Whats the URL to the bbq forum?


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## demographic (Dec 6, 2009)

xlr82v2
Now the one you built from an old compressor tank looks close (ish) to what I'm thinking of, me and a mate built a wood burning stove a while ago for his shed, problem is that very shortly after building it his compressor overloaded and caught fire and burnt his shed down so the wood burner isn't getting used.
Looking at yours, I notice it has a pipe with a valve on the underside of it, not wanting to ask a daft question but what's that for? Does it let fat and water drain out?
I was thinking about adding a removable cylinder so it lies along the top of the girder that we used for a hotplate. Here's the stove when we were just trying it out.
Looking at yours, I notice it has a pipe with a valve on the underside of it, not wanting to ask a daft question but what's that for? Does it let fat and water drain out?












Looking at it, I don't think it would be too hard to convert it to something like this...




Could make the top section so its dead easy to remove.
I'm kind of thinking that there's more than half of this already built if you see what I mean.

I love the way you guys have them mounted on a trailer so you can take them wherever you want.


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## cityevader (Dec 6, 2009)

Here's a link to my homemade smoker out of a barrel. Most people think it's store bought when they see it.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32207&highlight=


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## Ol' Brian (Dec 6, 2009)

demographic said:


> xlr82v2
> Looking at yours, I notice it has a pipe with a valve on the underside of it, not wanting to ask a daft question but what's that for? Does it let fat and water drain out?




Yep, that's exactly what it's for!


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## redprospector (Dec 6, 2009)

demographic said:


> Looking at it, I don't think it would be too hard to convert it to something like this...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That might make a neat "cooker", but for smoking meat it would be very hard to regulate the temperature in the meat chamber. I had a wood stove in my old shop that was built like that out of 55 gallon barrels. The top barrel would get really hot, way too hot for smoking. JMO, but I think you'd like it a lot better if you made it offset like the ones pictured.

Andy


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## Richard_ (Dec 6, 2009)

UDS 







chicken thighs


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## ryans4022 (Dec 6, 2009)

Thanks for the pics guys, im in the process of building one right now. My main smoke chamber is (i guess) about a 120lb lp gas tank and my offset fire box is a 40 lb lp gas tank. Im in hack mode now cutting doors and the ends off the tanks (glad im done cutting the cylinders) Alot of different info and pics out there and all is just a bit different from the other, so im gonna do my own spin off and hope for the best. I just got a bunch of cherry and have some apple wood also.

So a question: does wood that you plan to smoke with need to be really dry (like years of drying?)


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## Ol' Brian (Dec 7, 2009)

I just use seasoned firewood in my smoker... straight out of the woodshed. Oak, Hickory, Cherry. I cut up a nice cherry that washed out into the creek down in my woods 2 summers ago... set it aside for smoker use only. Cherry is good!

And, remember, when you're smoking meats, you don't want a smokey, smoldering fire. You should see very light smoke, to none at all coming from your chimney on your smoker. A small hot fire burning cleanly is much much much better than a large, cold, smokey smoldering fire...


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## boostnut (Dec 7, 2009)

Kennertree, why the brick?


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## jags (Dec 7, 2009)

xlr82v2 said:


> You should see very light smoke....



People look at me goofy when I tell them this. Its pretty simple really. Light smoke for 11-12 hours adds up to alot of smoke.


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## kennertree (Dec 7, 2009)

boostnut said:


> Kennertree, why the brick?



Helps to hold in heat and even out tempatures.


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## kennertree (Dec 7, 2009)

xlr82v2 said:


> I don't remember posting it on the bbq forum, but I did post it while I was building it on the Hobart "Weld Talk" forum if you have ever hung out over there.
> 
> Whats the URL to the bbq forum?



I don't remember which one it was, I go to bbq brethern forum every now and then. Might have seen it on weld talk when I was googling for smoker plans.


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## kennertree (Dec 7, 2009)

Nice UDS Richard!


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## CLEARVIEW TREE (Dec 29, 2009)

kennertree said:


> The gasket was put on with gasket cement and its on flat metal without a groove, you should be able to find it where they sell the gasket. Make sure you have a clean surface and it should bond really good. This type of smoker is a cheap made smoker and there are gaps everywhere. It still has a few gaps but they are small. As far as temps go I can get it pretty hot. I smoke chickens around 275, sometimes hotter. For ribs and pork I keep it 210-225. The thermometer I use is a taylor digital meat thermometer that I bought at lowes. I drilled a hole in a brick and used jb weld to hold the probe in. I put it on the grate right next to the meat to get the most accurate temp. The thermometer on the outside of the smoke box will have a 40-50 degree tempature difference.


Hey there kennertree, that's a neat design on the thermometer. But, dosn't the brick kind of insulate the probe from a real accurate reading, being that it's in the center of the brick. I use a small handheld thermometer some. You just point it close and it'll temp interior temps or meat temps. Also use a metal meat thermometer for checking temps on the inside of my meats.
So how are those chickens cooked at 275? I hardly ever get over 225 on anything, esp poultry since they tend to dry with the higher temps! Usually just go low and slow. How are your bricks working out i suggested for the bottom? I'm enjoying the brining you recommended. Hey, find you a decent deal on an egg, you'll have the most efficient smoker and you want have to keep experimenting, that costs money! lol Holler at ya later


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## kennertree (Dec 31, 2009)

CLEARVIEW TREE said:


> Hey there kennertree, that's a neat design on the thermometer. But, dosn't the brick kind of insulate the probe from a real accurate reading, being that it's in the center of the brick. I use a small handheld thermometer some. You just point it close and it'll temp interior temps or meat temps. Also use a metal meat thermometer for checking temps on the inside of my meats.
> So how are those chickens cooked at 275? I hardly ever get over 225 on anything, esp poultry since they tend to dry with the higher temps! Usually just go low and slow. How are your bricks working out i suggested for the bottom? I'm enjoying the brining you recommended. Hey, find you a decent deal on an egg, you'll have the most efficient smoker and you want have to keep experimenting, that costs money! lol Holler at ya later



The thermometer reads on the end, just like a probe thermometer. Actually it is a probe thermo so the brick has no effect on it at all. The brick just holds it over the grate where the meat will be so the temp is accurate where the meat is cooking and not on the top of the smoker. I've only cooked chicken at 225 once. It took it 4 and a half hours and still wasnt up to temp. I took it off the smoker and wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the oven for ten minutes.


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## Richard_ (Apr 4, 2010)

kennertree said:


> Nice UDS Richard!



thanks , works better than I ever imagined , I get some nice long burn times with about 10lbs. of charcoal


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## bigC (Aug 26, 2010)

i am a high school student and am looking for ideas about an offset smoker to build in shop. I really like the look/idea of the one posted earlier out of a compressor i think. but i would like opinions and more detail would be helpful. thanks


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## cityevader (Aug 27, 2010)

Welcome!
If you want some fabulous info and forums on these, visit thesmokering.com and go into the forums tab. There is a dedicated forum on cookers, and many knowledeable and helpful folks there.

They still teach shop in high school? I thought they phased out disemination of all important information long ago.


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## bigC (Aug 27, 2010)

thank you. i appreciate the help i'll look into that other site. ya haha our shop program is a pretty good one so its fun and you learn stuff


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## mtfallsmikey (Aug 27, 2010)

blades said:


> used an old (1950 vintage) GE refrigerator. No plastic in them days and glass batting for insulation in them. Really tough to find anything like that nowadays though.




I had a small one, wes going to build a smoker out of it, but The Missus objected. They have all porcelin-glazed insides.


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## link523 (Aug 27, 2010)

View attachment 148755


View attachment 148756
This what your looking for? old propane tank


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## smokinj (Aug 27, 2010)

jags said:


> People look at me goofy when I tell them this. Its pretty simple really. Light smoke for 11-12 hours adds up to alot of smoke.



I use very heavy smoke woods much cheeper than char-coal. Just rap it in tin foil after a couple hours.


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## jags (Aug 27, 2010)

smokinj said:


> I use very heavy smoke woods much cheeper than char-coal. Just rap it in tin foil after a couple hours.



Yep, there are two schools of thought:

1.) heavy smoke for a lesser time frame (works really good for quicker products such as ribs)

or

2.) Lighter smoke for the long terms stuff (Such as Pork shoulder or boston butt) Or even hole hog for that matter.

If you have ever had a "bitter" smoke flavor, be assured that it probably came from too much smoke. It can happen.


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