The term "smokehouse" is normally applied to a cabinet,
room or building which is capable of cold smoking: exposing meat
to a smoke saturated environment at a temperature of less than
100 deg. F. for an extended period of time. Commercial units are
available, but most folks just make their own. As you read the
following descriptions, you will understand the general requirements.
Electric cold smoker: find an old refrigerator. Remove the innards - all the innards. The fridge you use should have metal shelving rather than plastic. Poke a hole about 1.5 inches in diameter in the top. There should be a hole in the back, bottom about the same size where some of the wires/piping etc. came out. Using an old beer can or some sheet metal and self-tapping screws, mount a sliding flap over each hole so you can control the air flow. Buy a single burner electric hotplate, and a small cast-iron skillet. Go to Costco or Sam's or your neighborhood fishing supply store and buy a box of Little Chief Smoker smoking wood sawdust. Mount the hotplate in the bottom of the old fridge, put the skillet on top of the hotplate, run the cord out a hole in the side or back, plug it in, turn it on medium low, fill the skillet with the sawdust, pellets or wood chunks. Put your smokin' meat on the metal shelves, (that you've cleaned really good, first), close the door. Every 3-4 hours refill the skillet. Do this for 12, 18 or 24 hours, until the meat is smoked.
Cheap and easy. It works! Been working for me for about 30 years.
Bill Martin
Note: To cold smoke with a smokerator, you need to use an outside
source of smoke. Cut a 4" diameter hole in the side near
the bottom. Use an old woodstove or firebox and 4" metal
stovepipe. The longer the pipe, the cooler the smoke. Dan
| The Roadkill Smokehouse started out as a plate warmer in the Officer's Mess at Langley AFB. It is an insulated stainless steel cabinet measuring 5' X 5' X 2' deep with 3 heavy duty shelves. There is a removable 1500 Watt heavy duty heater and fan in the bottom for keeping a water pan hot. I put 2, 5" stacks on the top, cut a 4" hole in the bottom for a stove pipe and mounted it on an old trailer chassis temporarily.
For hot smoking up to 225, I put a wood stove (with eyes removed) under the holes in the bottom. For cold smoking, I put the wood stove off to the side and use a stove pipe to deliver smoke. I can use the electric heater for auxiliary heat if necessary. |
Note: Dan made a bunch of his Smokehouse Jerky
and sent it around to folks on the Azstarnet list. It is very
smoky but also full flavored as it is made with a dry cure and
self brined. My first batch was way too salty but it makes great
seasoning for beans and soups. Second attempt was great.
| 
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The smokehouse that I built is a very simple design. It evolved
from an old man I met in the 60's that had been smoking since
he was a kid. I bought his business the year before he died in
'68 (he was around 90), under the condition that I use his methods
of preparation and techniques.He taught and worked with me as
long as he was able and I carried on until the state started to
get pushy about using equipment that had been built back in the
30's - they wanted me to get stainless everything, thermometer
recorders, adequate lighting, new flooring, new plumbing, basically
tear the place down and build a nice new shiny sterile smoking
establishment...no could do - even if I could have, it wouldn't
have been the same. The smokehouse design is probably just about
what you would picture a smokehouse to be, about 5' deep (from
front to back) about 12' high (from the bottom of the fire pit
to the roof) and about 10' wide across. A platform about 4' off
the ground in front to stand on and service the trays that went
into 3 doors (3'x4'). The fire pit door was on the 5' end and
had a draft damper at the bottom of the door. The floor was lined
with sand and the fire was built in a 55 gal drum cut in half.
Over the fire there were sheet metal baffles bent in a dome shape
from side to side to distribute the heat and smoke. The racks
slid into the compartments on angle iron supports and the lowest
rack was almost 5' above the fire. The inside was lined with sheet
metal and it vented through the roof. A thermometer with a large
face was probed above the top rack and could be read from 50'
away. There were three of these, all built out of scrap whatever,
probably didn't cost anything but time and effort. The design
works, is extremely accurate and reliably consistent. This is
the smokehouse I have now, with very minor modifications (mainly
building materials) the size is about the same. The wood and fire
were the most important ingredient though - the old man could
tell you whether or not the fire went out or smoldered, by the
taste - "bad smoke, ya must of let the fire go out 'cause
it's sour as hell" - we used dry, seasoned, barkless alder,
but if the fire went out, look out, you were in for an a** chewin'.
As far as techniques go, they were as simple as the smokehouse
design - meat, salt, smoke, that's pretty much it for ingredients
but the process of curing, temps, time and all the rest of the
footwork is definitely a hands-on deal. It's hard for me to condense
it into a couple of lines, but the basics are being said very
well by everyone on this list. I don't think that the old man
that taught me knew everything about smoking, he experimented
and worked at it for most of his life and probably still had a
few ideas left when he passed away. BTW, he was tough and stringy
as a piece of jerky, serious as hell about smoked meat, but always
had a little time to shoot the bull with ya.
Dan813@aone.com (Dan M Sawyer) 5 Apr 1997
Last revised 8/15/97
by Dan Gill