Homemade Smokehouse
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Okay, I looked through my notes from the Iowa cured meat short course I took in January of 2019 as I thought I remembered seeing a few formulas in there but neither had anything to do with airflow, it instead was Fouriers law od conduction (Q=-ka"core temp/surface temp) and Newton’s Law of Cooling (Q=ha"ts-t-infinity) just thought I’d share those so people could possibly think I understand them…I do not.
The big take away from that section of the course was something called the breakpoint which is where the flow of the air (which is divided by whatever you have loaded into your smoker) meets again. This will be the part of your smoker that will be the hottest and where it will dry the faster. I’ll try to come up with a way o post some information on the best and the worst ways to do a partial load in a vertical home smoker.
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I would look at some commercial smoke houses and see what they have to circulate air in the smokehouse and I don’t know for sure but kind of think that the taller you go may not be better. I now have 2 oven convection fans in my homemade smoker and I still don’t have perfect temperature stability at all levels and if you want a whole load of product to come out of the smoker looking picture perfect, temperature stability is very important, otherwise you have to move the product around during the smoking process to get a consistent product and with the size you are planning 25% of less than great is a lot of money, time and effort wasted. I would also put a lot of planning in the burner for the smoker and try and get the flame area as large as possible with multiple flame tubes to distribute the heat evenly over the square feet of the bottom of the smoker. I would also recommend that you use a propane gas valve with standing pilot and a thermostat to control the temperature in the smoker and even then the closer to the bottom and flame the hotter the temperature. I would also have a separate smoke generator and I like the A-mazen-n smoker tube products pellet tube that puts out 4 hours of great smoke and is a lot easier and cheaper than chips. I would also put a shelf over the burner so that when you go the the last stages of cooking the product to 160 degrees you can add water to the pan to add moisture and speed up the heat transfer and cut down time. The last suggestion is to get a multiple probe digital thermometer so you can check temperatures at multiple levels and points in the smokehouse.
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I would look at some commercial smoke houses and see what they have to circulate air in the smokehouse and I don’t know for sure but kind of think that the taller you go may not be better. I now have 2 oven convection fans in my homemade smoker and I still don’t have perfect temperature stability at all levels and if you want a whole load of product to come out of the smoker looking picture perfect, temperature stability is very important, otherwise you have to move the product around during the smoking process to get a consistent product and with the size you are planning 25% of less than great is a lot of money, time and effort wasted. I would also put a lot of planning in the burner for the smoker and try and get the flame area as large as possible with multiple flame tubes to distribute the heat evenly over the square feet of the bottom of the smoker. I would also recommend that you use a propane gas valve with standing pilot and a thermostat to control the temperature in the smoker and even then the closer to the bottom and flame the hotter the temperature. I would also have a separate smoke generator and I like the A-mazen-n smoker tube products pellet tube that puts out 4 hours of great smoke and is a lot easier and cheaper than chips. I would also put a shelf over the burner so that when you go the the last stages of cooking the product to 160 degrees you can add water to the pan to add moisture and speed up the heat transfer and cut down time. The last suggestion is to get a multiple probe digital thermometer so you can check temperatures at multiple levels and points in the smokehouse.
akdave thanks for the input. I have a burner that is about 18" long. And I have a grilleye thermometer with 8 probes. I am planning to section off the smokers cooking area from the burner area so my smoke chamber will be 6’ wide 3’ deep and 5’ tall.
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Awsome looking burner, but not sure it will let you get to 180 degrees in that big of a smoker, you may want to insulate the outside of the smoker, The other thing that is very important with a burner that big that you have a gas valve with standing pilot so if the flame goes out the gas will shut off and the gas valve will let you hook up a thermostat to control temperature. After a lot of searching on the internet if found a thermostat that goes from 80 degrees to 240 degrees. Propane is heavier than air and sinks to the bottom and then seeps out and stays low and I had flames roll across a floor with a leak on a boiler and luckily I could get to a valve and shut it off.
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Awsome looking burner, but not sure it will let you get to 180 degrees in that big of a smoker, you may want to insulate the outside of the smoker, The other thing that is very important with a burner that big that you have a gas valve with standing pilot so if the flame goes out the gas will shut off and the gas valve will let you hook up a thermostat to control temperature. After a lot of searching on the internet if found a thermostat that goes from 80 degrees to 240 degrees. Propane is heavier than air and sinks to the bottom and then seeps out and stays low and I had flames roll across a floor with a leak on a boiler and luckily I could get to a valve and shut it off.
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Great, hope my thoughts will help you, my homemade smoker is about 6’ tall, but my bottom section where my burner is about 2’ way too much wasted space just for burner, but in 1986 when I found the stainless steel shell that was the way it was built. I found the shell in the dump on Adak ,Alaska where I was stationed with my family and the Navy SeaBees in stalled a electric heating element and a thermostat for me and it holds 12 full size oven racks, I have made many modifications during the years adding a fan to bring in outside air for making cold smoked salmon, installing 2 convection fans from old gas ranges for more even temperature, installing drip trays to keep the grease from draining down on the burner box, getting a smoking deal on 10 stainless steel grated smoker racks, adding a shelf above the burner to hold a water pan for extra Humidity, converting it to natural gas to cut down on my electric bill and give me the extra heat to do briskets, pork butts, turkeys, and prime rib and finally modifying my Man Cave to accommodate my smoker indoors with a Exhaust hood and fan to make it easier and more pleasant on bad weather days. Lots has happened in 34 years.
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Great, hope my thoughts will help you, my homemade smoker is about 6’ tall, but my bottom section where my burner is about 2’ way too much wasted space just for burner, but in 1986 when I found the stainless steel shell that was the way it was built. I found the shell in the dump on Adak ,Alaska where I was stationed with my family and the Navy SeaBees in stalled a electric heating element and a thermostat for me and it holds 12 full size oven racks, I have made many modifications during the years adding a fan to bring in outside air for making cold smoked salmon, installing 2 convection fans from old gas ranges for more even temperature, installing drip trays to keep the grease from draining down on the burner box, getting a smoking deal on 10 stainless steel grated smoker racks, adding a shelf above the burner to hold a water pan for extra Humidity, converting it to natural gas to cut down on my electric bill and give me the extra heat to do briskets, pork butts, turkeys, and prime rib and finally modifying my Man Cave to accommodate my smoker indoors with a Exhaust hood and fan to make it easier and more pleasant on bad weather days. Lots has happened in 34 years.
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Great, hope my thoughts will help you, my homemade smoker is about 6’ tall, but my bottom section where my burner is about 2’ way too much wasted space just for burner, but in 1986 when I found the stainless steel shell that was the way it was built. I found the shell in the dump on Adak ,Alaska where I was stationed with my family and the Navy SeaBees in stalled a electric heating element and a thermostat for me and it holds 12 full size oven racks, I have made many modifications during the years adding a fan to bring in outside air for making cold smoked salmon, installing 2 convection fans from old gas ranges for more even temperature, installing drip trays to keep the grease from draining down on the burner box, getting a smoking deal on 10 stainless steel grated smoker racks, adding a shelf above the burner to hold a water pan for extra Humidity, converting it to natural gas to cut down on my electric bill and give me the extra heat to do briskets, pork butts, turkeys, and prime rib and finally modifying my Man Cave to accommodate my smoker indoors with a Exhaust hood and fan to make it easier and more pleasant on bad weather days. Lots has happened in 34 years.
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Have you looked at the a-mazen-n smoke tubes, they eliminate the need for a chip tray, and they are way cheaper than chips and take up way less space and could even be in a separate attachment as they do not need heat, ounce you light them they burn on there own. I will get you a picture and model of a gas valve and standing pilot and it will make your set up much more safe.
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Sure would think that would heat a 5×6×3 as long as there’s no major air leaks, would definitely run a thermocouple!
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Have you looked at the a-mazen-n smoke tubes, they eliminate the need for a chip tray, and they are way cheaper than chips and take up way less space and could even be in a separate attachment as they do not need heat, ounce you light them they burn on there own. I will get you a picture and model of a gas valve and standing pilot and it will make your set up much more safe.
-
Have you looked at the a-mazen-n smoke tubes, they eliminate the need for a chip tray, and they are way cheaper than chips and take up way less space and could even be in a separate attachment as they do not need heat, ounce you light them they burn on there own. I will get you a picture and model of a gas valve and standing pilot and it will make your set up much more safe.
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@s-a-m I am still working out the details on that. I would like to enclose the burner but I’m not sure how to go about it. I am thinking about putting in brackets in about 30" up from the bottom running the length of it that I can use to hold sheet pans as drip pans and that would sort of section it off.
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@s-a-m I am still working out the details on that. I would like to enclose the burner but I’m not sure how to go about it. I am thinking about putting in brackets in about 30" up from the bottom running the length of it that I can use to hold sheet pans as drip pans and that would sort of section it off.
Brian Schneider just was looking at the burner you’ll need the inlet outside the box so it gets fresh air
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do you have a friend that is a heating guy that can help you with the gas valve and pilot assemble, the propane gas valve is only $80-90 on the internet for a new one and using a used one is not a good Idea… for $30.00 you can get a complete brand new pilot light assembly and then all u need is a 24 volt transformer and a thermostat to have a safe reliable unit with temperature control.
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do you have a friend that is a heating guy that can help you with the gas valve and pilot assemble, the propane gas valve is only $80-90 on the internet for a new one and using a used one is not a good Idea… for $30.00 you can get a complete brand new pilot light assembly and then all u need is a 24 volt transformer and a thermostat to have a safe reliable unit with temperature control.
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akdave ok thanks I sure do have a friend that fits that description.
Brian Schneider Here’s our smoker that we built for deer camp last year. This was our maiden run. It’s an old walk-in insulated cooler unit. No fan was needed. There’s an air intake on the bottom and the two vents on top are manual damper controlled. It smoked our jerky sticks and summer sausage amazingly consistent. The thermostatically controlled heat is a must though. also I think you’re going to find that tray on the bottom will be your smoke pan. That’s basically what ours is.
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akdave ok thanks I sure do have a friend that fits that description.
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