How to make a smokehouse from an old boiler. What can be done from an old boiler: smokehouse, barbecue, receiver
There are two main methods of smoking - hot and cold. In both, smoke is used to process food. This is a general principle, but the differences between the two methods are significant.
Hot smoking:
- the product is affected not only by smoke, but also by high temperatures - 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, big 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 several 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 for 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 material.
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 container with products. A hot smoker, on the other hand, consists of a chamber located directly above a source of heat and smoke.
There are many options to make both 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 there are very few of them.
We use the height of the smoking chamber
From what do-it-yourselfers do not make smokehouses with their own hands! Unnecessary household appliances are used. These are refrigerators of various models, old-style washing machines (round), now water heaters are being added. And also gas cylinders ... And of course, barrels, buckets and similar household items.
However, you can make a container for a smokehouse literally with your own hands - as in this option. 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 further manipulation is required. We hang the food, put the chips on the bottom. Remember to install a grease tray. If it is necessary to carry out cold smoking, it is necessary to place a 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 size of the structure? 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 must 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 put carcasses of goats, sheep, ham of pigs, elks or bears into the smokehouse - there are such options! - then the structure should be three meters or even more in height.
Feature: The effect of cold or hot smoking is achieved by placing the products in the smokehouse. If you need cold - suspended above, hot - below. There are several options for the location of the cross, where hooks with meat, bacon, fish are hung.
Smoke separately, heat separately
To make a smokehouse for both hot and cold smoking, you need to provide options for both cooling the smoke and using hot. However, hot smoking does not mean hot smoke, the author of the next 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.
Better first, though. The capacity is a large refrigerator. Conditions: integrity of the inner chamber, dismantling of the freezer, sealing by sealing all openings.
Now about the smoke generator. This is a container in which there is another refractory chamber with three holes. One is for air supply by means of a compressor; another - for lighting wood chips; the third is for the removal of smoke into the smoking chamber. Chips for receiving smoke are placed inside, and the smoke flows through a special metal sleeve into the former refrigerator, where a branch pipe is cut in the side at the bottom for connection with a smoke generator.
The smoke generator delivers 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" there 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 thermostat helps to control the heating element.
With the help of TENA we can raise the temperature in the chamber
Feature: The choice of cold or hot smoking is due to the inclusion of a heating heating element: if it is cold, one smoke generator works, if you need a hot one, we also turn on the heating.
Advantage: Chips are enough for several hours - at least five, thanks to the relay, the temperature in the tank is regulated.
There are removable crossbars for hanging products in the main chamber, and if you place grates, then meat, fish, bacon can not be hung, but laid out.
Finally, a few important points for those who smoke products at home, including in a do-it-yourself smokehouse:
Chips for smoking are not sawdust! - are made from alder, birch, oak, linden, and it is desirable to remove the bark from the first two, but fruit tree species 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 period is longer. Immediately before being placed in the chamber, the product must be suspended for half an hour or an hour to drain the brine and lightly dry it, there is no need for excess moisture in the chamber. There are recipes where products are boiled at the preparatory stage for smoking.
To protect food from soot during smoking, they need to be wrapped in burlap, gauze or other loose fabric.
Following the simple rules of smoking, you can prepare real delicacies for your table - tasty and healthy. And an assistant in this will be a self-made smokehouse.
Updated:
2016-09-09
Many smoked food lovers buy it in the store and do not realize that it can be cooked at home. How to make a do-it-yourself smokehouse, today we will try to find out. Thanks to her, you can cook food in the country, increasing the taste of 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 what kind of homemade smokehouse you need.
Cold smoked food retains its firmness and texture, but this is a very time-consuming process and should not be rushed. Wait until completely cooked to avoid poisoning. And in the hot version, the food is cooked by the heat, takes on the aroma of smoke and becomes richer.
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 home smokehouse and easy to make. It works in this way: a fire is kindled, the smoke must reach the smokehouse, because all harmful substances will enter the ground along with water condensate, from which the products become limp.
After construction, you can immediately start smoking your favorite products.
The smokehouse itself should be installed on bricks, which are buried in the ground so that it does not fall through and fall from wet soil. Smokehouse drawings are shown in Figures 1-2.
First, prepare a 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 such a device is not available, it is worth taking a sheet of metal, bending and welding a barrel without a bottom and a roof from it. A sheet of metal can be placed on the top wall, which will prevent smoke from escaping. The chimney duct is made above the level of the smokehouse. Having dug it out, cover it with a brick with clay mortar. Connect the structure so that the entrance 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, brick it or put a metal box there. If you put a box, then the bottom should be cut, you only need the walls.
Make the smoking compartment from a lattice that can be made from twigs. Attach food hooks to the structure. Place a shallow pan under the grate, leaving gaps between the walls for the passage of 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 from the instructions it is known how to build a smokehouse in the country - no expensive materials are required, and this version of the smokehouse will last a long enough time.
Hot smoking facilities
Such a home smokehouse is no less simple, it can also be made quickly, without any effort. The benefits include the following:
- uncomplicated design;
- the process is simple and fast;
- installation anywhere.
The homemade smokehouse is made from stainless steel. There are separate requirements for the container lid: firstly, it must be quickly removed and installed, and secondly, it must be hermetically closed, otherwise all the smoke will come out, and the smoking process will not occur, and the products will deteriorate.
For the construction you will need:
- box;
- lattices;
- soldering iron;
- pallet.
Consider a 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 of products, a tray is placed under the bottom, which is necessary for the fat to drip off. Without a tray, grease from food will drip onto the coals and impart undesirable odors and harmful substances.
Dig a hole that fits the size of the box and line it with bricks. Put firewood on the bottom, which, when burned, emit smoke for smoking. Hard varieties such as pear, apple, oak are suitable. Finely sawn pieces or sawdust are laid down, which should be ignited. Place the food on the wire rack and place it on the wood, which should be smoldering. The main thing is that the temperature is high, since food will not cook at low temperatures.
Hot-smoked smokehouse schemes and options are shown in Figures 3-4.
The cooking process takes about 2 hours. After the first hour, remove the structure and check the heat. In low heat, add wood and continue cooking. A homemade smokehouse, built with your own hands, prepares food as tasty as cooked meals in storehouses.
The layer of wood is laid evenly. Can't overlay a bunch. For quality cooking, it is best to stack the food in one layer.
If you do not have a box for a smokehouse, 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 prepared in the same way as on the wire racks.
Thus, a self-built smokehouse can be used for horizontal and vertical smoking of food.
2017-01-05 Evgeny Fomenko
There are many options for what can be made from an old boiler:
The potbelly stove body is made from an old boilerWe 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 the mesh from the fittings 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 corners from below as supports. To extract the hole for the heating element in place, cut out a circle along the diameter of the ventilation pipe.
Video "How to make a potbelly stove from an old boiler":
Hello everybody! I decided to write about the creation of my own smokehouse, which I use all year round. In my opinion, the use of an electric smokehouse is much more convenient compared to a conventional one that uses an open fire to heat it. I loaded wood chips, products for smoking, plugged it in, and all that was left was to wait a little. Well, it all started with the fact that I came across an old electric titanium. Throwing away a thing that has served its time is not a tricky business, but it is more difficult to do so that a thing that seems unnecessary at first glance becomes useful. The idea came when they once again decided to smoke a fish. Before that, we smoked in an enamel bucket on an electric stove. And in winter, I also had to insulate the bucket, so that it would be easier to maintain the desired temperature inside. A factory insulated water heater flask is almost ideal for making an electric smokehouse.
We begin the rework, for which we need:
Electro titanium
Electric heater from tiles 1kW
Kitchen thermometer
A piece of wire with an electric plug
Corner trimming
Bulgarian
Drill
Drill
Welding machine (it is possible without it)
Carefully remove the upper part of the casing from the former water heater, which will later become the lid for the smokehouse. We drill a hole in the lid for installing a kitchen thermometer, with which it is easier to control the temperature inside when smoking.
Next, we clean off the insulation to the side walls. We weld the legs from pieces of corners or what is at hand - this is not important, the main thing is that the structure is stable. On the other side of our design, we cut off the casing together with the bottom of the flask.
We got a cylinder on the bottom, of which we set an electric ten from the tile of 1 kW. - this power is quite enough. To do this, drill holes in the bottom of the smokehouse to fit the shade.
It is desirable that the terminals of the electric heater are located on the outside of the bulb. Inside, the high temperature and wire insulation will break and melt. Even if the wires are placed in ceramic tubes, the copper strands will break off and the contact connection with the tena terminals will be broken.
Such a connection is more reliable and there will be no heating of the wires.
We are looking for a container for collecting fat that is suitable in diameter.
In order for the bowl to be at a distance from the heating element, a wire crosspiece had to be welded.
In the upper part of the flask, we drill holes for skewers, on which products will be hung in the future. The skewers themselves are made of wire with a diameter of 4 or 5 mm.
Smoked fish and meat are considered delicacies for a reason - smoking allows not only to give products a unique taste and aroma, but also to significantly extend the shelf life. Unfortunately, the products from the store cannot be called smoked - for their mass production they have been using liquid smoke concentrate for a long time. As a result, the taste is mediocre, and their benefits are completely questionable.
You can smoke completely different products: fish, meat and lard, familiar to everyone, as well as nuts, cheeses, vegetables and even fruits and berries. Of course, they need different modes: the temperature of the smoke and the duration of smoking, as well as the wood chips used for this.
- Smoking happens:
- cold, with slightly warm smoke 30-50 ° C;
- hot, with a smoke temperature of 70-120 ° C;
- semi-hot, at 60-70 ° C.
The higher the temperature, the faster meat and fish are cooked. 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 the flue gases have time to completely burn out, the harmful carcinogens from them are deposited on the walls of the chimney, and the products that are smoked are enveloped in a light aromatic smoke. After such processing, meat can be stored for several months, fish - from three to 12 weeks.
In the figure -, it can be installed on a site in a country house. The dimensions are arbitrary, therefore only the main structural elements are indicated in the drawing. 
A cold smoked smokehouse consists of three main blocks: a firebox, a smoking chamber and a connecting unit. The firebox can be folded from blocks, bricks or welded from metal. It must be equipped with an easily cleanable ash pan - the smoking time of some products is several days, and the ash must be removed during the heating process.
The smoke output is adjustable; when firing up and at the beginning of the furnace, the wood gives off dark pungent 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 outside. Most often it is made in the form of a combustion chamber cover.
For smoking, you can not use resinous - spruce, pine, or emitting tar - maple, birch, firewood. The best woods are cherry, alder, oak, and apple.
In the photo - a cold-smoked smokehouse from a wooden barrel, equipped with removable rods.
Due to the low temperature, the smoking chamber can be made of anything, for example, 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 sediment, which eventually acquires an unpleasant rotten smell.
The easiest option is a metal or wooden barrel. with a hole in the bottom, into which smoke will enter. It is equipped with hooks or grates for placing food. The role of the cover is usually played by a wet burlap - it traps smoke inside the chamber, while absorbing excess moisture. The photo shows an example of a willow smoking chamber, covered with burlap on top.
The crucial moment is the chimney device. It, like the smoking chamber, should not be made of brick, as it absorbs moisture and harmful substances from the smoke. Metal will work 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 is a chimney dug in 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, select an area with a slight slope that allows 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 taken out 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 the individual pieces of meat or fish. At the same time, the smoke is hotter, about 100 ° C, and is obtained not from firewood, but from special chips, therefore, the design of a hot-smoked smokehouse has its own characteristics.
- First of all, the firebox is located directly under the smoking chamber... It is not necessary to make a wood-burning firebox, you can do it yourself from a gas burner or an electric stove. The main thing is to heat the bottom of the smokehouse to the temperature at which the chips will begin to smolder.
- The smoking chamber in hot-smoked smokehouses is sealed... This ensures a 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 smokers have a lid with a water seal... This odor trap is a U-shaped recess along the perimeter of the chamber, into which water is poured. The edges of the cover fit into this recess, resulting in a barrier to outside air and inside smoke. The odor trap not only allows you to isolate the chamber, but also reduces the amount of carcinogens in the smoke.
- Removable gratings or rods are placed on one or more levels for hanging hooks. Products are placed on them when smoking. You can use barbecue grates of a suitable size if you make supports from the corner under them with your own hands and cut off the handles with a grinder.
- Another prerequisite is a tray for collecting juice and fat... If they drip directly to the bottom of the smokehouse, the fat will burn and the food will taste bitter. For fish, because of the low combustion temperature of its fats, it is better to make it with an outflow from the chamber. The pallet must also be removable, it must be regularly cleaned of residual grease.
A drawing with options for making a smokehouse for hot smoking is shown below.
Portable semi-hot smoked mini-smokers
The above designs of smokehouses are great for a summer cottage or a country 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-smokehouse in the form of a box with a lid as in the drawing. You can do it yourself and use it both in the country and transport it in the trunk of a car to a resting place.
The temperature in such a smokehouse is optimally maintained at the level of 60-70 ° C, which corresponds to the semi-hot smoking mode. The preparation of products for such smoking is short-lived, and their shelf life is about three days.
The design of a mini smokehouse is simple: a box with a lid, equipped with a drip tray and grates. The shavings are poured onto the bottom; when the smokehouse is placed on a fire, it begins to smolder. Smoke fills the chamber and food is cooked quickly. The cover, if desired, can be equipped with a water seal and a small diameter smoke outlet, as in the photo.
Material for manufacturing - sheet steel, preferably stainless... The thickness should be such that, when heated, it does not take away the walls of the smokehouse, otherwise, due to uneven heating, it will deform. Usually used black steel 2-3 mm thick, stainless steel - from 1.5 mm. In any case, the grates must have a rustproof coating.
Video: how to make a mini-smokehouse with your own hands.
Firewood and chips: how to choose the right one
The key to the taste of smoked meats is correctly selected firewood... It is known that smoke from different types of wood has a completely different flavor. In this case, the easiest way is to use purchased chips by choosing the appropriate one for each type of product:
- alder- universal, suitable for meat, lard, fish and vegetables;
- oak- mainly for smoking game and red meat;
- willow, birch- game with a specific taste, for example, elk or bear, as well as marsh fish;
- cherry, apple tree- cheeses, vegetables, nuts and berries.
The costs of manufacturing a smokehouse are insignificant, you can use scrap materials and leftovers. A hand-made smokehouse and a properly selected smoking mode will allow you to prepare delicious delicacies that are unique to your taste and surprise your family and guests.
