smoker

[sbooy42]

Sorry I know this doesn't belong but the recipe forum doesn't get many visits so that I'd see what happens here.

I had a deer smoked for the first time last and my wife loved. I also have many landowners who I would like to give some smoked meat to. To save some money I would like to learn how to do it myself.

I have an older freezer and have heard that they make great smokers. Can anybody help point me the right direction as to how to convert into it smoker. Also a few tips on smoking in general would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Socks]

Max temp would be about 225 F and min around 155F for jerky. You'll have to make sure that the interior won't melt.:) I would think you'd need a latching mechanism. A hole that will allow smoke to escape and the hole opening should be adjustable in some form. The last and final one is SAFETY, SAFETY, and oh yeah did I mention SAFETY? Good luck. That's about the extent of my knowledge. I just bought a nice smoker from Sam's, but it cost a pretty penny.

[uptracker]

Readers Digest has a great book out called "Back to Basics". It's amazing what you can learn from it. There are a few "real" smokers within the pages and a few vague plans too. Your local library shoud have it.

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Readers-Digest-Editors/dp/0895779390/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-7951773-4819951?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187047016&sr=8-2

[Tru-N-Sea]

Here's some links that I found...hope it helps!

http://www.theingredientstore.com/foodpreservation/refrig_smoker.htm

http://www.askthemeatman.com/how_to_make_smoker_art_updated_9300.htm

A friend of mine made his out of an old upright freezer. He used a piece of stovepipe with an adjustable flue on top. For the bottom, he had an old metal tub that he used for the fire/smoke chips that sat under piece of sheet metal with holes in it. All the enterior was taken out so nothing would melt and/or burn and he used some metal rods to support the grates he adopted from old ovens. At the bottom of the door, he cut a hole and saved the piece he cut out for a damper so that he could open and close it as necessary. The thermometer was, if I remember right, a meat thermometer inserted through a hole drilled so that the probe will fit through snug enough to keep from falling out. The thermometer was about in the middle of the door...maybe a little closer to the top, that way he could put the thicker/bigger pieces of meat on the lower racks.

He made the absolute best smoked salmon Ive ever had in that. Nothing like fresh caught Lake Michigan salmon, cleaned, brined, smoked and eaten right out of the smoker! MMmmmm!

Captn---

[sbooy42]

Thank a lot everyone

[buck37]

You can also cut a hole in the top and use a floor heat register to control the temp, remove plastic from the door and put a metal cover in place. I use a small oven in the bottom for heat, I've seen hot plates used to heat wood chips also.

[Kelly Johnson]

They're easy to do.

Single electric burner with a cast iron or stainless pan for the chip to go in.

Fashion a cover for it with dryer venting running btw the lid and freezer.

Done.

So long as you keep the heat far enough away from the product, but route the smoke into the box it's a snap.

I hot smoke stuff all the time with one of these. Seriously fast too. 2-3 minutes of smoke and it's saturated.Cold smoke takes much longer to penetrate.
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/coffeemachines_1960_7156964

[CL-Lewiston]

As noted there must be heat. A friend tried smoking and only had smoke to the fish-lots of it and no heat. 48 hrs later the fish was still raw.

Lots of refrigs/freezers have been made into smokers. Masonary is regarded as the best material as it does not sweat. A sweating smoker makes the meat much moister.

Some very good smoked fish are catfish. Use those 12-18". Gut and gill and smoke. The skin will peel when you want to eat and is very good.

[Kelly Johnson]

As noted there must be heat.

Actually smoking can be broken down into 2 categories....Hot and Cold.

Hot smoking cooks it with heat.
Cold smoking doesn't.

Many styles of pork and fish are cold smoked but must be "cooked" chemically.... salt, acid or brine or must be dehydrated. All this does is lower the water activity level and becomes unhospitable to bacterial growth.

Cold smoking, by definition, requires a temp of less than 95F and takes a WHOLE lot longer than hot smoking does.

I can hot smoke an 8oz chicken breast in about 12 minutes ....cold smoke is closer to 2-3 hrs up to 6-8hrs.