any ideas for building a smoker?

[machinemaker]

I am thinking of building a smoker, not huge but bigger than the litttle one I now use. Something big enought to hold a turkey, several fish, etc. I was at Bass pro-shop Christmas shopping and looked at what they sell and it got me thinking about this again. I would appreciate any suggestions or observations from anyone with some experience. I have a background in steel fabrication and sheet metal work and have the equipment to form whatever might work best. One of the questions I have is that I am not sure I want to use propane, but would rather use charcoal, any thoughts?
Thanks, Kent

[Gibbonboy]

Several of my friends have built smokers from old refrigerators, but I think that's a horrible idea, both because of the refrigerant that will either explode or escape, and because of the insulation, which will likely be toxic once heated. Remember that certain refrigerants form poisonous gases when heated/burned, most likely Phosgene or similar. You don't want that in your hams!

I'd look into using either a galvanized (new) garbage can, or maybe a clean metal 55-gallon drum. I've also thought about going to the local scrap yard and finding a metal storage cabinet that's big enough. The best way is to use masonry, could be stone if you don't want to buy or scrounge brick/block. My grandfather's smoker was built into a hill, with the smokehouse above the underground fire pit. He just had a piece of stovepipe running underground up to the smokehouse.

As far as heat/smoke, I'd either go with an electric element, or just plain wood. Most people I know use a gas ring or hot plate with an iron skillet full of sawdust/chips to generate smoke and heat. If you could clean and burn out an old 275-gallon oil tank, that would be a bigger unit. Your metalworking skills will come in handy no matter what design you use. Best of luck.

[MadTripper]

I've been reading a lot on smokers lately. My friends built this one:

http://www.thesmokering.com/pits/metalpit/bigbaby/default.jsp

It works great and can handle quite a bit. The only thing I plan on changing is the size of a firebox and a diffuser above the smoke inlets. I'm thinking you can use a 33 gallon drum for the firebox instead.

I'm not opposed to the refrigerator idea as long as its an old porcelain coated (interior) unit. You remove the guts for the most part and temps in the smoker shouldn't really get much above 200. I like the idea of hanging the meat so it gets full coverage and you don't need to flip or move it.

Here is a link to the most original smoker I have seen however I'm not so sure about the paint that would infect your food.

http://www.ibiblio.org/lineback/bbq/troy.htm

Tripper

[bookwormom]

at home we had one that was accessable in the attic, it was attached to the chimney, so you did not need to use additional firewood, but you had to watch what you burnt while you were smoking. I do remember my folks burning applewood and also putting in juniper branches and berries for special flavor. It was sort of a sheetmetal box.

[PK.]

I'm kinda a pig cooker type myself and use a variety of cookers depending on what I'm doing. For contests I've used big trailer mounted cookers, for Church we use a large pit, but for home and small gatherings I prefer a 55 gallon drum with a firebox mounted on the side or a small pit. (Although right now I'm just using a storebought grill)

For the drum cooker, cut a 55 gallon drum in half and hinge the top. Add a 2 foot cube on one side with an 8-12" hole opening into the drum and a door of some sort on the front. Add two racks to the drum, on the lower rack you keep a pan of water and whatever you wish to add to that water and do your cooking on the top rack. Add a thermometer to the lid of the cooker, about thirty bucks for a good one from a chef's supply. Build a fire off to the side and use the coals from that to feed the firebox. I like building a fire on a platform with a grate for the coals to fall through.

Use the same principles for a pit, whether built from stone or masonry or just a hole in the ground.

For smoke, take apple, cherry, hickory/pecan, mesquite or whatever sort of wood you think you'd like, peel the bark off it and keep blocks soaking in a bucket of water. Every now and then toss a couple of those wet blocks into the firebox and you'll make dandy smoke.

You can cook a whole pig on this sort of cooker and you shouldn't need to open the cooker part more than a couple of times. This is important because when slow cooking, maintaining an even, constant temperature is critical to good cooking.