www.sausagemaking.org

need to be quick as am just about to leave for a few days:

terracotta flower pot - say 6" wide for a 'dustbin' sized smokehouse - depth not important.
put about three glowing pieces of charcoal (or similar) over the hole in the bottom - pecan to walnut size seems OK
lift the pot off the fireproof deck with three broken bits of pot so that there is a little bit of a draft coming from under the pot.
put a small pyramid of DRY fine wood chips over the top - say cover the coals in 1" of wood - come back in half an hour - if all going well build up the pyramid to 4-6" high.
should burn cool enough to sit in the bottom of a smokehouse.
arrange a 'baffle' on the top - both to diffuse the smoke and to stop fat drips acting as a fire risk - basically a bit of mesh will stop any flare-ups (tin with a 100 nail holes would probably work) then place three bits of broken pot on the mesh/around the top rim of the flower pot, then place a terracotta flowerpot saucer raised a couple of inches over the whole thing does the trick. (if the food is not directly above the smoker then the saucer is not necessary, and neither is the mesh baffle, but is is a safety feature so should still be considered)
if the pile of dust gets carried away/too hot/starts to burn rather than smolder then put the pot straight on the ground which effectively cuts off the draft from below.


if it goes out (unlikely if the wood is very dry) the light a candle under the hole at the bottom to get it going again.

needless to say this all can get hot so take care...

has worked for me in the past

Philip

Another option (from Marianski if I recall correctly) is to put a pile of sawdust in an OLD pan, and heat it on a stove/skottel (outside!) until it starts to smoke, remove from the heat, and use the smoking pan as your smoke source. Probably easier than the above.

Thanks KIl
Thought it was utter sacrlidege on here not to smoke your bacon.
Thanks for the calculator mate.

Thanks Swing. I'm going to draw on you're expertise for ever, I can see it.
Great reply.
Thanks mate!

Thanks Kil2k. I've just read Phil's tutorial on it and am definitely going to try this method first.

shaunRSA wrote:Thanks Kil2k. I've just read Phil's tutorial on it and am definitely going to try this method first.

No problem. Once you've cracked it you'll never buy bacon again!