Wooden Smokehouse

[wittdog]

We had another busy and productive day today��.we got the door hung, the front and outside sides done, a hole and damper put in, tomorrow we are going to work on the door jam, the exhaust stack and insulated and concrete boarding the inside. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow.
Working on the door hardware�.


Working on the custom damper�






All this guy does is take a break�.


The Back�

The Front�.

[Big Guy]

I can't figure out why you have hinges on both sides of your door?

[Hangin_Salami]

NICE WORK!!!


I think you need to share your rib recipe, They looked dynamite!


Cheers
Chris

[wittdog]

I can't figure out why you have hinges on both sides of your door?

We didn't like any of the hasps or claps...that would hold the door shut...so we picked up a second pair of hinges and popped the pin holding the hinges and replaced it with a bolt that is slightly smaller than the standard pin...you just pull them out...and the door opens...we figured it looked better...and we need a good seal for the door...it beats the two pieces of wood spinning clasps

Here are a few pics of the custom clasps/hinges�..

[Hangin_Salami]

and how about that rib recipe

[wittdog]

I snapped a couple of pics of the inside before we insulate and put the concrete board up�.I�m hopping to get done today but it might take some time tomorrow to wrap up the loose ends�.

For now the heat source�..

This vent is going to provide air for the convection aspect of the smokehouse�.

This is where the 6in exhaust stack is going to go�..front right part of the smoker�near it�s highest point�on the opposite side of the convection vent�

These little piggies can�t wait to get it rolling�

Thing One says �Peace and Pork Grease��Thing Two says�� The Fist of Rock��

The back of the door�.I got the �red light� guarantee that it wouldn�t sag�My buddy said � I guarantee it won�t sag till after can�t see my brake lights��I think it should be ok�.we used 3 heavy duty hinges and they have a tension adjustment�.

The inside of the smokehouse is about 3 ft by 3 ft�and near 6ft at it�s lowest point.

[Big Guy]

It looks great. I might have to build one as I would like something bigger when I do a big batch af sausage, my current smoker I can only do 20-30 lbs of sausage hanging , so as to get good smoke colour and coverage.
Fired it up yesterday with a couple of pork shoulders let them smoke for 19 hrs @ about 200F , Excellent pulled pork.

[Iamarealbigdog]

amazing.....

[johnfb]

I was going to build one but then I realised that I would have to demolish my house to get the space needed. Not too much room in Irish city houses.....

[wittdog]

That should read..Built for Dave Witt�By Greg Vizzi

Little bit of insulation

The first concrete board�

Cutting the board



The Door stop�.



Union Job



Pest Prevention

Starting to look like a smokehouse


This what some of you guys said was missing

Hopefully this will perform as advertised�

Almost done


Inside Insulated and concrete board





We are almost done�.just have to run a length of pipe to bring air to the burner�and cut and place the angle iron for dowels and shelves�..

[wittdog]

I would like to thank my master carpenter Greg for building such as nice smokehouse �It might look good from Grand Island but It looks great from West Seneca� this bad boy is a thing of beauty and I know I couldn�t� have built it myself��
I�d like to thank my wife for going along with another of my harebrain ideas. I would also like to thank everyone for helping out with ideas and following this build.
Cutting the supports for the dowels and racks�.


The Ahole or JB Air hole�.it brings combustion air into burner�



Starting to install the supports�.



How�s it going to look with the dowels in�


Smoke diffuser







The inside set up

All done and ready to run




This is Greg one Hell of a Carpenter and probably pretty beat�




We only fired it up quick cuz the caulk had to cure�but some initial observations�first the pipe to the burner�it�s sucking in to much air�at first we couldn�t get the burner lit�after closing the pipe completely off�it light�I think I might but that valve thing back on and just but the pipe close to the burner that way I can adjust the air intake�It�s going to take some experimenting�
The Draft seemed to work well�.we got some nice smoke coming out of the stack with good circulation�I know what the temp was because the therm isn�t here yet but should be in a couple of days�.

With some tweaking I�m pretty sure we can get this to the temps I want�.I�ll keep you guys informed�I can�t wait to load this bad boy up and let the smoke roll��
.The Mrs reaction

The Mrs contribution

Rolling some smoke

[wittdog]

[
Seems like putting the burner inside the smokehouse isn�t a very good idea�a member of one of the other boards I post on was nice enough to post this�He works in the safety field and knows what he is talking about�so it�s time to come up with plan B or C or D�.
quote="ronbeaux50"]OK Witt, My 2 cents.

With a gas burner inside the smokehouse you need to be carefull to make sure there is proper air entering the chamber to allow complete combustion of the gas. Also make sure that the burner is lit and will stay lit after you shut the door. If it goes out you will have a gas build up that can ignite explosively if you open the door and there is a source of ignition. Since you can't see inside of the house, it's possible that the fire may go out and you have raw gas accumulating inside. You may notice that the temp is not where you think it should be and open the door to check and let raw gas escape right in your face. The gas is heavier than air so it won't go out the top unless you use methane.

Also you need to consider that when the wood starts to smolder it will create smoke that will displace oxygen and impare the combustion of the gas as well. This is not good because the gas that is not being burned, or the fire going out will again create the problem of an unsuitable atmosphere for complete combustion.

I'm not trying to dis your project. I'm just concerned that you've created an atmosphere with potential bad things happening.

I would feel a lot more comfortable with an electric burner in there or a system by which you can get the heat and smoke to travel to the smoke house using gas in a separate location so that you will always have the proper fuel to air ratio and have complete combustion.

It is a beautiful house you've built and I would hate to see you in the news injured.

In my industry we have all kinds of systems in place to monitor the combustion process with shutdowns an so forth. They are there for a reason and usually because someone learned the hard way. May they rest in piece.

Again. I'm just concerned and passing on potential consequenses.[/quote

Seems like if I use gas the burner it has to be separate from the smokehouse�..cuz the burner needs air to burn the gas completely�.
Now my concern about using an electric element is with such a big area it might not get up to the temps I need��..

[Hangin_Salami]

I use that same burner (minus the stand) in my smoker I coverted from on old fridge. I have had no problems with it going out however, I do have many holes on the bottom for air to be sucked in. Why don't you just cut a couple holes on each side? Just a thought!

Chris

[wittdog]

How many holes and what size?
Thanks for the help..do you have any pics of the smokehouse/fridge
Is your air intake inside or outside of the smoker

[wheels]

Wittdog

Hard to explain in words, but you could cut a metal plate with a hole that your smoking pan fits in, thus sealing the top, smoke area, and creating a separate gas burner area. You could then vent the bottom section adequately without affecting the smoke chamber.
You could even split the door if you wanted.

(gor blimey guv, here's an English idiot with 1/1000th of the knowledge of a USA smoking genius trying to tell him what to do )

Just a thought for what it's worth.

Phil