My smoker build

[antileno]

I needed something bigger for larger batches of sausage and I also wanted to dabble in smoking other meats like brisket and ribs, pulled pork etc. I looked at the bradley six rack digital smoker but it was just too much money. I had been thinking about building my own for some time and had a lot of the materials kicking around the house already so after a few beers and some minor research on the net I got started. I decided my inside dimensions were going to be 2 foot six by 2 foot six by 4 foot 6, plenty of room for lots of sausage. I built the frame out of 2 by 4s and used plywood to sheet it. I have a buddy who builds commercial freezers so I got him to cut me some sheet metal to line the inside with. Once that was finished I insulated the walls using roxul insulation, its rated for up to 600 degrees and wasn't all that expensive. I finished the exterior with plywood and cedar shingles. I cut in an air intake at bottom for air flow, and a hole in the top where I would install my chimney.

http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh559/antileno/003.jpg (http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/antileno/media/003.jpg.html)

I used some left over duroids I had for the roof and put my damper in the chimney and installed a storm cap.


After that was done I finished up the siding and trip and painted it up. I installed the door hardware and racking on the inside, and assembled a small army to help me get this thing out of my garage and into my back yard

http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh559/antileno/121.jpg (http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/antileno/media/121.jpg.html)

http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh559/antileno/130.jpg (http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/antileno/media/130.jpg.html)

You can see my digital controller on the right. I ordered a PID controller off the internet to control my temperatures, it came with a relay and a temperature probe. Following the instructions on the internet and in the controller I wired it up and mounted it all in the box. I works great and controls the temp to plus or minus one degree. For a burner i ordered a 1500 watt element off of amazon and it plugs right into my controller. On the test run I was able to get my smoker temp up to 235 degrees, which is more than i expected, the controller works great and has no trouble holding temp. My first smoking on Sunday I did chicken and ribs, they turned out awesome!

http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh559/antileno/IMG_03731.jpg (http://s1251.photobucket.com/user/antileno/media/IMG_03731.jpg.html)

[Johnny G1]

Very nice lookin smoker.

[North]

Very nice!
Did you seal the inside joints of the sheet metal? Any chance you could make a list of the heating stuff you bought to make that happen?
Also a few pictures of the element, wiring and heating tray?
I would love to try to make one of my own.

Thanks. Those chicken and ribs are very inspiring.

[adriaticum]

Looks very good!

[ydouask]

Hey, nice build !

[betteroffishing]

sweet lookin smokehouse .

[BigfishCanada]

Hey Ill Barter you a stay at the cabin for one of them? The brooks are awesome smoked

[nomad]

That freezer sheet metal inside Looks to be white! Whatever is used on that metal may give off toxic fumes when heated... be careful ! I'd find out what that coating is to be safe! Nice job on the build though! I have a large smoker and absolutely love it! Slow smoked Pulled Pork is incredible along with the ribs! UMMMM!

[antileno]

That freezer sheet metal inside Looks to be white! Whatever is used on that metal may give off toxic fumes when heatedI was a little leary about that at first also but I looked into the MSDS sheet and the coating they used does not contain any lead and is actually rated to be in contact with food. I aslo ran the smoker at full temp for 8 hours with no wood chips in it and there was no smoke or smell other than the cedar smell from the racking heating up.

[325]

I want one!

[Blair]

Can you run it a low temperature to produce cold-smoked (lox) salmon?

[blaker_99]

Awsomeooming smokehouse a list of parts and more pictures would be great. It's been a while since I've seen a smoker this nice.

[f350ps]

Nice work, looks great!! I built pretty much the exact same smoker as that years ago and it has smoked tons of great things. I made up some pipe legs that threaded into couplings welded to plates that were bolted onto the bottom corners, they lifted the smoker to about 5' high. I then built a small brick fireplace about 6' away and connected a stove pipe from the brick box to the smoker, voila, a cold smoker! Worked awesome!! K

[303Brit]

Looks good man

303

[antileno]

I haven't run it that low yet, there is a device you can get for cold smoking I have been looking at its here. I will let you know how that works out if I go that way. I mainly built it to smoke sausage so its going to run primarily in the 150 to 175 range.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=12

This is what I used for a burner

http://www.amazon.com/Brinkmann-812-3323-0-Smokeshop-Electric-Converter/dp/B0000AUSHQ/ref=sr_sp-btf_title_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1381541010&sr=8-4&keywords=1500+watt+smoker+element

This is the digital controller I got

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

I also bought a solid state relay from the same site

I followed the instructions on this site to wire it up

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?315-PID-Controller&p=504#post504

the stainless steel racks i got from an old sausage meister that happened to be my aunts neighbor (crazy coincidence)

[Bear Chaser]

Nice looking smoker.

[Hillbros_96]

Very nice smoker. Good job

[Phreddy]

Can't get the pics to show up.

[leadpillproductions]

How did your smoker work out , did you like the element you were using?

[SingleShot]

This thread is making me hungry.

Nice work and great looking product coming out of it.

[ElectricDyck]

Nice job!!!

[pnbrock]

very nice work ,you should feel proud!!