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Monday, January 21, 2008

Building a cold smoker (smokehouse)



My original smokehouse plan was to make something big enough to cold smoke two pigs worth of hams and bacon at a time. I only butcher pigs once or twice a year for curing,....but I cook several pigs a year on my cinderblock pit.
I wanted a smoke box that I could set right on my block pit, and run a pipe from a separate smoke/fire box to create the cold smoke. Use my cinderblock cooker for both hot smoking and cold.
As it turned out, I decided (after I built the box) to make the little smokehouse permanent.




The box is constructed from some untreated lumber I had on hand.





I purchased the smoke stack....it has a damper built in.
I made a rain cap for the stack using hanging iron straps and a regular old cake pan....it's attached with nuts and bolts. I painted the pan with rust resistant high heat paint. The top of the smoke stack is covered with screen, held on by a hose clamp. (to keep the bugs out)

I covered the top of the little smokehouse with metal.



Caulk around the bottom of the smoke stack.



For shelves and dowel holders, I drilled holes into a 2x4.....then cut the 2x4 down the middle.





These are attached with screws to the inside of the little house.



The dowels rest in the grooves.



I made another rod holder the same way and use it to hold racks.



The base of the smokehouse is made of cinderblocks.....I used the dry stack method. No mortar is used, the blocks are dry stacked, rebar is ran through every other hole and filled with quickcrete.
The remaining holes are filled with dirt and the whole thing is capped off using quickcrete.



A hole is left for the smoke pipe. This was made using 1" metal tubing frame and a metal plate in front. Cut a hole the size of your smokepipe.



One picture I did not get....the bottom of the smokehouse has a metal strip attached to protect it from direct contact with the quickcrete/block base.

When filling the cinder blocks with quickcrete....I ran 18" metal straps inside the corner cinderblocks before the quickcrete dried. I used these straps to tie down the smokehouse.



The fire or smoke box is a barrel cut down to about 1/4 in size. Three 3/4" nipples with caps are added for air flow.



One ball valve is also added for air flow.



The fire grate is expanded metal reinforced with 1" tubing to keep it from warping over time.



I did attach small "feet" made from the same 1" tubing to keep the grate above my air nipples and valve.



The stove pipe running from the base of the smokehouse to the smoke/fire box.



I added a damper/valve between my fire/smoke box and my stove pipe for extra smoke/heat control.



The fire/smoke box, getting a paint job with high temperature grill paint.



The fire/smoke box.



For weather protection the wood is covered with a weather proof clear coating.

The base is covered with two thin layers of mortar.


It's ready to go!




The finished house is 6'7"tall, 4 'wide and 3'deep.


Some cold smoked slab, rolled and canadian bacon. Spices, salts, olives, nuts, cheeses, honey, etc..













I'm am getting a lot of use out of the smokehouse... I love it. :)

208 comments:

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cowgirl said...

Southernman that's Great!!
A bit of soaking in cool water after the cure and before the smoke will get rid of any salt.
(you probably already knew that)
Really happy to hear your house is finished. I remember the in progress pics...looked fantastic! :)
Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it!

cowgirl said...

SouthernMan, your bacon looks absolutely delicious!! Thanks for the photos. :)

Unknown said...

Great site Cowgirl. How long is your smokepipe.....I assume that is the primary method of cooling the smoke before it reaches the smokehouse?

cowgirl said...

Thanks Jeff! The pipe is 5' long. I does cool the smoke before it hits the house. I also have a damper in the pipe for more control when needed.
Thanks for stopping by. :)

belone said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Hello Cowgirl,
In 2011 on a project a coworker was talking about making a smoker. He got me interested and showed me a wedsite that offered great suggestions and ideas. After that job was over the initial excitement had passed and I would frequently tell myself I should build a smoker. I could remember there was a Greta site I had seen, but the only thing I could remember was it was a woman's site. Low and behold I found it, and it was your site!!
All that said, this is a great, very informative site. These last 2 years o have started hot smoking,and am going to now build a cold smoke. I will be using your design, or a form of it.
My question for you is, did you put a bottom on your 1/4 barrel stove, or is it open on the bottom?
Thank you. Matt

Joseph Howarth said...

nice

Louis said...

Good to see this

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