Terra cotta smoker

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I saw and episode of Good Eats on food network the other night and AB made a smoker out of a big unglazed terra cotta, an electric burner, and a grill grate. I missed the segment where he actually used it but I saw the final product (smoked salmon) and it looked good. My question is, are there still chemicals that would be released during the smoke even though its only a relatively low heat? I want to build a low budget smoker before the snow gets here and this looks about as low budget as one can go.

[goblueM]

i made one after seeing that episode last year. get the unglazed/finished pot

it works GREAT!

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I might have to try this now. Did you taste any foreign flavors in the meat?

[McGurk]

Terra cotta is clean from what i know. I'm sure A.B. would catch it if there were any issues.

[goblueM]

nope no off flavors. its totally awesome, just go ahead and do it! cheap and very effective

[c0untryf1sh3r]

cool, thanks for the input. Time to spend some money, first stop Menards, second stop butcher shop.

[McGurk]

I've heard the hot plate doesn't last real long for this type of application, but good luck none-the-less! If you have some tools and time you could look into a Ugly Drum Smoker. Probably won't cost much more and you'll have something that will last a lot longer. Mine is 3 years strong!

[goblueM]

hmm... its possible, i haven't run into any problems with the hot plate yet. What would contribute to hot plates breaking sooner than normal use?

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I've heard the hot plate doesn't last real long for this type of application, but good luck none-the-less! If you have some tools and time you could look into a Ugly Drum Smoker. Probably won't cost much more and you'll have something that will last a lot longer. Mine is 3 years strong!

I've considered a UDS as well, and I know my grandpa has an abundance of used oil barels so I could build a whole fleet of them haha

[McGurk]

The builds I saw other than AB's required putting an external voltage regulator to control the level of heat. I have never built one, so take my knowledge with a grain of salt. Actually, do that with all of my posts!

Countryfisher, no time like the present! Get to it! Finding a barrel was honestly the hardest part, if your have welding equipment and abilities, that is.