Smokehouse Build

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, but time ran short and I forgot about it until it popped up in another post. This smokehouse was a project that I had been considering for a year or two. The readily available options on the market are either small electric versions, or something of commercial grade that costs upwards of $3-5k and most of those are pretty small.

I wanted a smokehouse that would hold 3-5+ deer in one batch, with the ability to smoke at super low, steady temps for long periods of time, but also to be able to get to high(er) temps for doing turkeys, chickens, etc for when my current BBQ smoker wasn't big enough. So the planning began....

Early on I figured out that I'd need to be about 4' wide and roughly 4' deep. I came up with a couple sketches:

After some more research, I decided that I was going to do a full 2"x4" thickness wall. A lot of guys do plywood liners with no problems, but I don't like that idea. I decided on 1/4" Durock cement board for maximum thermal mass which keeps it warm after the door gets opened, and it is also fire resistant/proof.

Right about this time....I noticed it looked pretty tall in the garage....

This is insulated with mineral wool, which is fire resistant up to 2,000 degrees!

On the front are two doors. The bottom one is relatively small and is used only for adjusting the temp and adding wood chips.

Heat is provided by a 35,000 BTU cast iron burner readily available at Northern Tool. The nice thing about this burner is that it has 3 different valves on it, to really dial in the temp you want.

For smoke, I use a 15" cast iron pan with lid that sets on top of the burner. A couple decent size wood chunks last for a couple hours.

The interior has a bunch of different options for meat placement, with either wire shelves to set on, or dowels to hang from.

The outside is still relatively ugly in this pic before I got the trim boards and rubber roof put on.

As mentioned above...this thing is pretty tall. Matter of fact, it was too tall to get out of the garage. And heavy doesn't even begin to describe it! After a little measuring, we figured out that taking off the casters would give us 1/2" of clearance between the garage ceiling and the corner of the smoke house. After bribing a few friends with beer, and promising a chance that this thing would be destroyed in the process of moving, we used a couple tow straps, a tractor, and some saw horses...and....got it out

Cost was around $1200. Way more than I expected when I was planning it in my head with some 2x4s and plywood. But it works absolutely perfectly for what I need it for. It'll cold smoke cheese, or it can be cranked up to around 250+, and will hold the temp for as long as you'd want. The exterior vents on 3 sides are slick for dialing in temps and smoke flow, and can be closed off if one side is windy.

Lesson's Learned:

-Think about getting the smoke house out of the garage

-Don't use rubber casters. They are junk and never hold air. I'll be coming up with a skid set-up in the next couple weeks.

[eyeguy 54]

yowzer! have fun !

[CaptainMusky]

Is that burner thermostatically controlled or do you control the temp manually?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Manually controlled. I've used it about 3-4 times only, but you pretty much fire it up, let it run for an hour or so to get everything heated up and stabilized, and adjust from there. Being insulated and well sealed, there is virtually no temperature fluctuation once it is set, and temps are really even side to side and top to bottom.

[CaptainMusky]

That is sweet! Thanks for the info.

I will probably start with a store bought unit, then migrate my way up to something like this if its something I enjoy doing.

[pheasantpro10]

Sweet build!! I would like to do something like that, do you think those electric burners would work to get it warm enough to cook? I'm fairly new to all this smoking but I just love to sit by the smoker and watch football!! Thanks for sharing....

[Walleyehooker]

You can buy one of those furniture moving dollys pretty cheap to put on the bottom.

[delcecchi]

Or more heavy duty casters. Looks like the plastic wheel ones are available up to like 400 pounds capacity. steel after that.

[ThunderLund78]

NICE! If my old fridge project ends in disaster, I may try something like this on a smaller scale. I bet that concrete board, while heavy, is a really good at even heat distribution. Good idea.

[LightningBG]

Looks very similar to the icehouse I built in my garage and had to deflate the tires almost all the way to fit out the door. They neighbors got a kick out of watching the debacle.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Sweet build!! I would like to do something like that, do you think those electric burners would work to get it warm enough to cook? I'm fairly new to all this smoking but I just love to sit by the smoker and watch football!! Thanks for sharing....

I haven't done any research on electric burners. You may be able to find one big enough, but it seems like a lot of space, to me. Especially if the outside temps are cold. Not to say it can't be done, I just don't know.

That said, this propane burner holds steady temp with no problem. There was less than 5 degrees fluctuation over a 24 hour period. I just throw my wireless Maverick thermometer in there, and let it run.