I'm building one, and would like to see some of your ideas. If you have pics and major parts lists, that would be awesome

I'm in the process of drawing out plans for a smokehouse/pit-outdoor kitchen (a longtime dream of mine) as I type. I'll be curious to see what others post for this.

I suggest you guys go over to "The Smoke Ring" and ask for information. A number of those BBQers there have built their own BBQ smoke pits, have pictures, and can give you the details.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/index.php

L.W.

yup----i love that forum.

I did a upright smoker on the cheap 20-25 years ago. The lid from my Weber grill fit a 55 gal drum perfectly and the grills fit inside. I simply cut both ends from the barrel and welded three pieces of rebar extending down from the bottom about 6" for legs. I ran two pieces of all thread across the barrel about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom for the large water pan to sit on. The lower grill sets on the water pan. From that grill I measured up 1/2 of the way to the top and installed three small L brackets for the second grill to sit on. Three more L brackets on top for the top grill. Four barn door pulls were added horizonally about 1/2 way up for two men to lift the full smoker with gloves. A thermometer was cut in near the top.

The fire box is a 30 gal barrel cut off about 5" on the bung hole end with 3 rebar legs extending down about 4". I fitted a piece of perforated metal inside of the fire box with 4 small bolts extending down about 1 1/4" to hold the fire up a little from the bottom for the draft to be more even.

Simply build your charcoal/wood fire in the firebox. Fill your water pan and place your meat/poultry on any or all of the racks. When the fire is ready simply lift the barrel onto it. Replace the lid and head for the cooler and lawn chair.

Its a good thing this is a hunting forum, if it were a bbq forum I'd get thrown out for what I'm about to post....:)

My wife made me a 'smokehouse' for christmas two years ago. It basically looks like an outhouse, made out of some tongue and groove pine, about 3' square and 7 feet tall or so, slanted metal roof. Fire is a turkey fryer in the bottom, regulated propane to maintain temperature, and a big ol' cast iron skillet on it full of hardwood to burn/smoke. I hang a digital thermometer at my meat level, adjust the regulator to the desired temperature, double check temp with an analog thermometer mounted in the side. Racks are angle iron welded up in a square and then covered with expanded metal. I've cooked 100 lbs of pork shoulders and 30 lbs of brisket on this at once, and could go another 100 lbs easily at once. Results are good enough for all those that have eaten it, to the point of always asking when I'm going to do some more. Brother in law built his first, he's done a ton of summer sausage in his, uses a 110v hot plate to keep the lower temperature, and still uses the wood chunks in the cast iron skillet for the smoke. Again, purists hate it, but it sure works.

Here's a pic of two briskets and a rack of ribs I did Saturday.

Cheesy---Nothing wrong with your pit. If it works for you then that's all that matters. Ignore the purists. Half do not know what they're doing anyway. I've seen everything from what you have to half a car to an airplane and tanker cooker.

Told you the other day I liked it. Stay on it bub!

You want to see some wild pits have a look at Dave's stuff. A wild man passionate about bbq who builds just about everything from something. Give him a call and tell him what you want and he'll even tell you how to make it. Tell him I sent you. As I recall Stan or Darby bought one of his pits.

http://www.bbqpits.com/

Cheesy, the only question I have is the use of pine for the walls......hate to see that pine smoke on meat. Never had a problem with that? Rough sawn oak I believe would be much better (not as cheap, but cheap), other than that I love the idea.

Doesn't look like the walls get hot enough to produce smoke. What's wrong with a little pine resin flavor?

And I said pine, I'm just assuming that is what she used, looks like it anyways. And Pugs is right, it doesn't get hot enough for the walls to smoke. I try to maintain 225 degress at meat level. When the wood is burning/smoking in the cast iron down below, the smoke really gets to rolling, which is what has the walls smoked in. At least thats my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks byc, I just saw your comments from previous thread yesterday.

When I was a kid we used to strip old refrigerators of their insulation and plastic for smokers. It was easy to cook in the bottom or have an offset fire box for cold smoking fish. Heck they even came with wire racks and you couldn't beat the price. Nothing purdy about them but they work just fine.

Cheesy,

I like your "pit" It sounds like it works quite well. That is all that actually matters. Could you post a photo of the entire thing?

It's pine....and when I see pine I think turpentine and pine sol.

All I'm saying is that the safer, better tasting wall material would certainly be oak.....or even hickory, maple, pecan, etc. Anything suitable for smoking meat would be more suitable than pine....I hope you never know why I bring the subject up.

Here is a .pdf of the entire plans my wife used to build it, take creative liberties wherever necessary. And as Stan has said, building out of oak would probably be wiser, heck, rough sawn oak would give it a good primitive look to it.

http://www.canr.uconn.edu/ansci/ext/build_smokehouse.pdf

Attached is a picture of the unit from the pdf page.

That's a very doable smoker!! Mercy, a guy could smoke a bunch of ribs, butts and briskets!!

Spent some time over here today.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=30

Cheesy,

I like your smoker. Just make sure it is well away from your house, because with the smoke that is building up on and drying out that wood, that thing will go up like a roman candle should the burner go catywumpus.

That's a very very good point Lott. A couple of years ago the owner of the Dizzy Pig BBQ rub company had his VA home burn down from grease build-up on his cookers.

He built a MUCH bigger home but----

Cheesy's smoker looks great for a smoker on the cheaap. Congrats. I framed my deer stand with those cheap 2 1/2 x 3" landscape timbers and treated fencing boards. I'll probably not do a smoker, but just for conversation, any thoughts about tin sides for the smoker?

I always keep a small stack of 5/8 x 5 1/2" x 6' treated fencing from Home Depot around for outdoor projects. They also have the cedar fencing that is not treated. Any thoughts about that? I could quarter cut lap it. I know that it would have to be fire seasoned. Thanks.

Wow, I missed a lot in this thread I started. My internet has been down for a couple days and I actually forgot that I posted it. Thanks for the replies guys

I should be picking up my 55 gal drum for the pit, and 16 gal drum for the fire box, next week or tomorrow if I feel like it. I'll post some pics when I get it put together

I would *NOT* use treated wood for a smoker. Qty of wood is pretty small so use a hardwood even if you have to buy it. JMHO

GB

I was talking about the cedar fencing. I would never use the treated lumber to cook in. I'm sorry about the confusing post. I do not think that the cedar fencing is treated. That is what I was inquiring about, and the tin.

LF

Take your Weber lid with you when you pick up the drum to make sure that it will fit. I got a drum that was cleaned and steamed and I fired a hot fire in it before I used it for smoking. I also failed to mention that a I used the rounded stove pipe fixture from a barrel stove with a winter chimney cover to add water from the side, but I hardly ever used it. One year turkey breasts were cheap after Thanksgiving. I smoked 9 or 10 in one batch and we gave them to family/friends for Christmas presents. Good luck.

croldfort

I'm glad you clarified. Cedar would be great I'd think. Folks use cedar shingles to grill salmon on.



GB

I wouldn't use cedar...I would use material that could be used for smoking. I doubt you cook/smoke with cedar? So, I wouldn't make walls from it either.

Oak isn't that expensive for a project that you'll use for years if you keep it from buring down. Were it me I'd use 5/4 - 6/4 boards.

That smokering site is pretty damn cool. I like the Yoder smoker design, and that's what I was going for in the first place. I have no idea where to get 1/4" steel pipe, so I'll go with my free 55 gallon drums

http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--37486/grilling-or-smoking-wood.asp

A google search revealed a lot of sources of cedar chips for smoking.

I do believe cedar is used on occasion with fish....but, for meats I doubt it sees much use. I've never seen it used.

I've not used it myself. The conversation got me thinking and I did some research. I've got some rough sawn oak and this sounds like a great use for it.

Brother man, the rough sawn oak would be perfect IMHO.

What thickness? I would think thicker = better.

5/4 to 4/4 thick. Perfect I think. Boards are rough sawn and vary in widths, average about 2.5 to 3 inches wide.

Yea, sounds good.

Well, I havent built my smoker yet, but I did figure out how to use the vertical smoker I bought from Home Depot! I had to build a new charcoal tray for it, because the bowl they give you is not worth the ceramic paint on it. Anyway, I made up some ribs for the family on Mothers Day, and they were just phenomenal! I only used Famous Daves dry rub, and smoked then for 4-5 hours (I had a rack of spares and a rack of baby's, that's why the time difference). Best ribs I've ever had, fall off the bone tender, and packed with flavor from the smoke and rub

Now, I'm not sure that I'll build a big one, but I will need something larger for a big party, and the 4th is coming up soon. We had about 20 people here last year, and it was our first year doing a party like that here, and we are making it an annual thing now . I assume I'll be FORCED to go bigger

I was thinking about trying something like this:

Seems like a lot of work SSE??? Let us know how it works if you do end up making one

the downhome homemade smokers i've seen have been constructed of a trash can in the ground, with a smoke hole out the top with 6 inch pipe run horizontally to the bottom of an old refrigerator set on a terrance.

a hole in the bottom of fridge admits the pipe from the trash can, and a damper and exhaust in top of fridge allows airflow to emit. shelves in the old fridge are handy for holding the smoked meat.

not the prettiest sight imaginable, but practical. kinda like something in Mother Earth News way back yonder.

The first time I saw one of those was about 35yrs ago when I visited an old buddy in Iowa. They were smoking sturgeon on one just like that. That was my fist time to see those ugly and good tasting fish. The smoker worked great. Had just about fogotten Mother Earth News, thank for reminding me.

when they were first running the show out of their Hendersonvlle, NC kitchen table, they published all sorts of down to earth practical ideas on barrel stoves, cookers, meat preservation, if ya recall. it was really a good piece of work...even had sections on hunting, and making a living on a rural shoestring. good stuff.

I've had smoked sturgeon I got at a shop In Mackinaw City, Mich. They sell and smoke whatever the indians bring in and occasionally it's sturgeon. Quite a treat.

Gus---where do you live? Are you in H'ville?

David

Not mine. miles


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I thought I was posting pictures. Photobucket has changed since I was last there. miles

Glad I don't have to feed that monster!

Holy cow that pit is HUGE!

Do you have many off planet BBQs?
Randy

Medicman, are you asking me? I haven't heard of the Planet BBQ

No, response to milespatton. His photos of rockey BBQ. hense off planet, BBQ

Randy

Not my rig, I just saw it at Magnolia, Ar. and took some pictures. miles