Many lovers of delicious food one day decide unambiguously: they need a smokehouse. You can also make it yourself. It allows you to cook meat and fish. Products in the process receive an amazing unique taste and unique aroma. It doesn't really taste like store-bought products. The beginning of work is accompanied by familiarization with the intricacies of making hot and cold smoked smokehouses.
Production principles
Home cold smokehouse should be installed some distance from the hearth. The dug hole should be located in the far corner of the site. In this case, the natural elevation difference cannot be used. In the pit there is a hearth connected to the chamber. Use a chimney for this.
There is no need to arrange a place for a fire with bricks, it will be enough to lay the walls of the hearth. The length of the chimney is usually 2.5 m. This parameter does not exceed 3 m. For this, a trench of 0.5 m is dug. It is deepened by 0.3 m.fastened together with clay mortar. From above, everything is covered with sheet slate or metal, and then sprinkled with soil.
Instead of a brick chimney, a chimney can be laid in a trench. At the top of the hearth there should be a damper with which you can change the intensity of air flow, the removal of excess smoke and the intensity of combustion. The damper of a home smokehouse can be made of sheet metal. The place where the chimney and the chamber are connected must be sealed. For this, improvised means are used. An excellent solution would be a clay solution. An alternative option is the installation of a potbelly stove. The chimney is made from a pipe. And the smoking chamber is located above the level of the chimney.
Using a barrel to make a camera
A cold-smoked smokehouse at home can also be made from a barrel. A simple design can be made from a 100-liter container. The volume of the tank can be increased up to 200 liters. The top is cut off, but the barrel must be cleaned and washed before use.
A hole is made in the bottom for the chimney. The barrel is mounted on blocks or bricks. From a lid or any other suitable material, a fat collection tray is made. It will be released from the food during cooking. The diameter of this part of the home smokehouse should be less than the corresponding parameter for the barrel, so as not to block the passage of smoke.
You will need a grill that can be easily madeon one's own. It will contain products. This option is one of the best. You can secure the rebar pieces by placing them at the top of the container. Hooks cling to the reinforcement. Cold-smoked home smokers usually have grates made from improvised materials. For example, from willow twigs. They are woven together. The cells are fixed with a thin wire. You can use it to make a lattice.
The rim is made of thicker wire. To do this, it should be wrapped around the barrel to determine the size. The grate for a home smokehouse can be one or more, in the latter case, the elements are located at different levels. The distance between the gratings is approximately 15 cm. To mount the pallet to the walls, weld rods that will form a cross in the center.
The pallet must have a loop, with which it will be possible to get the product for cleaning. To fix the gratings, you can make loops, which are then welded to the walls. Sometimes self-tapping screws are screwed into the barrel for this purpose. The chamber cover should be made of hardwood. It should not turn out to be massive; small holes should be provided in it through which moisture will escape. You can limit yourself to a jute bag, which is thrown over the top during cooking. The bag is pre-wetted with water.
Making a cold smoking chamber out of bricks
Smoker for smoking at home can bemade of bricks. This solution is best used if you plan to smoke all the time. Otherwise, on the site you risk getting a structure that will have an incomprehensible purpose and is rarely used.
The chamber is equipped according to the same principle as the barrel. The bottom of the chamber can be made from the lid of the barrel, and the materials you have chosen will do. Sand-clay mortar is used for masonry.
Using sheet metal
To make a home smokehouse chamber, a sheet of metal is cut and shaped into a cube that does not have one side. The elements are welded together. Before you make a homemade smoker, you may want to think about what materials and products to use for this. A small barrel can serve as a basis, as well as the body of a refrigerator or an old pressure cooker. Some craftsmen make electric smokehouses that speed up the cooking process. In such a device, the action of the electric heater on the chips contributes to the formation of smoke. The heating element is periodically turned off, which allows you to achieve the desired temperature of the smoke when it enters the chamber.
Through the hole, the smoke rises and passes through the grid of the block, charging positively. When it enters the chamber, it interacts with the products on the hooks. They are connected to the negative pole of the block. Products attract positively charged smoke particles. They settle on the surface.
Making a hot smoked smokehouse
What is her speci alty? Hot smoked home smokehouseallows you to cook food in less time, because the process takes place at a temperature ranging from 50 to 120 ˚С. As the temperature decreases, the smoking time increases. Such a device looks like this: a container with chips or sawdust is placed over an open fire or over a source of high temperature, which can be a heated oven.
The temperature at which the sawdust will slowly smolder is very important to observe. Smoke from sawdust will penetrate into the chamber where the products are located. A tray is installed under them to collect the released fat. Excess smoke will be vented through the chimney or holes in the lid.
Making a smokehouse from a barrel
Hot-smoked homemade smokehouse can also be made from a barrel. The main difference between this design and the cold smoking chamber is the need to equip a firebox. It can be placed in a barrel. Holes are made in the bottom of the latter through which ash will be removed. The same holes act as a blower for the firebox.
At the bottom of the container, you need to cut a piece of the wall. The firebox door is made from it. A piece of 200 x 300 mm will suffice. Hinges and a handle in the form of a valve are fixed to the door. For the firebox, a third of the volume of the barrel should be taken. The remaining volume will be taken up by the smoking chamber.
When a smokehouse is made at home for hot cooking, the chamber and firebox must be separated by a 4 mm metal sheet. He willserve as the bottom of the chamber. It is fixed to the walls. A hole is made in the bottom of the chamber for installing a chimney. Its diameter must match the diameter of the pipe at the top of the chamber. You should not get carried away with the length of the chimney, because the extra draft in the furnace is not needed.
The pipe must be fixed to the barrel wall. Next, you should deal with the pan for collecting fat, a lid with a hole for the chimney and hooks or grates. In order for the volume of the barrel to be used more rationally, the firebox is placed under it. It is better to fold it from refractory bricks. A hole must be provided for laying sawdust and removing excess smoke.
The container should be installed on the firebox, and the freed volume can be used for additional grates. When making a smokehouse at home, you can equip it with a mechanical thermometer, which will allow you to control. The sensor is taken out. This device will keep you from making mistakes while you gain experience. A few drops of water can be splashed onto the surface. If it doesn't hiss, then there's nothing to worry about yet.
Small smokehouses
Mini-smokers are also equipped in ordinary steel buckets. Chips and sawdust are poured on their bottom, a grate is located on top. In the upper part of the container in the walls, holes should be made for the rods. Rings are hung on them. This will provide two options for placing products in cramped conditions.
In the lid of the chamber, holes should be provided for the exit of smoke. The container is set on fire,you should not make it too intense, because the sawdust should smolder. The process will begin, after which you can lay out and hang the products. The chamber is then closed with a lid. Smoking will take up to half an hour.
Alternative mini smoker
Smokehouse for home smoking should be compact. Another option is a metal box with a perforated lid. It is installed on a barbecue grill with burnt coals. As soon as you have fried the barbecue and sat down at the table, the smokehouse can be installed on the grill. This option will be a good solution for fishing or hiking.
After you understand how the smoker works and experiment with the barrel, you can think about creating a more presentable design. You can weld a stainless steel smoker or lay it out of brick. An excellent option would be to combine the smokehouse and barbecue on the same site and in the same volume.
Smokehouse combined with barbecue
These works will require a lot of effort and time, but the result will exceed all expectations. First you need to choose a place on the site, keeping fire safety in mind. For convenience, sewerage and water are supplied to this place. Smoking lard at home in a smokehouse can be carried out in a stationary device, a sketch of which is being developed at the first stage. When mixing the solution, it is better to use a concrete mixer, but you can do everything manually. Small-scale mechanization speeds up work several times.
The process begins with clearing and leveling the site, as well as making the foundation. Designmounted on a strip base. In a dug pit, it is necessary to mount a wooden formwork, which is upholstered with roofing material. Next, a layer of rubble stone is laid and crushed stone is poured onto the surface of which the solution is poured.
Smoking lard in a home smokehouse will be more convenient if you equip a stationary structure. A day after the first layer of the foundation has dried, you can begin to form the next one. The number of layers will depend on the weight and dimensions of the structure. The last layer must be leveled with a spirit level and also waterproofed after the mortar has dried.
Concrete can be used instead of rubble stone. But such a foundation requires reinforcement. For masonry, it is most convenient to use red oven brick. Masonry begins with mixing a sand-cement mortar, to which lime is added. The ratio should look like this: 3: 1: 1. Water is added in such a volume that the mixture is similar in consistency to thick sour cream.
The second and subsequent rows are laid apart, the bricks are first placed in the corners. Laid out rows should be checked for horizontality. The corners are reinforced with wire laying. A homemade chicken smokehouse can have a brazier, for installation of which corners and fittings are located between the walls. The firebox is made of heat-resistant metal or cast iron.
If several bricks are laid protruding inward, then the grate will be easier to install. For firewood and household appliances, you can provide a place in the volume of the structure. Such a smokehouseeasy to convert to a cold smoker. To do this, a portable stove or hearth must be placed at some distance and connected to the chamber by a chimney.
Smokehouse Recipes
There are many recipes for smoking in a smokehouse at home today. If you like pork, you can cook it. The meat is s alted to taste, garlic and pepper are chopped in a blender. Pork is rubbed with adjika, garlic and pepper. Wood chips are laid out in the smokehouse.
The meat is wrapped and fastened with skewers and threads. The product is placed in a smokehouse and left for an hour or two. Meat should be checked for taste. Getting acquainted with recipes for a smokehouse at home, you can pay attention to smoked cod. For cooking, you need to clean it, take out the insides, and you can leave the head.
After s alting the fish, it is left for 2 or 3 hours, then the excess s alt is washed off. The fish is placed on the grate, and the smokehouse is closed. At this time, you can peel the potatoes, boil or bake. The fish will cook for about half an hour or 40 minutes. You can tell about its readiness by its golden color.
Cervelat Recipe
Meat shop delicacies are not credible. Flavoring additives, preservatives and other ingredients can be excluded if you make homemade natural sausage with your own hands. To do this, you need fatty pork, as well as beef, sugar, pepper and nitrite s alt. The meat should be washed, dried and cut. It is sent to the freezer so that ita little cold.
Then it is passed through a meat grinder, and the shells are soaked in warm water. Recipes for homemade smokehouse are very diverse. If you like sausage, you can use the one described. Minced meat should turn out tender and uniform, so it is additionally beaten with a mixer for several minutes at medium speed. Then s alt and spices are added, everything is mixed well again. Using a meat grinder attachment, fill the shells with minced meat. Its edges are fixed, then the sausage is sent to the refrigerator for a day.
The next step will be smoking. This will take about an hour at a temperature of 60 ° C. Next, the servelat is boiled, which will require a thermometer so that you can monitor the temperature inside the sausage. The sausage is simmered until the temperature inside reaches 72˚C. It will take less than an hour to complete. Then the sausage is taken out and cooled. The final step will be cold smoking, which takes about 12 hours. Only after that you will be able to get the well-known taste of servelat.
In conclusion
Smoking is the heat treatment of food with the help of smoke. It is formed in a closed space from smoldering sawdust. As a result, the food is partially dehydrated and saturated with a characteristic aroma. If you like this kind of food, you can buy a smoker.
However, such equipment is usually quite expensive, so home craftsmen like to make smokehouses according to their own scheme. Technology can be quitesimple. The basis is a barrel or sheet metal. The design can be supplemented with a chimney.
An alternative solution is the method of making a smokehouse from an old refrigerator. However, it must first be properly prepared. The insulating material is removed from the case, and holes are made in the upper part of the device using a file and a drill.
