Had anyone made their own smoker? I’m thinking of making one out of a 55 gallon drum. I ve never smoked meat before, and want to start learning how. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I was considering doing the same but have decided that I can buy a good one for a reasonable price that will likely do a better job. A buddy of mine just got one and has been having a lot of fun with it. I used to use the old kettle style with charcoal and soak hickory or apple wood for the smoke. I want to get back into it.
My brother in law bought a smoker a few months ago. His wife says he is obsessed. lol. He loves the dang thing and makes some darn good meat.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on this recently. I think I’m going to build my own “smokehouse”. I still have to do some more research on draft and water pans and how to control temp, but I feel like that may just take experience Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
That's what I did and I've been super happy with it. Picked up a Masterbuilt electric smoker about 2 years ago and I love the thing. Super easy to use and food turns out great. I enjoy smoking, but not enough to build my own smoker and deal with controlling temps and smoke manually. I kind of enjoy the set-it and forget-it approach of the electric smoker. So far I've pretty well mastered ribs and pulled pork and have made some killer bacon wrapped backstrap and a turkey for Thanksgiving. Still need to get around to beef brisket at some point.
I ended up buying a pellet grill. I can smoke on it as well and love it, it's easily the best money I've spent on household stuff in a long time. Like JZ, I've done done all sorts of stuff on it now, the one I'm yet to try though is brisket. I'm hoping to do one next month sometime. I do have a friend in NY that built a smoker out of an old metal storage locker. Worked really well, but it takes a lot of work to manually control temps. I just don't have time for that and love the thermostat on mine. Makes it easy, I just fill the hopper with pellets, set the temp, and it manages everything for me. I'd say look for a holiday sale on something pre-built. You can find ones for under $150 that have some sort of thermostat assembly on them if you look around enough which will be much easier to use than controlling everything manually.
I have contemplated for a couple years now on getting one and finally got a Char Broil digital smoker and love it! I am no help on the making of your own but my brother in law and a couple of his buddies built one out of an old refrigerator. Put digital display, thermometer and all of that good stuff in it right away. It's way more smoker than I would ever need but it sure is handy at times.
got an electric digital smoker couple years ago from masterbuilt--love it throw in meat set temp and time wallah I do recommend getting a digital thermometer, stick it in middle of meat close door, watch internel temp until it gets where you want it-----I like this set up as I can do many things while meat is smoking such as paint house, change oil shoot bow, clean garage, even mow lawn smoked turkey is my favorite wife loves smoked pork butt roast
I’d love to buy one, but It really isn’t an option at this point. Looks relatively simple from all the plans I’ve seen online. The real trick will be keeping it at a consistent temperature using charcoal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Brother in law built a 55 gal. Vertical drum smoker a few years back and is now the designated supplier af the various meet dishes at family functions. He has done whole meals in it (veggies, potato dishes, Mac and cheese etc..) He loves it and we “ the extended family” do too.
One of my best buds runs a full manual smoker back home and he just uses the bags of wood chips to fuel his. He also keeps a spray bottle handy in case it gets out of control. Just a thought. His stuff was really good, just takes more time. It's also a great excuse for you to tell wifey why you have to sit on the porch all day and drink beer so you can watch the smoker.
The way to go in my opinion. So easy to use and reliable. Have had mine for years and use it all the time.
Many years ago I used an old refrigerator for a smoker. Stripped it out on the inside and just left the metal shell. Used a 12" by 24" concrete tile stuck in the lower back for the fire box. Old dish pan for water and bunch of split apple in the fire for the smoke part. Worked good for small game and fish. Be hard to find a fridge that has any metal in it today.
Ive smoked on many diy side box style and vertical smokers. Some were well constructed and didn’t require as much babysitting. Some sucked and I ruined Meat $$. I think my perfect setup is going to be 2 grills. A pellet grill and a kamodo grill. Problem is the price tag on both of those lol Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Which one did you get? I have the Grilla Silverbac and have done some of the best meat I’ve ever had. Two briskets so far as well. One just for a party and one for a neighborhood chili competition which I ended up winning thanks to my chopped brisket. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I've had a charcoal, an electric, and now a propane, and if you build one, my recommendation would be to find a small burner of some sort (old grill burner) because controlling temp is the hardest variable to control. Smoke is easy but if you aren't careful you are cooking at one end and doing nothing on the other. Electric is nice but burned 2 up in a year. Propane will eventually rust out. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Another option would be using a metal trash can, a little smaller and easier to work with... You need to have some metal cutting/working skills to build one... I use a Brinkman barrel styled smoker with a water pan in the middle, charcoal/wood pain in bottom and 2 grates above the water pan. I think using a welder, getting some braces in place for grates and setting up where to have a water pan and making adjustable vents would be easy enough, but if you don't have metal working experience, it may end up being a lot of time wasted.
