Wooden Smokehouse

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wittdog said:
No Sanding..we put all the rough cut on the outside. ;)
Click to expand...
Just kidding, I knew you weren't going to go fancy on the finish, but you should -- you have erected the Taj Mahal of sausage smokehouses. :D

--John
(Maybe gold leaf on the smokestack ...)
 
I would like to thank my master carpenter Greg for building such as nice smokehouse “It might look good from Grand Island but It looks great from West Seneca” this bad boy is a thing of beauty and I know I couldn’t’ have built it myself……
I’d like to thank my wife for going along with another of my harebrain ideas. I would also like to thank everyone for helping out with ideas and following this build. Nick P and JB were big helps…Puff was useless as usual..

Cutting the supports for the dowels and racks….


The Ahole or JB Air hole….it brings combustion air into burner…



Starting to install the supports….



How’s it going to look with the dowels in…


Smoke diffuser







The inside set up

All done and ready to run




This is Greg one Hell of a Carpenter and probably pretty beat…




We only fired it up quick cuz the caulk had to cure…but some initial observations…first the pipe to the burner…it’s sucking in to much air…at first we couldn’t get the burner lit…after closing the pipe completely off…it light…I think I might but that valve thing back on and just but the pipe close to the burner that way I can adjust the air intake…It’s going to take some experimenting…
The Draft seemed to work well….we got some nice smoke coming out of the stack with good circulation…I know what the temp was because the therm isn’t here yet but should be in a couple of days….

With some tweaking I’m pretty sure we can get this to the temps I want….I’ll keep you guys informed…I can’t wait to load this bad boy up and let the smoke roll…….
The Mrs reaction

The Mrs contribution

Rolling some smoke
 
OK Witt, My 2 cents.

With a gas burner inside the smokehouse you need to be carefull to make sure there is proper air entering the chamber to allow complete combustion of the gas. Also make sure that the burner is lit and will stay lit after you shut the door. If it goes out you will have a gas build up that can ignite explosively if you open the door and there is a source of ignition. Since you can't see inside of the house, it's possible that the fire may go out and you have raw gas accumulating inside. You may notice that the temp is not where you think it should be and open the door to check and let raw gas escape right in your face. The gas is heavier than air so it won't go out the top unless you use methane.

Also you need to consider that when the wood starts to smolder it will create smoke that will displace oxygen and impare the combustion of the gas as well. This is not good because the gas that is not being burned, or the fire going out will again create the problem of an unsuitable atmosphere for complete combustion.

I'm not trying to dis your project. I'm just concerned that you've created an atmosphere with potential bad things happening.

I would feel a lot more comfortable with an electric burner in there or a system by which you can get the heat and smoke to travel to the smoke house using gas in a separate location so that you will always have the proper fuel to air ratio and have complete combustion.

It is a beautiful house you've built and I would hate to see you in the news injured.

In my industry we have all kinds of systems in place to monitor the combustion process with shutdowns an so forth. They are there for a reason and usually because someone learned the hard way. May they rest in piece.

Again. I'm just concerned and passing on potential consequenses.
 
After reading Ron’s post and speaking with him on the phone (thank you very much Ron)….it looks like its time to examine some other options for a heat and smoke source….Any suggestions?
Seems like if I use gas the burner has to be separate from the smokehouse…..cuz the burner needs air to burn the gas completely….
Now my concern about using an electric element is with such a big area it might not get up to the temps I need……..
 
Sausage Maker? Go ask the good old coot that's there all the time. He's a great guy as you know Dave. He may be able to help. Don't think electric is going to get the job done, unless you want to run 220 to it, and that would be a big PITA. I have some old smoke house books, let me see whats up in them and I'll get back to you.
 
I know as far as the area the small heating element wont' work...2 might...for the bigger smokers they use an element that runs off of 220..

And the Gas Smokers the Heat source is seperate from the smoker....
 
Don't worry Dave, It will get figured out. Ron made some vary valid points! (good stuff Ron) Ya know Dave? Sometimes you just can't cook with gas! :LOL: It's a joke, it's a joke. Video of wittdog kicking my ass next time I stop by $5.99 (first 50 callers) after that $9.99. Order today! :LOL:
 
Seems like a knowledgeable appliance guy could help me out……Pigs…..do you know anyone? :twisted: :P :LOL:

We'll get this figured out
 
To paraphrase a well known line in the 1968 movie The Graduate:

Pellets, son, the future is pellets!

Hook up a FEC 100 to that shed. That way you can hot smoke in the FEC and cold smoke in the shed, all in one cook.
 
On the heavy industry boilers I worked on they had flame detectors tied into my shutdown programs. I think home oil burning heaters have some kind of detection/shutdown. This all may cost some serious money.
A cheap test in another direction would be $30 for a hot plate to see what temp range can be achieved. A computer muffin fan may be needed to break up heat layering. That will give you an idea of what kind of wattage is needed to do the job. Being well built and insulated it may take less than you think.
Damn, I got to poop again. Must be the pictures.
 
ronbeaux50 said:
OK Witt, My 2 cents.

With a gas burner inside the smokehouse you need to be carefull to make sure there is proper air entering the chamber to allow complete combustion of the gas. Also make sure that the burner is lit and will stay lit after you shut the door. If it goes out you will have a gas build up that can ignite explosively if you open the door and there is a source of ignition. Since you can't see inside of the house, it's possible that the fire may go out and you have raw gas accumulating inside. You may notice that the temp is not where you think it should be and open the door to check and let raw gas escape right in your face. The gas is heavier than air so it won't go out the top unless you use methane.

Also you need to consider that when the wood starts to smolder it will create smoke that will displace oxygen and impare the combustion of the gas as well. This is not good because the gas that is not being burned, or the fire going out will again create the problem of an unsuitable atmosphere for complete combustion.

I'm not trying to dis your project. I'm just concerned that you've created an atmosphere with potential bad things happening.

I would feel a lot more comfortable with an electric burner in there or a system by which you can get the heat and smoke to travel to the smoke house using gas in a separate location so that you will always have the proper fuel to air ratio and have complete combustion.

It is a beautiful house you've built and I would hate to see you in the news injured.

In my industry we have all kinds of systems in place to monitor the combustion process with shutdowns an so forth. They are there for a reason and usually because someone learned the hard way. May they rest in piece.

Again. I'm just concerned and passing on potential consequenses.
Click to expand...

Ron what your say is correct, Dave does have a fresh air inlet with a damper & he has a cobustion air tube feeding the gurners venturi with outside air. See te pics labled the ahole or JB hole. With that plus his 6 inch air inlet (pic' with the screen) there will be plenty of air for combustion.
Remember I'm a state licenced HVAC & plumbing contractor.

This will be just like a a Gas BBQ grill or adding an Afterburner to a wood smoker.
http://gassmoker.com/

I built one for smoker , So did SS they work great too. They do require outside air as you stated Dave has provided that due to my infinite wisdom :LOL:
 
wittdog said:
If I got a burner where the venturi was outside of the smokehouse...like this one http://www.tejassmokers.com/castironburners.htm would that take care of the issues with air?
Click to expand...

You could but don't need too You allready are getting outside air PW.

BTW the ajustable length burner is a 160,000BTU :shock: thats a high pressure type burner The one you have is a 70,000BTU low pressure, Stick with that & your JB ahole tube BOY

Now if your burner is too hot you could get a smaller low pressuse job, maybe like 35,000 BTU
 
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