Building a Homemade Smoker for the Homestead

[heavyhitterokra]

A few weeks ago, my sons and I were given an old air compressor tank that had a pin hole rusted through it and was no longer safe to be used for compressed air.  We decided right away that it would make a nice meat box for a smoker, but all we had was the air tank. The tank was 4' feet tall by 24" inches in diameter and weighed about 250 pounds.  It was an old tank made back in the '70s, fabricated from cold rolled, 1/4" inch thick steel and would prove very hard to work with.

It took the entire first day of construction just to cut the old motor mounts off it, torch the base off, and cut and dress the 36" inch wide door opening.  We split the motor mounting bracket to form a cradle to hold the tank and called it a day.

Several more days passed before we had time to work on it again.  This time, we spent 12 hours looking through local salvage yards and building the leg supports and mounting the wheels to the base to cradle the meat box. We used two 13" inch solid rubber wheelbarrow tires to support the immense weight of the final product that we estimated would weigh about 500 pounds.

Next, we spent another whole day looking in salvage yards for more parts to use.  We found an old 40-gallon hot water tank and stripped the inner standpipe from it to be used as a 3" inch smoke stack.  We found a 4'x 8' foot sheet of expanded metal that had been severely damaged by a forklift.  We were able to cut around the bad pieces and salvage enough to use as the meat rack, charcoal rack, and serving rack surfaces.  With a little cutting, bending, flattening, and grinding we were able to dress it up almost as good as new.  

Before it was all said and done, we spent at least 40 hours of labor on this thing, but it turned out well and will last many, many, more years to come.  The meat box is 48" inches wide, by 24" inches in diameter.  The firebox is 24" inches wide, by 16" inches square.  So the finished length of the smoker is 6' feet in length and the finished weight is between 400 to 500 pounds.

We welded on quite a few doo-daddys, like utensil hooks, hand forged door latches and hinges, and a door rest to hold the weight of the top opening door.  So things like that took extra time but added character to the final product. 
 Before the ends were capped off or the complete push and lifting handles were installed. 



 My middle son, john, assembling the removable grilling rack and removable charcoal rack that fits inside the firebox or can be stored under the meat box when not in use.  The flat top of the firebox can be used as a cooking surface or a griddle.  It's also a fire door that opens past 90-degrees to be supported by the front fire door which also opens beyond 90-degrees, to be swung back under the opened top door ... In that position, the bottom side of the top fire door can be used to dry rain soaked wood beside an open fire or can be used as a work surface to split kindling. 

We're not quite finished with it yet, but we are far enough along to start calling it a smoker.

 John on day #3, fitting the door with the hinges that we made in the shop.

This is my oldest son, Matt, on Day #2.  We started this project June 28th, and finished it July 28th.  At first, we had it in our heads that we'd have it ready to use on July 4th, but in reality it will be more like Labor Day Weekend.  This was a fun project to enjoy with all 3 of my boys. We had a good time building this together.  This ought to be a thing we can enjoy on the Homestead for many years to come.


Thanks, Billy, for letting us use your shop to do our welding out of the heavy rains!

[macmex]

That's what I call a labor of love!

[rdback]

Nice looking smoker Ron! Y'all did a good job. Maybe you've found a new business venture, lol.

Looking forward to rolling smoke pics.

[heavyhitterokra]

@rdback

Rolling Smoke Pics

A labor of love, for the Sons I love ...  Time well spent.
We took the smoker on its maiden voyage this morning, starting at about 4:00 am, cooking lunch for all the guys back at the shop, for letting us use their tools and for providing us a good, dry, place to work for the past 30-days of unseasonably rainy weather.

We packed it as full as we could get it with Baby Back Ribs, Mountain View Hot Links, Boston Butt Pork Roasts, Smoked Bologna, and two gallons of Baked Beans. It held right between 250° to 290° degrees all day long with a load of Red Oak, Pecan, and a little Hickory. You can just set it to idle and walk off and leave it for about an hour at a time without having to stoke anything or having to adjust any dampers. It was pretty amazing; not having to adjust the airflow or keep an eagle eye on the firebox all day long. It just 'wanted to cook.'


Idling along at 250°  This this is big enough to make those wheelbarrow tires look small.  Believe me, they were groaning under the weight.  Loading this rig up on a trailer was no easy task.  

Loaded to the gills with meat and beans.

Just about to convert the Boston Butt Roasts to Pulled Pork, to serve with Texas Toast.

Everything ready to serve and waiting on the crew to arrive for lunch.

Jeff, digging in!  That flat cook top we built on the firebox is a bean boiling rascal!  

Those are some big ol' boys ... Still, nobody went away hungry.

We had a really good day today.  Thank you, Lord, for looking after us so well. The weather was perfect for a Bar-B-Que.  Everything went off without a hitch.  After lunch, we put out the fire, loaded John's new smoker on the trailer and took it out to his farm to set it in its new home, where it will remain for many family reunions to come.

[Deleted]

This is just marvelous.

[heavyhitterokra]

Knowing how to weld comes in handy on the farm. We build a lot of our own stuff and do quite a few of our own repairs.

[heavyhitterokra]

Brrr!

It's a snowy day outside, 3 degrees for a high temperature, too cold to smoke any fresh meat today ...

Fortunately, we are prepared for that.

It is such a chore when I smoke meat, that I try to smoke it 20 or 30 pounds at a whack. We butcher our own meat here, but occasionally buy meat in bulk when we find it on sale. It's not uncommon to find bone-in Boston Butt Roasts for around $1.50 per pound, or bone-in Country Style Ribs for around .99 cents to $1.29 per pound, or Picnic Hams for $1.29, or cured hams in the off season for less than $1.50 per pound. When I find deals like that, I dip into savings and try to buy them in bulk. I smoke the meat the same day, then freeze it for later in the year.

Today is a bitterly cold, windy, snowy day ... Time to harvest one of those pecan smoked Boston Butt Roasts.

When I smoke pork in bulk, I only smoke it for about two hours at 250° to 300° degrees over a bed of red oak coals, with very little hickory, and a good size chunk of seasoned pecan wood. (Hickory makes meat bitter, so use it very, very, sparingly). Pecan has a very similar flavor to hickory, without the bitter aftertaste.

The reason I only smoke the meat for about two hours is that I'm freezing the meat for later use. Two hours is plenty of time to impart a good, smoked flavor.  After freezing, I'll finish the process in the oven or in the crockpot later in winter when it's too cold to enjoy being outdoors.

If the meat was fully cooked before freezing, it would make it very, dry. But by only smoking it to an internal temperature of about 120 degrees, the meat stays tender and juicy for a later date.

Tonight, we'll be having smoked pork roast and potatoes, instead of snowballs. Tomorrow, I'll turn the leftovers into pork and noodles, or pulled pork sandwiches, or some form of soup.

[heavyhitterokra]

I just used my last pre-smoked Boston Butt Roast today to make sauerkraut, smoked pork and potatoes. Fortunately, Spring is right around the corner, so I can smoke some more meat later, but it sure has been nice to have a winter's supply of smoked pork to pull out of the freezer once a week for the past few months.