We have inherited the tradition of smoking prey from our distant ancestors. And although there is no urgent need to preserve food with the help of smoking, you sometimes want to pamper yourself with smoked fish, bacon or homemade meat. And this can help a simple smokehouse, made by hand from scrap materials. The simplest example of a smoking device is a smokehouse made from a metal or wooden barrel.

Content

• 1 What is a smokehouse?
• 2 Features of the smokehouse from the barrel
• 3 How to start building a smokehouse?
• 4 Smokehouse technology
• 5 Operation and maintenance of homemade smokehouse
• 6 Video review of homemade smokehouse from the barrel

What is a smokehouse?

The smoke plant consists of several elements:

• smoking chamber - it will contain products intended for processing;
• stove or fireboxwhere the burning of sawdust and the formation of smoke;
• chimney, который соединяет коптильную камеру и печку (если он необходим по задумке автора коптильни). Длина chimneyа depends on от того, каким видом копчения планируется заниматься. Для горячего копчения достаточно 2 м. Если же предполагается холодный способ, то его длина может быть up to 5 meters.

Cold smoked products occurs at a temperature + 18-220С. With hot smoked, the gas temperature reaches + 350 ° C and higher. It is made on a large fire.

Hot way most often smoked lean products. For smoking fatty foods better suited cold method.

Features of the smokehouse from the barrel

The most simple version of the smokehouse is the smokehouse from the barrel. Small 200 liter the barrel can be bought, and you can also use the used one, only with chemically safe substances (after it has been thoroughly washed and disinfected).

Using iron бочку, можно при желании не делать даже специального топливника и chimneyа. При этом бочку можно поставить на кирпичи, на ее дно уложить стружки и опилки лиственных деревьев и, поддерживая огонь под бочкой, таким образом закоптить необходимые продукты.

How to start building a smokehouse?

There are several embodiments of the smokehouse from the barrel, but in all of them the selection and preparation of the barrel for the smoking chamber is carried out almost the same. The barrel itself can be of any size, but the height of the smoke chamber should be 3 times its diameter. The usual 200 liter iron barrel fits these conditions perfectly. However, it will have to be redone.

If you plan to smoke products in a cold way (and it is much more useful and reliable for the quality of products and their preservation), then you must also stock up iron pipe длиной около 5 м для chimneyа.

Then you need to choose a place where the smokehouse will be located. It must be protected from winds and desirable have a covering. Identify and mark on the surface of the earth a place where there will be a smoke chamber and a fire.

From the place where the barrel-smokehouse will be located to the place where the hearth will be located, you need to mark place under the trench для устройства chimneyа. Затем нужно выкопать углубление под импровизированную печку и траншею под chimney. При выполнении этих работ необходимо учитывать тот факт, что для создания в коптильне хорошей тяги, нужно создать в устройстве такой наклон трубы, чтобы дно коптильной камеры и противень печки с расположенными на нем коптящими опилками, оказались на одном уровне (согласно закону сообщающихся сосудов).

Stove-hearth can be made from stones or bricks. Делать ее лучше с большой камерой для закладки дров. Поверху камеры сгорания устраивается камера, где будут тлеть опилки. Делается такая печка как можно глубже, чтобы обеспечить достаточную плотность и температуру дыма. Стык камеры и chimneyа тщательно присыпается землей для увеличения тяги, а остальная часть траншеи покрывается жестью и также засыпается землей.

Smokehouse technology

When all the preparatory work will be carried out, it will be possible to begin the improvement of the barrel. The main stages of work will look like this:

• first thing to do cut the bottom in a barrel from one end;
• Then determine half of the barrel and weld at this distance by welding or bolt stainless steel grate. It will serve as a baking sheet for stacking smaller pieces of food;
• after that, in the upper part of the barrel it is necessary to weld the rods on which larger pieces of products will be hung with hooks. In order for the hanging pieces of meat or fish to be well smoked, they must hang freely, not touching each other. Therefore, it will be enough to weld only 3 pruta;
• for better smoking products, the lid, which will close the top of the smoke chamber, as dense as possible;
• in the central part of the bottom of the smoking chamber cut out отверстие одного диаметра с трубой chimneyа. После завершения работ по устройству печки и chimneyа и установки на подготовленное место коптильной камеры в это отверстие вваривается труба chimneyа.

Operation and maintenance of homemade smokehouse

Getting started with the process of smoking, you must first cook food. For this, pre-pickled and pickled products should be wrapped with gauze in order to protect them from possible soot and dirt. Then put smaller pieces on a baking sheet, and hang large ones on hooks. Cover the top of the barrel tight lid and wrap well with a wet sacking that does not allow the smoke to quickly leave the smoke chamber. Sacking should be wet all the time while smoking is in progress.

• Having laid out an even layer of sawdust in the smoke chamber you can Kindle Fire in the stove.
• The kindling begins with a small amount, gradually increasing to full load.
• For smoking can not be used raw wood They burn slowly and form a lot of soot, which can settle on foods. Best to use dry firewood. They burn well and hot, which means that the process of smoking will begin faster. Sawdust for the formation of fragrant smoke must be taken necessarily hardwood: better cherry, apple, pear, you can hornbeam, beech, ash, alder. Can also be used juniper. It gives products a beautiful color and wonderful aroma.
• The fact that the smoking process has begun will be evidenced by smoke, which in some places can still seep from the smoke chamber.
• Smokehouse can't overheat. The temperature should not be too high, otherwise it may affect the quality of the finished product. At the beginning of smoking, the drying process takes place, so the temperature should not be above 90 degrees. At the very process of smoking it is allowed not higher than 120 degrees. You can adjust the temperature yourself by adding or reducing the amount of wood in the combustion chamber.
• Time smoking products depends on from the desired result (hot or cold smoking) and size of the product.
• The higher the temperature and drier the air, the faster the process of smoking products and the better and tastier they will be. If smoking was carried out correctly, then a beautiful crustperfectly preserving it.
• After the smoking process is completed, the smoked meat should be allowed to cool in suspension for several days at a temperature of 10-120C.

Care for such a smokehouse will not be difficult. After each smoking you need wash the grate and rods, on which products were smoked, and clean the inside of the smoke chamber. Clean residues of sawdust from the stove.

Of course, smoking is not a simple matter, but knowledge comes with experience. And if the design is successful, then tasty and pleasant products prepared with your own hands will be a good reward for work.

Video review of homemade smokehouse from the barrel