Building a Custom Smokehouse 3

May 05, 2011 by Guest

BY RAY GOMBISKI. Smoking fish and game has forever been a pastime of the American sportsman. Smoking can be traced thorough out American history from the Native Americans to George Washington’s home at Mt Vernon. Today, smoking has become a cherished part of the outdoor experience.

The modern smokehouse has made smoking easy and efficient with remote thermometers, gas fired burners, and compressed wood pucks. These modern conveniences have helped many sportsmen become masters of the smokehouse.

In my opinion there are many great meals that the smokehouse has to offer. I personally smoke turkey, beef jerky, pepperoni and, of course, salmon! With so many brines and cures to choose from there is a recipe for almost every pallet.

I started at a very young age in the back yard with an old homemade wooden smoker and a pile of alder wood. I've been fortunate enough over the years to spend time with many friends that smoke which has exposed me to many different techniques. Brines aside, I have found that a quality smoker will make or break your batch. As I mentioned above, present day smokers can definitely help make a great batch.

When it came time to replace my old worn out smoker with a new model I found that I favored to do things much like I had done them growing up. I looked at old refrigerators, new smokers, and even considered building a wood smoker from scratch. After about a year of looking I came across an old tray carrier from the food service industry. With a little creativity and elbow grease I decided to build a hybrid smoker. Modern convenience mixed with some flavor of yesterday.

After selecting the shell I had to make some modifications before it could be used. First, I split the door to allow access to the fire. Then, I built shelves, installed thermometers, added fire bricks to the floor and cut the divider out between the racks. Because my new smoker is made from all metal I felt it important to make the racks out of wood. I felt the wood racks would help it season and retain many of the qualities and flavor of a wood smokehouse. I elected to not use propane as a heat source, but chose to use a more traditional fire of charcoal and green alder cut in 4 inch chunks.  

Once complete, it was time for a test burn. The test would help to season the smokehouse and tell me if I needed to add vents. During my test I was able to keep the smoker between 130 and 140 degrees consistently for 8 hours. If I doubled my fire I could get the temp up to 170 degrees and sustain that temp as long as needed without the use of vents.
 
Because I smoke over a charcoal/wood combination I feel it's important to mention that the charcoal must be in a coal state before adding the alder. This will keep that charcoal taste off of the meat and allow the Alder to smoke.


Smoke is the key ingredient to a good batch of smoked anything. A good smokehouse contains the smoke in a way that brings a rich flavor to your meal. The homemade smoker was a fun project to put together. I liken the experience to catching a steelhead on a fly I tied.  I enjoy spending time building this smoker and then seeing it work.

With a little creativity and some work a great smoker can be made. I hope that the smoking tradition continues for many years and provides great meals like the smoked salmon pictured below.

Ray Gombiski is frequent contributor to TheOutdoorLine.com and you can find him chasing salmon and steelhead on the North Puget Sound rivers throughout the year.

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3 comments

Drew Haffner on May 28, 2011 at 9:18 am said:

Hi Ray, Nice article. You and your papa always had some great smoked steelhead. I heard you should keep fish smokers under 140 degrees so the fat doesn't leech out. What's your opinion? ...and thanks for puting me on the boss whitefish! Drew

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Ray G on May 04, 2011 at 1:43 pm said:

On it! I wonder how smoked shrimp would taste?

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Tom Nelson on May 04, 2011 at 11:47 am said:

Nice smoker. Now go drop my shrimp pots!!!!

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