Fish/meat smoker

larryC, how mobile do you need it to be? Here's another thought for you.

I have a hunting buddy who's pretty handy with metal fabrication...his hobby is restoring old John Deere tractors (and other makes, too). Many years ago, he and I made a very efficient portable smoker which we have used for countless cookouts with pheasants, turkeys, geese, ducks, venison, elk, moose...you name it, we've smoked and barbequed it. We can do about a dozen big turkeys at a time.

Best part for us, we could trailer it to wherever we wanted...family reunions, harvest roundups, fairs, rodeos, Sturgis Rally, etc. Tows nice behind my pickup. We use charcoal rather then gas.

We knew what we wanted and just built it...was good hard fun. Our cost was low because we mostly just used what we had laying around the ranch. And...it was a long time ago...1978. Present retail prices will run the bill up there a ways, I'm afraid.

Improvising from your own thoughts are always the best....or as you may have already done, just google for a world of plans to get you started. You'll soon see where to begin.


here's an example

http://bbq.about.com/od/customsmokers/a/aa052904a.htm





Nothing wrong with making a nice frig-smoker either...done a couple over the years and put them to very good use. Kind of hard to move these days, though. Be careful with those if you have kids around a lot. I used an old Servel fridge as a smoker for many years at Coyote Bay. Found it at the Conception Bay-Posada dump and 'recycled' it. Hah! I got even with many barracuda by smoking 'em.

The old frig-smoker works great. You can add more racks to increase smoking capacity. Have had 'em with indirect heat, but by far the easiest way to go is to use a couple of electric hot plates inside the refrigerator.

smokers

I just did four nice Bonito fillets on my wet smoker this morning. It looks good enough to eat. Succulent, and with a nice 'bite'.

smoking tip

smoking

Myself like to cut the fish into 1 1/2 strips and add dry red chili peppers..seems to smoke very even and you can always brush off the pepper seeds with a brush for the kids..does not make the fish/meat HOT !! just adds a bit of Good stuff...IMO brine needs very little salt and Kikkoman or terriaki works just fine....Most guys use WAY too much salt and waste and good chunk of fish IMO !! ....K&T

smoking fish

Quote:

Originally posted by vgabndo Quote: Originally posted by churro I have a smoker with a water pan. There is a pan at the bottom of the unit you can put beer or fruit juice between the coal and the meat, it gives the meat extra flavor and the meat stays moist... I like the wet smoker much more than the dry smoker... If I were building a smoker, i would put a water pan in it. [Edited on 2-27-2014 by churro] I just did four nice Bonito fillets on my wet smoker this morning. It looks good enough to eat. Succulent, and with a nice 'bite'.

Here are some photos of the semi finished smoker. The racks are welded aluminum, and slide in and out for ease of cleaning. The heat box underneath is an old aluminum fuel tank that I took out of my truck a few years ago. In the heat box is a small, and as it turns out, too small 2 burner stove.
The frame is 1" square tube. I brought down 60' of it and used 55'. The tubes in the bottom of the drum are for drainage and dump into a small plastic jar.






I did a batch of fish yesterday and it came out pretty good. I took CaptKW's advice and didn't use too much salt. I think I need a larger burner 'cause I had trouble getting the temperature above 180. Once I get a larger burner I am going to try a turkey and maybe a prime rib roast.
Larry

Used to smoke a lot of fish. Hardest part was getting it lit.