DIY Smoker

Step 8 Reflections

 From doing this and immediately putting some ribs on the grill, I noticed a few things to work on.

1. If you're going to grill more than a couple of hours, make sure that you have some sort of way to lift the grate to put more wood chunks in the pan. The amount of wood chunks I put was plenty for the ribs I made. But for future smoke, I plan on putting handles on the grate so I can remove it as I need to.

2. Make sure that you have a glove on when you're handling the smoker for any reason. That thing can get hot!!

3. I'm going to have this as a permanent smoker, so I'll be looking for something to secure the base of the burner to the pot using the same screw hole I removed to separate the coil from the base so when I lift the pot up, the base comes with it.


Overall, it was good way of spending a few hours and enjoying the ribs (it took me longer to do this instructables than actually putting the thing together). 

What I enjoy the most is that my wife hasn't commented about it being an eyesore in the backyard. It actually looks decent sitting next to my grill. If it wasn't for the burner base, it would pass for a decorative item.

Hope everyone enjoyed it and hopefully it will spark some of you to try it. Thank you for reading and hopefully learning something from this instructable.

Comments

[cookin fool]

awesome instructible, let me say that whether or not you soak your chips it isn't a bad idea to use a water pan because it will help keep the meat moist. You could actually flavor the water with apple juice or whatever you like. Thanks I love the idea of taking the hot plate apart, I am so glad I read this because I am making a smoker out of a commercial food warmer and this will help tremendously.

[IndigoBlueMan]

I made one of these last night and am now currently smoking a salmon filet. I was just wondering what setting you set your hotplate to. I had it at medium, but it surpassed the 220degree mark on the thermometer.

[IndigoBlueMan]

Also I forgot to add that I bought my pots at Walmart and only got the 12inch ones since that's the biggest they had. Still works pretty well, and I bought one of those table-top charcoal grill they had for six dollars and I'm using the grate on top of the pot. Works pretty well.

[sum4all]

I usually start with the hot plate at medium. If the temp got too hot, I adjusted the hot plate so that I stay around the 220 degree mark. I've had it at some point that the hot plate was at low and the temp remained close to 220.

Yeah, this plan called for something bigger, but if you found the parts in a smaller variety, by all means do that. That's good that you were able to find smaller parts. Good luck!!

[IndigoBlueMan]

It actually turned out well. I wasn't able to find the pans, so I ended up using a metal mixing bowl and just soaking the wood chips. Had to change them three times like that, but the salmon turned out excellent.

[sum4all]

cool!! Yeah, whatever makes it work. So now you have a smoker that doesn't look like an eyesore!!

[websherpa]

[I was going to also mention that "smoking" a teflon pan at the heat required to get wood to smoke is DEFINITELY not a good idea and this should be changed immediately before someone gases themselves.]

Howeve rit's a great instructable and the idea of using a clay pot was interestingly compelling.

About 30 years ago I took a hot plate and did almost exactly the same project for my dad (because we couldn't afford a "Little Chief" smoker) but using a garbage can with hole in the bottom that I attached to the hot plate.  Thereby eliminating the need to disassemble the hot plate.  A little door for the pan at the bottom means you can use smaller chips and "refill" it when needed.  I used cookie cooling racks (easy to cut) cut into circles of different diameter so that they fit down in multiple layers inside the garbage can.  And one stronger one from a grill for "heavier" food.

Well I can say that this diy smoker is still in use by my dad to this day, every year he brings it out to make "Indian Candy" which is smoke cured salmon bits - it's become a bit of a tradition.

Thanks for reminding me of this!

[suezq]

Hi.  I really like the garbage can idea (as well as the terra cotta pot) and am thinking of attempting the garbage can style. Is there a problem with the galvanizing causing any weird taste to the food or health hazard? Also was yours a standard size g-can? When smoking, what should the thermometer read? How do you know when the meat has finished smoking? Is it experience, or do you probe the meat with a thermometer?
Thanks!

[websherpa]

The smoking that we do (salmon and jerky) is a cured smoking process, so the meat is cured in brine and/or sugar so it is already well on its way to being preserved before it hits the smoker.  Smoking is a low heat process, you set a pan of woodchips on the heat element to smolder and smoke, the smoke is warm and causes a reaction with the food that adds nitrates to it and gets it to glaze over and dry, preserving it.  It's not "cooked" persay but depending on how long you do it for, the meat can come out crispy at times.

So we had no issues with the standard sized galvanized garbage can, it is large and gets quite warm, even hot to touch, but not hot enough for any reaction to the metal.  Also, the smoking process soon coats the insides with a glaze too that probably adds to the flavour of subsequent smokings.

We don't use a thermometer, it's by experience and salmon is a good starter food to smoke.  you may use more than one pan of chips depending on how "smoked' you like the food.  We set the hot plate on its low setting (or maybe high to start and then down low), otherwise the meat will cook instead of smoke.

[thedestroyer]

If you want to remove the handle from a cast iron pan, follow these instructions:

1) decide to go camping at extreme last minute
2) in mad rush to grab everything and load into truck, drop the cast iron pan in the driveway.
3) contemplate bending over and picking it up, but decide to wait until you've got the rest of the things in the truck
4) forget cast iron pan in driveway
5) back over cast iron pan with loaded down truck.

This method worked perfectly for my husband. That handle came right off!

[sum4all]

 LOL!!

[foxtrickle]

Are there any concerns about the plastic base of the burner melting after a long smoke?

[sum4all]

The base of the burner is actually all metal. As far as heat, it doesn't get hot.

[foxtrickle]

I was thinking of the plastic part that the burner came out of. The piece that has the pot sitting on it.

[sum4all]

 yes that part is metal. There isn't a plastic piece on the burner except for the dial.

[zeppomarks]

I am not sure how big the bottom diameter of your pot is, but Lodge makes individual cast iron serving pieces without long handles that might work in this system.  Even brand spanking new ones are less than $15. vb.ly/1zsl
Great Instructable!

[sum4all]

thanks. I will keep the link just in case the stainless steel pan I found doesn't cut it.

[dinguskang]

Great idea! I love smoked ribs!

Might be a good idea to use a stainless steel pan for the wood.

Teflon sublimates at high temperature and becomes a toxic gas. Not usually in high enough concentration to have an immediate effect on humans or other animals except birds when in a closed space. But why add that extra something to your food if you can avoid it?

[jimcouch]

You can get stainless steel dog bowls pretty cheep and various sizes...

[jeff-o]

Hmmm, or maybe a cast iron pan, if you can find one.

[sum4all]

 Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. It looks like I will have to make another trip to goodwill.... thanks

[sum4all]

Thanks for the heads up. Good to know.

[gregr]

Teflon *starts* to degrade at 500°f. So, I wouldn't worry about it since you are setting your hotplate to 200°f.

Also, taking the handle off a cast iron pan will probably be a much bigger pain.

[cchamlin]

well, he's not setting the hotplate to 200, he's setting it to "medium".  this kind of device generally only has a very simple control system, calibrated for normal cooking conditions (i.e. a pan full of wet food in an open room) so when you put it dry, in a ceramic pot, tempuratures down there (especially where the smoldering wood rests against the non-stick) are going to be plenty high to start breaking down that coating.  As has been mentioned, these gasses can cause Polymer Fume Fever [wiki]  I think you would be fine as long as it's used outside, but for anyone else using a nonstick pan i would advise doing a long, hot run with no food to burn out all the nasties before you start cooking.  

Loved the 'ible!  great use of readily available materials :)   

[sum4all]

thanks. I adjusted it so that the teflon pan is only going to be holding the water and not heating up as much. I feel so bad about buying something and getting rid of it so quickly (even though I just spent $1 on it). ;)

[sctirvn687]

Could you take the pan and remove the Teflon somehow?

[gregr]

Sure, you just scrub on it with sandpaper. But like I said above, at the temperatures we are dealing with here Teflon is totally safe.

[sum4all]

I couldn't find a cast iron and like you said, it would have been more of a pain than it's worth. So I went back to goodwill and found a bigger stainless steel pan that had a handle that was easy to take out. Here's the result along with someone's suggestion for a water pan. thanks for the comment.

[Mik21]

Instead of using a water pan, try soaking the wood chips for a bit first. They will last longer and give good smoke.

[sum4all]

I'll give it a try after I try it with the water pan. thanks