Building a "LARGE" Smokehouse.

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Sourdough

"Eleutheromaniac"
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Mar 17, 2018
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In a cabin, on a mountain, in "Wilderness" Alaska.
Interested in ideas and any "FIRST-HAND" experience with Medium-Largeish smokehouse. Not the small 3' X 3' smokehouse, but 10' X12' or larger. (More of a kicks & giggles brainstorming ideas kind'a thread). Thinking more along the size for a community, or survival group.
 
I'm building a small smoke house, 3'×4'×6' tall. 10x12 is larger than many commercial smoke houses. But the concept is the same, just scale up to whatever size you want. My smoker will be all made of cedar. The front door will have a small 12"×12" cast iron door for adding wood to the fire box. For cold smoking, cheese, salmon, etc, I'll make a stainless steel fire box mounted outside the smoker and duct the smoke in to the building.
 
Are you smoking a whole hog & a steer?
Is it a cold smoke or a hot smoke?
Are you going to make a divider, so you can do half batch or a whole batch.
If you have a removable divider, you will need two chimney, one for half batch & one for full batch.
 
My thought is many families in Alaska harvest at least one moose (sometimes two) and a few caribou, that is roughly 1,000 to 1,400 hundred pounds of processed meat. Currently it goes into freezers.

If the power was down for a couple years, and the community was say 150 or 175 people, why have 40 or 60 small smokers for the survival of the community.
 
Most eskimos have smoke houses large enough to smoke hundreds of fish. This feeds the extended family and the dogs. The tend to be 20' or more square, framed with poles, a good wood shake roof to keep the rain and snow off, and shake walls that have lots of ventilation.
 
My Inuit friends just dry caribou and fish on chicken wire during the spring before the flies come out.

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the wild north...andrew in nwt built several smokehouses.this was one from 10 years ago.

warning he likes foul language so dont watch if your sensitive to such things.

 

That looks to be about 16 or 18 feet square. Good video. I figure here it would need to be concrete block the first eight or ten feet and double steel doors.
 
That looks to be about 16 or 18 feet square. Good video. I figure here it would need to be concrete block the first eight or ten feet and double steel doors.
do you want to see a stone one?(vid is short and not to good but it for sure is nice solid house.)

in your area stone would be way to go or brick or blocks for bear troubles long term.
 

This smoke house is similar in size to what was used around here. I would guess 6 or 8' x 10 or 12'. A lot depended on number of people being fed.
Personally I would want one big enough for 2 hogs and a calf, or couple deer. Could always use a movable divider to make it smaller if needed.
 
I have several 20-foot connex/shipping containers that are unique, in that they have doors on both ends. So, I am playing with the idea of partitioning it off a little less then mid-way. Turn half into a smoker. It would have the advantage of being somewhat bearproof. (Somewhat) :rolleyes:
 
Canning moose, bear n salmon is a great way to preserve it. Smoking meat will not make it last a long time. And then needs refrigeration. Dehydrated meat can last longer.
I've had trouble with too much moisture. Especially when it won't stop raining. I had a 4 square smoker with a remote firebox supply a cold smoke and cooler temperatures of the meat. And removing enough moisture from the salmon was impossible. Near a hundred pounds worth. And the alder left a bitter taste.
Probably just me , but I've found that using several big chiefs I found at garage sales to be best for me.
Anyhows moisture can get you so maybe plan for that
Good luck n have fun
 
I have no experience with smokers, but for long term preservation, look into salting, aging & curing any meat for smoking. It will keep meat longer than just smoking without pretreatment. In colonial times, salting was how they preserved foods long term. To make it palatable it would need soaking in fresh water with several changes to get the salt out.
 
So until we get our own place again, we have certain limitations. One of those is not being able to build permanent structures. Hubby "modified" a little chief smoker - because we had one. He cut the bottom portion off and capped it with a 4" hole and capped the base of the top portion with another 4" hole. Used dryer vents for the "connections" and a 4" metal dryer hose to get the heat away from the meat. He did 2 slabs of bacon which should be ready to try - yum. We are both anxious. He salted them for a couple weeks then smoked them - no commercial cures, rubs, chemicals or nitrates etc. If this works, we will be designing something a lot larger and permanent for future reference.
Will let you know how it turns out.
From a prepping standpoint, the meat requires no refrigeration or further preserving other than to keep flies off of course.
 
I am about ready to throw away an old standard refrigerator/freezer combo. I might be able to get it to you before winter sets in. Happy to drop it off if you want it. Just not sure if I can do before winter makes it impossible to get from me to you.
 
I am about ready to throw away an old standard refrigerator/freezer combo. I might be able to get it to you before winter sets in. Happy to drop it off if you want it. Just not sure if I can do before winter makes it impossible to get from me to you.
Thank you but that's okay. We actually got rid of a freezer last winter. We don't need more to move when the time comes.
Edit: you are welcome to come visit though 😁 We like meeting similar minded folks.
 
Thank you but that's okay. We actually got rid of a freezer last winter. We don't need more to move when the time comes.
Edit: you are welcome to come visit though 😁 We like meeting similar minded folks.

Sorry, I was replying to Sourdough not realizing the OP was back in Jan.
 
I've been using our new smoker for a couple weeks now. It finally cooled off some and we've had a little rain. So far I've smoked several blocks of cheese, some chicken, tomatoes and hot peppers. Right now I'm only able to get the smoker up to 175 degs. That's hot enough for 95% of my smoking needs. I have a Cook Shack electric smoker if I need any more heat.
I tried to attach a picture but can't on my new phone. A couple weeks ago I feel in to the river with my phone in my pocket. Had to replace it.
 
My grandparents had a smoke house so big it was converted into a small three room house. One side had trays full of shelves to lay the finished hams and bacon in and cover them in oak sawdust. the other had rows of meat hooks to hang up whatever was going to be cured in the winter, there was mixing pans to cover the hams in the curing mix, wire mesh cages to hang the sausages in and a rack for fish or hog feet, ears etc. in the middle was a home made stove. the sides were chinked in clay, but the eaves were open to vent. sometimes when they made goat cheese, they would cover them in cloth to keep the bugs off the wheels.
 
I might mention my grandparents had bees. Honey, salt and red pepper makes one hell of a good ham/bacon cure! and it sticks on its own, no mixing and heating!
 

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