My new Smokehouse check it out

crustyo44
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Post by crustyo44 » Sun May 12, 2013 09:02

Just start smoking, no doubt you will incorporate some recommendations from Ross and I.
I think it's wise to purchase a temperature gauge to give you some idea on re-producing the same goodies later on, it also shows you the hot and colder spots in your smoker by shifting it around.
I don't use one anymore, after smoking foods for the last 40 years I have gained a little experience.
Good Luck Mate.
Jan.
king kabanos
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Post by king kabanos » Sun May 12, 2013 16:29

yea i just bought a 12 inch thermometer to watch the smoke temp and have a digital one for the internal meat temp. I have to stuff 20 pounds of sausage today and smoke it. its already late in the day and probably only finish half of it. is it alright if i freeze the other half of my kielbasa for next week and then smoke it or is that bad for the kielbasa
crustyo44
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Post by crustyo44 » Sun May 12, 2013 21:18

I have frozen stuffed sausages and defrosted them before smoking at a later date several times. Just defrost them in the fridge which could take a couple of days and dry them properly before smoking.
Just make sure you stuff the ready made meat mixture. It's too difficult and hard to do it the next day.
Good luck Mate. You'll succeed!!!!!
Jan.
king kabanos
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Post by king kabanos » Mon May 13, 2013 16:06

Thats good news for me man thanks. but i am preety mad because my kielbasa turned out dry when i smoked it yesterday. i kept the temperature at 150 inside the smoker for 5 hours and then out it in the oven at 170 deg uncovered. i am kind of upset that it turned out like that. and it also turned out really lean like that fat melted. it was 2 o clock in the morning and i could not wait any longer because i had work the next day and was falling asleep. so i turned the heat up to 220 deg for half an hour to get it done faster but that's probably where i made a mistake. the kielbasa also has a little too much smokey flavor. i hope you can help me out

here is a list of meat i used for my 20 pounds

5 pounds beef round

14 pounds pork shoulder

1 and half pound jowl

thats just the meat that was inside i also used spices and cure
Should i post a pic and show you how it looks???
king kabanos
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smoke house firebox question need some advice

Post by king kabanos » Sun Jun 02, 2013 23:36

instead of the steel plate that i had on top of my firebox i replaced it with firebricks on the top because the steel plate would bent a lot from the heat. And i fixed up the front door tell me what you think did i do good or bad?

i used to have it like this here are 2 photos

Image


Image

Now my upgraded fire box
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Damper on the front of the firebox door is that good or bad???

Image

And also a sling door that could go up and down

Image

I also put a 6 inch damper in pipe going from the firebox to the smoker so do you thinks its bad that i put another one on the fire box door?? tell me what you guys think and tell the truth if its something bad i did tell me and i will fix it
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Post by ssorllih » Mon Jun 03, 2013 01:19

That looks like a workable system to me. I could make it work the way I wanted. You will still have to play with it and learn its traits but it is good. The damper in the door will help to control the combustion air. The damper in the pipe will help to control the draft. You should see some smoke from the fire box when you open the door to the smoke house and it should stop when you close the house door. Now you have all of the controls that you need but you still need to develop a level of comfort with the fire. If you make too big a fire you can drag some of it out of the fire box and put it back in later.
Ross- tightwad home cook
crustyo44
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Post by crustyo44 » Tue Jun 04, 2013 06:30

KK,
That looks good so far. Do remember that it is all trial and error.
In all my smokers big and small, I also have had an adjustable damper in the chimney.
The reason is simple, sometimes it is beneficial to delay the smoke for a short time in the smokehouse. The chimney damper should always be open about 25-50% to prevent soot from forming on your goodies.
If the chimney damper is always fully open, there is a possibility that not every sausage, bacon piece or whatever will get the same amount of smoke.
Play around with it, you certainly will be able to solve these small problems.
Best of Luck,
Jan.
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