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A do-it-yourself smokehouse made of hot-smoked bricks is made most often by smoked meat lovers because of the simple device. However, there are other designs that allow you to smoke products using a different technology. Such smokehouses are distinguished by a complex device.
Varieties of designs
Smokehouses are built in different sizes. Decorate them with finishing, forging, give an interesting shape. However, this does not apply to differences. You can think of any design for a brick building. The main type of smokers lies in the design and method of smoking the product.
In the video, a do-it-yourself brick smokehouse for cooking fish:
Cold smoked brick smokehouse
A complex device is possessed by a smokehouse, in which the product is prepared by the cold smoking method. Smoke is supplied to the working chamber from the smoke generator. After going a long way through the channels, it cools down. The product does not undergo heat treatment, but cures slowly.
In a homemade version, a smoke generator with a supply channel to the chamber is laid out of bricks
Hot smoked brick smokehouse
The structure is considered simple. There is no need to create channels, make a smoke generator. They fold a hot-smoked brick smokehouse with their own hands in the form of a small-sized house elongated in height. A metal chamber is located in the upper part. Products are hung here. Wood chips are poured at the bottom of the chamber. There is a firebox at the bottom of the smokehouse. Burning wood heats up the metal bottom of the chamber, the sawdust begins to smolder.
The hot smoked smokehouse is small in size
Multifunctional constructions
The most complex in terms of the device is considered a multifunctional combined smokehouse. Hot and cold smoking can be done here. You will need a smoke generator and a firebox. Often, such buildings are equipped with additional work areas: a brazier, a place for a cauldron, a countertop, a sink for dishes, shelves, niches. The structure is a whole complex with numerous smoke channels inside. Only an experienced master stove-maker is capable of building such a smokehouse.
A multifunctional smokehouse can fully replace the kitchen with all household appliances and a sink
Drawings of cold and hot smoked brick smokers
If you decide to start building a smokehouse, you will need blueprints. They give a clear idea of the structure of the structure, the location of each row of bricks. It should be noted right away that an inexperienced builder will need drawings of a smokehouse made of hot-smoked or cold-type bricks. It is better to entrust the construction of a multifunctional combined oven to a master.
The bottom of the chamber can be made of grate bars, laying them with stones or welded from a metal structure in the shape of a tank
The simplest cold-smoked smokehouse resembles an oven with a long chimney, which acts as a chamber for products.
How to build a brick smokehouse with your own hands
Before starting the construction of a smokehouse, you need to find a suitable place for it. The next step is to prepare the material. It is important to think about protecting a brick building from precipitation. If it is constantly flooded with rain or covered with snow, the structure will not last long. The brick is saturated with moisture. When firing wood in the firebox, the water becomes steam. The product will turn out not smoked, but more boiled. After the development of the drawing, they begin to build a brick smokehouse with their own hands with the preparation of the site.
Site selection and preparation
When building any type of smokehouse, you need to understand that it will be a stationary brick structure. The structure cannot be transferred to another place. For this reason, the choice of the site is approached with all responsibility.
Even a small smokehouse is a stationary building on a foundation that cannot be moved to another place.
Smokehouse operation is associated with the release of large amounts of smoke into the atmosphere. For this reason, it is optimal to remove it from your own and neighboring residential buildings, as well as green spaces. The place is chosen that is not flooded with groundwater and wastewater. It is desirable that there is a stable, dense soil. There will be less costs for arranging the foundation.
The area chosen for the construction of the smokehouse is cleared of vegetation, stones and debris. It is optimal to remove the top layer of soil with grass roots. If the area is not level, it is brought to a corresponding normal state.
Selection of materials and tools
To build a smokehouse from bricks with your own hands, first of all, building material is prepared. Here you need to make the right choice. For the forcing of the walls, a red solid brick made of baked clay is used. It is better to lay out the firebox with other material. Fireclay or refractory bricks are suitable here.
For forcing the walls of the smokehouse, use a red solid brick
To prepare the solution, you will also need different materials. The foundation is poured from concrete. On the cement mortar with the addition of lime, you can lay out the base of the smokehouse. Brick walls are driven out on a solution of brown clay. Cement cannot be used here. The brickwork will crack from heating. The area near the firebox of the smokehouse is exposed to high temperatures. Here, laying out fireclay bricks is best done on refractory clay. You can buy it at a hardware store. To prepare solutions, you will need sand and water.
The tool requires a standard building kit. To mix the solution, prepare a shovel, bucket, concrete mixer or large basin. To lay bricks, you will need a trowel, level, plumb line, construction cord. If the walls of the smokehouse are not supposed to be plastered or finished with decorative stone, you need a device for pointing joints.
Procedure
When the site and all the materials are prepared, it is time to try to make a brick smokehouse with your own hands according to a previously developed scheme. Work begins with laying the foundation. You cannot do without it, since the smokehouse is heavy. On the ground, the structure may sag and the brickwork will crumble.
Pouring the foundation
The concrete base is a monolithic slab. The foundation should repeat the shape of the smokehouse, protrude beyond its borders on all sides by about 10 cm.First of all, markings are made on the site. A pit 50 cm deep is dug with a shovel. The bottom is leveled, covered with a layer of sand 10 cm thick, moistened with water and tamped. On top, another layer of similar thickness is poured from crushed stone.
To make a solid foundation under the smokehouse, it is reinforced.A mesh with a mesh size of about 15x15 cm is tied from metal rods with a knitting wire. The armored frame is laid directly on the crushed stone or first spread a black film for waterproofing.
The formwork must rise above the ground level at least 5 cm
Formwork is installed along the perimeter of the trench from the boards. It is optimal when its upper part protrudes 5 cm above ground level. The pit is poured with concrete mortar with crushed stone. The foundation is given time to stand at least 1 month. During this time, the concrete is moistened, covered with a film. When the monolithic slab hardens, the formwork is removed. The base is covered with two layers of roofing material. Waterproofing will prevent brick walls from pulling moisture from the soil.
Styling
The first row of the order is laid out dry without solution. The bricks are used to form the overall shape of the structure. It depends on the type of structure:
- When erecting a cold-smoked smokehouse with your own hands, a common structure consisting of a chamber, a smoke generator and a chimney duct is immediately formed from the brick in the first row. The building is elongated. The channel length must be at least 4 m.
- For a hot smoked smokehouse, a smoke generator with a long chimney duct is not needed. The first row of bricks repeats the shape of the entire structure: a square or a rectangle.
The next rows of the basement are laid out on cement mortar. It is prepared in the consistency of thick sour cream. Take 3 parts of sand, 1 part of cement and 1 part of lime.
Simultaneously with the plinth, an ash chamber is being erected - a blower
Construction of the firebox
After the basement of the smokehouse has been erected, further rows of bricks are laid on a clay solution. It's time to equip the firebox. In a smokehouse made of hot-smoked or cold bricks, it is always located above the ash chamber. The furnace is laid out of fireclay or refractory bricks on refractory clay. You can go the other way. The combustion chamber of the smokehouse is welded from sheet metal and simply embedded in the masonry.
In a hot smoked smokehouse, there is a chamber for products above the firebox.
The next element is a smoking chamber. Its device depends on the type of smokehouse, but is first determined with the size. It all depends on personal wishes. Usually, for a home smokehouse, chambers with a size of 1x1 m and a height of up to 1.5 m are enough.
If this is a smokehouse made of hot-smoked bricks, the chamber is welded from metal in the form of a box with a door. The bottom is deaf. The loading of wood chips will be carried out here, which is heated by fire from the furnace. Above the bottom, stops are welded, a pan is attached to drain fat from the product. Above the chamber, fit fasteners for grates or hooks on which smoked products are fixed. In the upper part of the chamber, a window is cut under the chimney to remove smoke.
If you look at the photo of a cold-smoked brick smokehouse, even an inexperienced stove-maker will understand that the smoke generator's firebox is located far from the smoking chamber. There is no need to make a bottom in it, since it will block the flow of smoke from the channel. Burlap is usually pulled here, which acts as a filter that traps soot. The rest of the camera is similar. A pallet is hung over the burlap, and grates or hooks are placed above.
Chimney, chimney
In a cold-smoked smokehouse, one more unit needs to be erected from brick - a chimney. It connects the smoke generator to the smoking chamber. Its optimal length is 4 m, but sometimes it is shortened to 2 m, which is highly undesirable. The width and height of the channel is a maximum of 50 cm. It can be laid out of bricks and left in this state, or a metal pipe embedded in it.
The channel from the metal pipe embedded in the chimney is not clogged with the escaping mortar from the seams of the brickwork
The last element of the smokehouse is a chimney with an adjustable damper for chimney removal from the smoking chamber. It is laid out of bricks or a metal pipe is placed. A head is arranged on top. It will prevent sediment from entering the smoking chamber through the pipe.
Testing
After the completion of all work, the smokehouse is not touched for at least a week. The brick from the solution is saturated with moisture. It needs to dry. After that, the first testing is carried out.
The first ignition in the firebox is carried out no earlier than a week after the completion of the construction of the smokehouse
Testing consists of the following steps:
- If it is a hot smoked smokehouse, chips are loaded into the chamber. A fire is made in the furnace. A smoke generator is lit in a cold smoked smokehouse.
Chips for smoking are used from fruit or deciduous non-resinous trees
- A small amount of product is placed inside the chamber, for example, 1 fish or a piece of meat.
- The chimney flap is closed. Allow time to fill the chamber with smoke.
- As the consistency of the smoke increases, the temperature rises. It must be maintained according to the recipe of the prepared product. The temperature is adjusted by opening the damper. For measurements in the chamber, a pocket for a thermometer is provided.
- Testing is carried out for half an hour. During this time, the masonry is checked so that smoke does not pass through the seams between the bricks.
The quality of the smokehouse is determined by the appearance of the product. It should take on a golden color and not be covered in soot.
What and how to smoke in a brick smokehouse
The main product for smoking in a home smoker is meat, semi-finished meat products and fish. Depending on the recipe, the product is only salted or boiled first. Smoked poultry carcasses and rabbits are delicious. Sometimes a small pig is smoked.
When raw meat is smoked, it is first salted
Homemade sausages and bacon are sent to the smokehouse. When smoking a whole large fish, it is hung upside down. Fruit lovers cook prunes and pears in a cold smoked smokehouse.
Photo gallery of handmade brick smokers
Smokehouse under its own roof protected from precipitation
The smokehouse can be equipped with a large chamber with entrance doors
A multifunctional smokehouse can be built in a gazebo
The smokehouse in the form of an oven is equipped with a brazier, countertop and other work areas.
In a cold smoked smokehouse, the doors of the working chamber can be made of wood
Fire safety
The fire burns inside the firebox during smoking. It is impossible to call a fire hazardous smokehouse, but safety measures must be observed. Near the blower and firebox, they equip a platform made of non-combustible materials in case sparks fly out. Do not organize storage of flammable objects and liquids nearby.
It is undesirable to locate the smokehouse near greenhouses, truck farming, a green area, as trees and cultural plantings may suffer
Conclusion
A do-it-yourself smokehouse made of hot-smoked bricks can be built in small sizes. It is better to entrust a more serious structure to a master stove-maker or build it yourself, but under his supervision. Mistakes will lead to the fact that the building will collapse or the product will be poorly smoked.
