Content
A do-it-yourself smokehouse from a washing machine can be made in a couple of hours. The household appliance has an almost finished case for a new homemade product. It only needs to be slightly modified. Such a smokehouse works by burning wood in the usual way or using an electric spiral.
Advantages and disadvantages
Before you start making a smokehouse, you need to find out all the pros and cons of homemade products. From this, a clear idea will appear whether such a structure is needed at home.
There are no serious drawbacks in a homemade smokehouse, because of which you can refuse to make it.
Benefits:
- If a discarded washing machine is lying around at home, it will make a smokehouse completely free. You will have to pay a decent amount for a store analogue.
- For a smokehouse, you can use a washing machine body or a stainless steel drum. These are ready-made containers that will need to be redone a little.
- When the smokehouse becomes unnecessary, it is not a pity to throw it away, turn it into scrap metal or dissolve it on sheets of tin with a grinder.
- The drum and the body of the washing machine are thin-walled. They will make a light smokehouse that can even be taken out into nature.
If we talk about the shortcomings, then it is almost impossible to find them here. Sometimes in the reviews there are opinions that the stainless steel of the drum or tank is not food grade and it is undesirable to use it. However, the product does not come into contact with metal in any way. In addition, the body of the smokehouse does not heat up from the smoke to such a temperature that it could emit any harmful substances.
Operating principle
In general terms, a smokehouse is a container inside which food is suspended. Smoking occurs by enveloping them in smoke. According to the principle of operation, smokehouses are divided into two types:
- If a smokehouse is provided from a cold-smoked washing machine, then smoke is fed into its body from the hearth (smoke generator) through a special channel. This removal allows the temperature inside the cooking cabinet to be reduced. The product takes longer to smoke, but it is not heat treated and acquires a golden skin.
To obtain cold smoking, the smoke generator is located separately from the smokehouse, and the smoke is fed into the working chamber through the channel
- It is simple to make a hot-smoked smokehouse from a washing machine with your own hands, where there is no need to separately create a hearth and lay a channel from it. Smoke is generated directly below the working chamber. The product in the smokehouse is heat treated, cooked faster, but it turns out to be slightly boiled.
During hot smoking, sawdust smolders inside the working chamber of the smokehouse from an electric spiral or a campfire diluted under the bottom of the container
For any type of smokehouse, sawdust is burned. This is done in two ways: naturally or with the help of an electric spiral. Sawdust does not burn, but smolders constantly, emitting thick smoke.
To get any type of smokehouse, use a tin case or stainless steel tank from a washing machine. If this is an automatic machine, then a drum for loading laundry will do. Some old models of Soviet-made washing machines were produced with an aluminum tank. It is better not to use it if hot smoking is provided. From high temperatures, aluminum deforms, melts.
Photos, diagrams, drawings
The device of the smoking apparatus is so simple that it is easy to understand it even by viewing a photo. It makes no sense to draw with your own hands the drawings of the smokehouse from the washing machine, since the tank is already used. A simple diagram is enough to quickly understand the device.
In general terms, a smokehouse consists of the following elements:
- working chamber where products are smoked;
- mesh or lattice;
- cover with a chimney.
It is easier for a novice master to assemble a smokehouse according to the simplest scheme from a washing machine, where hot smoking is provided
More sophisticated smokehouses are complemented with other elements. For example, you can install a tray for fat, several nets inside the chamber, but the temperature is higher on the lower tier. The product will cook faster. If this is an electric smokehouse, the scheme provides for the location of a spiral heater.
How to make a smokehouse from a washing machine with your own hands
Before starting the assembly, the first thing to do is determine the smoking method: cold or hot. It depends on this whether it is necessary to make an additional smoke generator for the smokehouse. However, the device of such a unit is complex. It is optimal for the first time to assemble a hot-smoked smokehouse from a washing machine, which consists of one working chamber.
Tools and materials
Since the design of the smokehouse is simple, a screwdriver, pliers and a hammer are needed from the tool. To a greater extent, they will be useful for disassembling the washing machine itself. If additional devices are provided, you need a welding machine, an electric drill and a grinder.
The welding machine is needed to weld the stand or legs of the smokehouse
Of the materials, the washing machine itself is needed. The stand or legs are made from tubes, a corner, a profile. It is difficult to find a grille of a suitable size. For its manufacture, you will need stainless steel rods.
Preparation of the main part
Preparatory work begins with disassembling an old washing machine. In addition to electrical equipment, remove all fasteners. Leave a bare tank. A hole will remain on the bottom in the area where the impeller is located. It can be welded, but an inexperienced welder cannot cope with thin metal. It is easier to close the hole with a plug made of two metal washers tightened with a bolt.
The hole on the bottom of the tank from the machine must be drowned out so that the fire from the fire does not enter the chamber through it and sawdust does not fall
Installing the stand
The next step is to make a stand on which the smokehouse will stand. If there is a barbecue at home, this process can be avoided. It will be possible to make a fire in it, and put a smokehouse on top with sawdust covered on the bottom.
A stand for a smokehouse is needed for breeding a fire under its bottom
If there is no brazier, the stand will have to be made. A simple option is to lay out several rows of red bricks dry without mortar or use a couple of cinder blocks. A more difficult but better way is to weld a stand from a pipe, profile or angle. There are 4 legs for stability. It is advisable to make them in two bolted parts so that they can be adjusted in height. This will make it possible to raise the smoker higher from the fire to reduce the intensity of smoldering sawdust.
Pallet and lattice manufacturing
During hot smoking, fat from the product drips onto smoldering sawdust. They can flare up. To prevent this from happening, provide a pallet. Cut it out of sheet steel or stainless steel. In the lower part of the working chamber of the smokehouse, holders are attached to the walls, on which the pallet is placed.
The grate should follow the shape of the tank, have a small distance between the rods so that the products do not fall through
To enable more loading of the product at a time, two grids are provided. They are welded from stainless rods. The lattice of the first tier is placed on pre-fixed holders located at least 40 cm from the bottom of the working chamber. The lattice of the second level is placed 25 cm higher from the previous element.
In addition to the grates and pallet, they provide a cover for the working chamber. It can be used native to the washing machine. You just need to make a hole for the smoke outlet.
Varieties and manufacturing options
Washing machines are available in different configurations: round and square, conventional and automatic. The device of the smoking device depends on the design features of the technique.
From an old washing machine
Soviet-style household appliances were most often produced in the form of a barrel. It consists of a tin case and a stainless steel tank. To assemble a smokehouse from an old washing machine with your own hands, you first need to disassemble it. There are few details. Dismantle the motor, impeller, clockwork and some fasteners.
The tin case of the machine will serve as a stand
For the efficiency of the smokehouse, it is optimal to find another stainless steel tank of the same size. His bottom is cut off with a grinder. The resulting ring is used to build up the first tank. They can be welded together or bolted together.
The tin body of the machine, on which the tank is fixed, will serve as a stand. In the side wall, rectangular windows are cut out opposite each other with a grinder. Firewood is loaded through them for making a fire. Inside the working chamber, sawdust is poured on the bottom, the pallet and grates are suspended. Cover everything from above with a lid.
Electric smokehouse
The advantage of an electric smokehouse is that there is no need to constantly keep the fire burning. Sawdust smolders due to heating of a spiral or heating element. However, there is also a minus. A self-assembled smokehouse from a washing machine tank consumes a lot of electricity, since a heater needs a minimum of 1 kW.
The heating element is mounted in the bottom of the tank, where sawdust will be poured
It is not necessary to make a high stand for an electric smokehouse. Enough small feet for better stability and raising the bottom off the ground. The heater is suitable for a closed-type air heating element or a spiral from an electric stove. In the second version, the open element is fixed on a dielectric non-combustible material.
The heater contacts are led out through the holes in the bottom outside the working chamber. Here, too, dielectric inserts are provided to prevent the formation of a short circuit. Further actions are aimed at the internal arrangement of the smokehouse: pallet, grates, lid.
Out of the drum
A modern machine has a completely different device. To assemble the smokehouse from the drum of the washing machine with your own hands, you need to remove it from there. If the household appliances were designed for side loading, no preparatory steps are necessary. The drum is installed on a welded support with the loading window upwards, after which they proceed to the internal arrangement.
Drum from a side-loading automatic machine does not require alteration
The drum design of the top-loading machine is slightly different.It has a loading door on the side, and the ends are blind on both sides. At such a drum, one of the blind sides is cut off with a grinder, and the other is used with the bottom of the smokehouse. The loading door is useful for adding sawdust.
Smoking rules
After the alteration, you can smoke meat, bacon, fish, vegetables and other products in the washing machine. The essence of the process is that sawdust is poured onto the bottom. They are brought to smoldering by burning a fire or a working electric heater. The products are laid out on the grates. A small gap is left between them so that they are well shrouded in smoke.
By opening the loading door, you can adjust the temperature inside the chamber
Smoking rules depend on the selected recipe and product. For each variant, the recommended temperature inside the chamber is maintained. It can be reduced by opening the lid or loading door.
Cold smoking is always long-lasting. For example, meat or homemade sausages according to some recipe should arrive in smoke for several days. Hot smoking is always fast. Sometimes 2-3 hours are enough for full readiness. Vegetables are smoked even faster.
Conclusion
A do-it-yourself smokehouse from a washing machine can be assembled at home. The design will be economical and functional. It is in no way inferior to the store counterpart.
