Do-it-yourself smokehouse from a gas cylinder: hot, cold smoking, how to make

Content

1 Manufacturing advantages
2 Types of structures
- 2.1 Schemes and models of hot smokers
- 2.2 Layout options for cold smoking apparatus
3 Selection and preparation of the balloon
- 3.1 What to do if you cannot remove the valve
4 How to make a smokehouse from a gas cylinder with your own hands
5 Finishing and painting
6 Operating rules
7 Self-made photo ideas of smoked from a cylinder
8 Conclusion

The creation of a cold and hot smoking apparatus does not require any outstanding knowledge or skills. It is only required to make a reliable case and a smoke generator. The main problems arise with the case. Therefore, they use ready-made metal containers, it turns out quickly and reliably, so, for example, a smokehouse from a gas cylinder with your own hands can be made in a day, while building an apparatus from scratch will take at least 3-4 days.

A universal model of a smokehouse from a high-performance cylinder

Manufacturing advantages

In theory, a smokehouse can be built from any metal cylinder of suitable size, but it is gas containers that are most in demand among homemade people. There are only two reasons for such sympathies and preferences in favor of gas models:

A suitable container volume, usually 27-50 liters, is more than enough for a household home smokehouse;
Increased wall thickness. On average, the walls of a gas tank for propane are made 4-5 mm thick, for oxygen cylinders the thickness reaches 9 mm.

At first glance, what's the difference, for any container, even if you take a cylinder from a boiler or a hydraulic accumulator, the metal of the body will withstand the heat load in cold or hot smoking conditions.

But this is only at first glance, in practice, when making a smokehouse with your own hands, cold smoking or hot, it does not matter whether you need to cut a window of a sufficiently large size in the side wall or from the end. Otherwise, it will be very inconvenient to put food inside.

Smokehouse models with bottom loading, despite the simplicity of the design, are not popular

Important! For propane and oxygen cylinders, the wall thickness is large enough to provide the necessary rigidity of the smokehouse, even with a cut-out sector in the wall or in the bottom.

All other containers of a similar device, the same boiler or hydraulic accumulator, aluminum cylinders for air filters, after cutting, lose their stability and can be crumpled even with a slight mechanical load. In theory, you can make a smokehouse from a hydraulic accumulator, but it will be extremely inconvenient to work with it.

Types of structures

The range of home-made smokehouses from cylinders can be conditionally divided into four large groups:

Double-hull construction with horizontal wood-fired hot smoking chamber;
Cold smoked smokehouse with two bodies and a vertical chamber;
Single-body vertical wood-fired hot-smoked smokehouses;
Electric smokehouses.

The design and layout of a smokehouse of the same type may differ, although the basis is based on the same principle of processing products with a mixture of air, steam and smoke obtained in a separate device - a smoke generator. Therefore, for making with your own hands from a cylinder of a cold smoked smokehouse, you will need three containers. For hot smokers, you can do with two or even one large-capacity cylinder, for example, oxygen.

Schemes and models of hot smokers

The most common option is two cylinders or a pair of steel containers, interconnected through a regulating flap or metal elbow pipe.

A good hot smoked smokehouse always consists of three blocks:

Capacity or small cylinder of the smoke generator;
Chimney with a valve;
Horizontal block from a large propane tank.

Important! A grate is laid inside, but, unlike barbecue ovens, a fire with coals in the central block is not kindled, otherwise the products during the smoking process may acquire a coal smell.

Smokehouse from three cylinders

Moreover, often the inner surface of the cylinder is cleaned to a shine or lined with sheet stainless steel. The metal is well washed, so it is possible to avoid the smell of old burnt fat that is released inside the smokehouse during the processing of lard or fish with hot smoke.

The central cylinder must be equipped with a smoke divider.

Another sign of a good smokehouse is the use of a chimney - a smoke flow divider. This is an ordinary stainless steel pipe, plugged on one side and perforated with a large number of holes. It is laid at the bottom of the middle section from the smoke generator to the chimney. Thanks to the divider, all products are smoked in the smokehouse with the same temperature smoke.

You can make a vertical smokehouse from a gas cylinder with your own hands. In terms of their design, such devices are considered more advanced, since all the filling, including the smoke generator, are collected inside one cylinder.

The vertical model is easier to build and has a higher productivity

The shape and design of such an apparatus turns out to be more laconic; it makes sense to make such a hot-smoked smokehouse from a gas cylinder, if only because it takes up less space, is easier to operate and transport.

Layout options for cold smoking apparatus

Apparatus for processing products with cold smoke are built, as a rule, from three cylinders. The smallest, at 10-25 liters, is used to generate smoke. The middle section is used as a cooler, and the last one, made from the largest cylinder, essentially functions as a smoking cabinet.

Cold smoking scheme

In this case, the central section is not loaded, or in rare cases, a container with flavored water is placed.

There are also designs with a vertical arrangement of the cylinder, in this case the smoke is cooled to the required temperature by supplying cold air through an additional branch pipe.

In a homemade version, the smoke can also be cooled using a water bath.

Apartment version of the smokehouse

Selection and preparation of the balloon

For the manufacture of the apparatus, gas tanks of still Soviet production, 50 liters and 27 liters each, are best suited. The metal on the walls of such cylinders is thicker, and the quality of the welds is noticeably higher than that of modern models. A hot-smoked smokehouse from such a gas cylinder, photo, will turn out to be an order of magnitude more durable and reliable.

Before trying to take the first steps in the manufacture of a smokehouse, the cylinder must be rinsed and freed from the remnants of the gas condensate film on the inner walls. For this, the valve is treated with brake fluid or kerosene, after which it is turned out with a special balloon wrench.

The next step is flushing. Water with a small amount of soap is poured inside and the liquid is allowed to settle for at least a day.Then everything is drained, the procedure for flushing the cylinder can be repeated with hot water.

Advice! At the dacha, before making a smokehouse, the cylinder can be evaporated, poured in a small amount of water, put on a fire so that it boils for at least half an hour.

In this way, containers or cylinders from petroleum products are evaporated in production before welding.

What to do if you cannot remove the valve

In old cylinders, the tap sticks so much that it can be turned off only after the investment grease and the thread cord are burned out. But it is absolutely impossible to do this until the container has been flushed out of gas and condensate residues.

Therefore, it is necessary to drill holes in the bottom and top wall of the cylinder, through which the container is washed.

How to make a smokehouse from a gas cylinder with your own hands

First of all, you need to decide on the design of the smoking apparatus, use the principle of cold or hot smoking. Not only the technology differs, but also the quality of the product, the duration of its stay in the smokehouse. In addition, you will need to choose the type of device, make it mobile or stop at a stationary version of the smokehouse. In the first case, it is advisable to limit yourself to the minimum number of cylinders in order to reduce the dimensions and weight of the structure. In the second case, the restrictions are removed, the appearance and quality of the prepared product comes to the fore.

Do-it-yourself hot-smoked smokehouse from a cylinder

Appliances built on the principle of hot and cold smoking are not interchangeable. That is, in a hot smokehouse, with fine adjustment of the smoke generator, if desired, you can smoke with cold smoke, although the quality of the products will be mediocre. In a cold smoker, the cylinder arrangement system will not allow you to organize hot processing at the desired level of quality, no matter how hard you try. Therefore, most DIYers prefer to build the hot version, even at a higher cost.

Model selection

For the first experience, it is best to choose the simplest option, for example, to assemble a smokehouse from an oxygen cylinder with your own hands. A diagram of such an apparatus is presented below, nothing complicated. All you have to do is cut out the door, weld on the awnings and install fish and meat grills or hangers inside.

Scheme for an oxygen cylinder

Advice! If thick pieces are loaded into the smokehouse, then a chimney will need to be made, otherwise hot smoke will pour out of all the cracks.

Features of the device of the smoking apparatus:

The smoke generator in the smokehouse is a pile of chips poured into the bottom of the cylinder. Heating is performed with an open flame through a thick metal bottom;
To install the smokehouse, you will need to weld metal supports from the fittings to the cylinder;
Metal strips are welded onto the slit and into the base of the neck to avoid air seeping into the inside of the smokehouse. Otherwise, the smoke may ignite.

Oxygen cylinders are difficult to buy at an affordable price, so hot-smoked enthusiasts make their own vertical smokehouses from propane gas tanks.

For stationary smokers, you can use the classic model with a horizontal arrangement of the main smoking section.

Dimensions and Drawings

This design is considered more difficult to manufacture, since it is required to ensure high quality welds on the relatively thin metal of the propane cylinder. In addition, even from the drawings it can be seen that the hot-smoked smokehouse from a gas cylinder turns out to be too bulky and heavy.

Scheme of a hot smokehouse of the "steam locomotive"

Therefore, horizontal hot smokers are more often made for the status of owners than for real smoking and preparing food for the winter. A detailed description of assembling a smokehouse with your own hands from a gas cylinder is shown in the video:

Preparation of tools and materials

Regardless of the chosen scheme, to build the device you will need:

Welder, semi-automatic or inverter with automatic current adjustment function for thin metal;
Grinder with a set of cutting discs;
Electric drill with a set of drills and a bronze bristle attachment for removing rust and paint;
Scissors for metal.

In addition, it will be useful to have at hand a variety of locksmith tools, ranging from a coccygeal wrench, pliers, a set of files, a clamp. During the assembly, you will have to use steel reinforcement, sheet metal, rods and pipe cuttings. In any garage, any home-builder always has enough of such rubbish, so there will be no problems with materials.

Assembly algorithm, assembling the firebox

The vertical smokehouse is assembled from the lower compartment, or firebox, and the upper compartment, from the smoking cabinet. First you need to make a firebox from a 27 liter propane cylinder. To do this, the floor of the body and one of the round walls, from which the lower bottom is obtained, is cut off from the container. We weld the legs to it, in the remaining part we cut out a window under the door, a smoke outlet and a grate.

Firebox from a 27l cylinder

Additionally, you will need to install a grate and hang a door.

Putting together the top cabinet of the smokehouse

For the smoking section, a standard 50 liter bottle is used. We cut out the door to almost the entire height of the container, install the grilles inside for laying the products.

The main problem is how to properly weld the two bodies.

We align both bodies in level and plumb line and weld along the line of contact

We align the position of the door and weld the awnings

It remains only to weld the pipe, and the smokehouse from the gas cylinder is ready to work.

Cold smoked smokehouse from a gas cylinder

The operation of the cold smoker requires that the system must have a container or line in which the smoke would be cooled to the required temperature of 40^ABOUTC before entering the food container.