Electric cold smoked smokehouse from a barrel

Control block.

I wanted to make myself a simple and large cold smoker so I could smoke whole sausage, cheese, chicken and turkey. Moreover, I wanted to do something automatic, so as not to constantly monitor the temperature and the whole process would proceed by itself.
After searching on the Internet, I looked at many smokehouses and found a suitable design that uses a heating element as a heat source. That design could operate autonomously for 12 hours in a row, and the temperature in the chamber did not rise above the melting point of the cheese.
Then I searched heating element on Ali Express and found one suitable for the oven or barbecue. There I also noticed a regulator for controlling the temperature with a thermocouple to control the heating element.
Everything is decided: I will make a smokehouse from an ordinary 200 liter metal barrel. I ordered all the components and while they were arriving by mail, I got to work.

Making a cold smoked smokehouse

Door markings

First you need to bring the barrel into the appropriate form.To do this, we will wash it and clean it of all unnecessary things. You can burn the barrel with a torch and then clean it with a metal brush.

Next, use masking tape to mark where the doors will be. I'll make two doors. One large one at the top is for food, and the other small one at the very bottom is for sawdust and removing coals.


I will cut it with a grinder.

But there is a trick to make it easier. To do this, we make a cut on the left side of the future door. Then we drill and screw the hinges.

And after that we saw through the remaining parts of the door. As a result, you will have a clearly hung door, exactly in the middle.

Everything opens perfectly.

Installation of damper and chimney

We drill a hole in the top of the future smokehouse.

We screw on the chimney with the damper. The lid of the barrel is removable and therefore there is no problem to show you everything.





The damper and chimney can be easily purchased at a boiler and stove store. There are many different diameters to choose from.




The chimney pipe looks very nice.

Metal seals with magnetic Velcro

In order to close the gaps between the body and the doors, it is necessary to make seals.
You will need thin metal. Mark and cut out.


We fix it temporarily.

We drill holes and secure them with rivets or screws with nuts.

We also attach guide posts on which the grates with food inside will rest.
The doors will be protected from accidental opening by magnets. To do this, install any magnets that you have around the house in the corners.




Now the closed door will hold securely and will not open due to wind or vibration.
The rack bracket looks like this:

It is attached at a short distance, taking into account the diameter of the barbecue grill.

Let's try on the gratings.

We make several protrusions at different distances.



If you can’t find such gratings in the store, you can make them yourself by cutting a circle from an elastic metal mesh with a grinder. Or weave it yourself from wire.

Exterior finishing

I painted the entire smokehouse with heat-resistant paint, the same kind used to paint car exhaust pipes and manifolds.


I drilled a hole on top to install a thermocouple so that the electronics could monitor the temperature.

The thermocouple itself:

The element itself is very small, and this massive metal body was made by me.

The entire set of electronics for controlling the smokehouse, namely its heating element. I bought everything here - Ali Express.
You will need:

• PID controller.
  
• Thermocouple.
  
• Solid state relay.
  
• Heat sink for solid state relay.

All this can be bought in a set, of course, which is what I did.



I installed an additional thermometer like in an oven. Search HERE.

I screwed on the handles for the door.

The heating element is installed at the very bottom, although I haven’t properly secured it yet.

And this is a tray for sawdust and modern pressed briquettes for smokehouses.

Smokehouse stand

The entire smokehouse is mounted on a wooden stand.

Electronics are located on the bottom shelf.


The smokehouse is ready. The costs, in my opinion, are minimal for such a device.
Original article in English