How to Build a Smoke House for Smoking Meats

Recycle an old fridge into a modern smokehouse.

Preserving meat and fish using heat and smoke has been done for thousands of years. While modern food-preservation methods give us better options, making your own smokehouse is a quick and easy way to extend the storage life of extra venison or trout you bagged on your last hunting or fishing trip. Rural Americans not long ago built smokehouses out of brick, stone or heavy timber. However, it's pretty simple to make a modern one out of a recycled refrigerator--bringing together old-time skills with modern "green" initiatives.

Things You'll Need

• One old 10-to-12 cubic foot-capacity refrigerator
• Metal shears
• Drill with bit for drilling metal
• Bricks
• One-burner electric hotplate
• Discarded cast-iron frying pan
• Hardwood chips such as maple, oak, apple or cherry

Instructions

Cutting the Holes

1. Cut two two-inch holes in the refrigerator's top for the smoke exhaust and to create a draft. Save the metal scraps for making baffles if you need them later.

2. Use the drill to make several holes in the sides of the refrigerator near the floor. Drill two on each side and two on the back.

3. Place the refrigerator where you want to keep it and make sure it is level. You can use a few bricks to raise it off the ground.

4. 

   Make smoking rack brackets. Open the fridge door and use bricks to support the the metal refrigerator shelves you saved. These will become your smoke racks.

5. Hang or lay food to be smoked on the racks. Place the hotplate in the bottom of the smoker, put the cast-iron pan on the burner, and then fill the pan with slightly damp wood chips.

6. Plug in the hotplate and wait until the chips start smoking. Close the door of the smoker and latch it if possible. Or prop it closed with a length of lumber.

Tips & Warnings

• You can cover the exhaust holes in the top of the smoker to help control the heat and amount of smoke inside. You could use a few bricks or the metal scraps salvaged from cutting the holes in an earlier step to cover the holes.

• Make sure anything that could melt is removed from the inside of the refrigerator. Don't leave the smoker unattended for long periods of time. Check the interior temperature periodically to make sure it stays somewhere below 130 degrees Fahrenheit.

Resources

• End Times Report
• The Ingredients Store