How to make a smokehouse for fish at home?

Most people love to eat and often want to pamper themselves with something special. Smoked fish is one such specialty. To date, it is not necessary to buy a factory-made smokehouse.

There are lots of offers on the market ranging from small models that are easy to transport, to full-fledged stationary cameras. But many who understand the essence of the whole process, it is interesting to collect the smokehouse on their own.

In this case, a portable smokehouse for fish or meat can be constructed from such simple elements as a barrel, a bucket, a large saucepan, plastic film or a broken refrigerator.Having even minimal skills in construction, you can easily make a cold-smoked smokehouse, which will be made and the furnace, and an underground chimney, and the chamber for smoking. At the same time, it should be said that a simple smokehouse made by hand will allow you to take into account all your wishes, unlike the factory model. That is, you yourself can choose its size and capacity, as well as provide ease of use of such a smokehouse.

It should be said that smokehouses are divided into two categories:

• cold smoked;
• hot smoked.

Both methods can be called excellent, and each has its own admirers. Both methods consist in shrouding products with smoke, which makes it possible to impart a characteristic aroma and color to them.

The difference between the methods is only in the following points:

• the duration of the preparation of the product;
• temperature at which smoking is carried out.

If we are talking about cold smoking, then the temperature in the smokehouse will not be higher than 30-45 degrees, and the smoking process itself can last from 12 hours to several days. Typically, this method is used to obtain fatty fish, sausage or bacon.The fact is that at low temperatures it is not possible to heat and drain fat from food that is being cooked. After this part of the process ends, it is necessary to leave a bookmark so that it dries out completely. In this case, the finished products will have a dense texture, good taste, a long storage period, and a characteristic pleasant aftertaste.

If we talk about the hot method, then it takes much less time to cook. In some cases, 40 minutes is enough for cooking. The operating temperature range here ranges from 45 to 200 degrees. And the lower the temperature, the correspondingly, the process of smoking will be longer. As a rule, an electric hot smoker does not take up much space and does not consume too much energy.

In general, there are two options.

You can choose the shop smokehouse, which can be found on the Internet or purchased from manufacturers. This smoke has a good appearance and is as easy to use as possible.

An alternative to this option is a homemade smokehouse. A little higher, we have already begun to touch on the topic of its benefits. And indeed, a homemade smokehouse will maximize your needs. That is, you can smoke at the same time a greater number of products. In addition, you can independently make a multifunctional solution, where, say, it will be possible to smoke not only fish, but also sausage or meat products.

In some conventional smokehouses you can smoke only one thing - such models are also found on the market. That is, at least for the above reason, homemade solutions will be better.

In addition, you can give any form of self-made smokehouse, which will take into account the characteristics of its placement and operation, ease of use, as well as other aspects.

An important issue that needs serious attention is the size of the smokehouse. Naturally, its size will depend on how many products you intend to pawn and, accordingly, smoke at one time. If you smoke products only for yourself, then a small smokehouse will be a great solution. Yes, and mini-smokehouse will consume a small amount of energy, if we talk about hot smoking.If you are going to cook smoked products for sale, then small models will not work anymore.

Regardless of the choice of the camera that you will use, you need to make sure that cooking meat and fish are wrapped in smoke as evenly as possible. It would be best to hang them on hooks vertically so that the distance between them was at least two centimeters. If the volume of products is small, then you can do with a grid, which just keeps everything you need in one layer. It should be added that during hot smoking there is a process of melting fat, for which reason it is necessary to install a drip tray. Too low to place it is not worth it, so that it does not accidentally catch fire.

An important point of any smokehouse will be the fact that for quality smoking it is necessary to hold the smoke in the chamber for a certain period, and when it cools down, ensure its removal from the chamber. In general, it is easy to do this by drilling several holes in the top cover.

It will not be superfluous to replace the perforated metal cover with damp burlap or the branches of certain types of trees. For example, juniper, currant or raspberry.But other species will do as well, as long as they don’t produce any essential oils and gums. When choosing wood for smoking should follow the same rules. For this reason, conifers that have a rather sharp and pronounced aroma will not work. For this reason, they can bring a certain and satisfied unpleasant taste to the prepared meat and fish. It is best to use sawdust fruit trees or wood chips.

If you decide to make a smokehouse from the old refrigerator, then it will be necessary to make cuts to remove flue gases. To make it really good, you can pierce holes at the top of the chamber symmetrically to each other. It should be said that with high humidity and hot weather, the smoke rises poorly and it is difficult to leave the chamber. To increase the discharge pressure, you can simply install the pipe.

Let us proceed directly to the process of creating a smokehouse with your own hands. It will be about the theoretical aspects of creating a smokehouse and what materials you need to have on hand. We describe the process of creating a smokehouse from start to finish.

Before starting the preparation of materials for the smokehouse, it should be understood exactly what it should be. It is important how many products you are going to smoke. If the amount is small, then it is enough to make a mini-smokehouse. In order to understand how it works, it is best to first make a drawing. This will not only make sure that you understand the principle of operation of this device, but also be able to avoid mistakes when preparing materials for it.

Choosing one or another drawing, you will clearly know what kind of smokehouse you are doing: from a bucket, from an old refrigerator, or some other. This will give the opportunity to clearly and clearly choose one or another option, without departing from it in the future. Thanks to the drawing, you will be able to clearly understand how many materials and which ones you need to realize your intention. If you create a drawing yourself, then if you wish, you can look at other designs of this type, which are very numerous in specialized forums.

Smokehouse equipment in different configurations will depend on the selected drawing.If we are talking about the most simple model, then, as a rule, it is a smokehouse from a bucket. In this case, you will need a bucket, lid and grill.

If we are talking about a barrel, then it will be based on a barrel, grates and a lid.

When creating a smokehouse from the refrigerator, it will play a central role in the whole structure. That is, a smokehouse device will depend on what principle you will create it, and what exactly you are going to make it the basis.

Someone would give more preference to brick smokehouse, which is more like a furnace. And someone, in general, will not want to deal with this and will simply buy a smoking machine that can be found in the markets or in stores today.

Since a large number of different models were mentioned here, we will try to talk about how to make different types of smokehouses.

Let's start with the so-called smoke-bucket. Creating it yourself is very simple. First you need to find a bucket of iron, as well as a lid to it and a grate that will be put on the bottom of the bucket. From the top of the bucket it will be necessary to make holes into which rods with hooks will be inserted, on which the fish will be hung.In order for the smoke to come out of the bucket, it will be necessary to make holes in the lid. In order to maintain the burning process for the required time, the bottom of the bucket should be filled with sawdust and wood chips. Now the smokehouse is put on the fire, and in the process of heating, sawdust and wood chips will begin to smolder. You can begin to hang the products. In this state, the products should be kept somewhere thirty to forty minutes.

But most often, people who want to carry out the process of smoking more products at home, want to make a smokehouse. First, paint is removed from the surface of the barrel. Make it easy. First we make a fire and hold the container above it for about 60 minutes. And then you can proceed directly to the process of smoking.

If you need to smoke fish in a wooden barrel, then first you need to rinse it inside, then let it dry out of water and moisture. When it is dry, you can begin to prepare it for the process of smoking. First you need to make holes in the walls where metal rods will be fixed. It is on them that the product we need will hang. Now you should make a glass. It can be made using a metal pipe with a length of 40-50 centimeters, a diameter of about 0.5-1 cm and a thickness of no more than three millimeters.When the glass is ready, it is placed in the hole through the bottom of the barrel. To smoke fish glass will need to be closed with asbestos cloth to avoid overheating. Now you need to bring the chimney. You can begin to use the smokehouse.

Recommendations of experts will make the smoking process more efficient and high quality.

• The temperature of smoking products should clearly fluctuate in the range of 300 - 350 degrees. At lower temperatures, smoking will be pretty bad, and at higher temperatures, there is a chance, the products will simply burn.
• Another important point - it is best to smoke in dry weather. And also the device must have a pallet to collect fat, as already mentioned above. If it falls on firewood, the quality of the smoke produced will significantly deteriorate.

• Do not look into the smokehouse too often, as this will violate the temperature regime. Each lid opening adds another ten minutes to the smoking process.
• In addition, the rich taste of the products can be given if you add grapes to the sawdust or cherry. As stated above, in no case should one add coniferous wood to sawdust. It will definitely spoil the taste of the products and give them bitterness.
• In addition, if you want the fish or meat to not have soot and soot after the smoking procedure, then all products must be wrapped with wet gauze.

As you can see, making a smokehouse with your own hands is quite simple and easy. You do not need to have any special or special knowledge, which will allow even an inexperienced person to acquire all the necessary things in order to pamper himself and his family with high-quality smoked meat or fish.

How to make a smokehouse for fish at home, see the following video.