Camping smokehouse: drawings and design diagrams

Going fishing or hunting, you should think about what to do with the prey. It is not always possible to immediately bring fish or game home, and in the warm time of the day they can deteriorate very quickly. When you just don't want to salt your prey, a portable smokehouse comes to the rescue.

Today you can find a lot of smokers of various variations on sale, and on the Internet there are many tips on how to make a smoker yourself.

Regardless of the type of product, all smokehouses consist of the following elements:

• boxes with four walls and a bottom;
• grates or hooks for smoking;
• pallet;
• a cover that has a handle and a flue pipe.

The number of grates that fit in the body of the smokehouse indicates the number of tiers. For example, in the two-tier model, food is cooked on both racks at the same time. Smokehouse grates can be replaced with hooks, which are used for hanging. The pallet is necessary so that the fat flowing from the smoked meats does not fall on the sawdust located at the bottom of the smokehouse. Otherwise, the quality of the smoke will change, which will negatively affect the taste and aroma of smoked meats.

Market options often become unusable very quickly due to the fact that they are made of thin metal, which tends to burn out. To make a quality smokehouse yourself, it is better to take stainless steel sheets more than one and a half millimeters thick.

Before making a smokehouse, you should pay attention to the characteristics of the smokehouse.

• Resistant to fire.
• Size and weight. For hiking, you need a portable and mobile model. A smoker for a summer residence can be bulky, very heavy and multi-tiered. For road trips, an intermediate option is suitable.
• Ease of assembly. Elements of collapsible smokers can "lead" when heated over a fire. It is worth considering whether it will be possible in this case to disassemble and assemble it.

The camping smokehouse can be made from a variety of materials.

For this type of smokehouse, a cylinder with a diameter of 30–45 cm is required. The tight-fitting lid must have a hole with a plug. A removable grill is placed on the corners, fixed vertically inside, on which products for smoking are placed. Sawdust or shavings are poured down (under the grate). A cylinder tightly closed with a lid is moved to hot coals or to a fire (all also on the side).

This option is suitable for heating a tent. For this, coals from the fire are poured into the body and covered with a lid. The hole must be closed with a plug. After that, a kind of "camping stove" can be taken to the tent.

In this case, a bucket is taken (saucepan, boil). The latter option will be quite cumbersome, but the amount of smoked meats in it will also be greater. Such options take precedence. They are multi-tiered, so you can install several grilles on top of each other. For use, you only need to make an insert from the grates and a pallet, as well as make a hole in the lid. The insertion is usually done in the manner of a double boiler. This means that the grilles and the pallet are not attached to the body, but are installed on top of each other on special legs. The pallet can be replaced with a stainless steel bowl. It should be slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the body so that the smoke from the sawdust rises freely.

Lattices can be made of stainless steel wire. To do this, first you need to make a frame-rim, and then pull the crossbeams from the same material and intertwine them in the manner of a lattice. Hooks for fish can be made on the basis of a frame with crossbars. To do this, hooks must be attached to the crossbars. After all the components are ready, you can assemble the insert onto the frame.

It is necessary to make fasteners on the cover for a snug fit. Or equip it with "weights". After that, you need to make a hole for the smoke. This smoker can be used in the kitchen. To do this, you need to insert a tube into the hole and bring it out into the street. Or put the smokehouse under a powerful hood.

This is a more "suburban" option. For it, you need a stainless steel box 60 cm long, 40 cm wide and 50 cm high. The depth of the barbecue in this case will be 20 cm. A drawing of this or a similar option can be found freely available on the Internet.

The stages of making a smokehouse-barbecue include the following steps:

• the box can be welded from sheet metal;

• the lid for it is made according to the size of the product with a hole for smoke outlet and handles;
• from the inside, corners are attached for a removable metal sheet that serves as the bottom of the barbecue. In this case, the distance from the top is 20 cm;
• all other circuit elements (grilles, pallet or something else) are made independently of each other. This will allow the elements to be used in different combinations.

Sometimes it happens that the catch turned out to be too good or just wanted to pamper yourself with smoked meats. In this case, the smokehouse is made by hand right on the spot from scrap materials.

You can create this option yourself if you follow these steps:

• you need to choose a place (preferably on a slope);
• dig two notches two steps apart. One should be higher up the slope, the other lower. The depth of the first one should be 15–20 cm, there will be a fish hanging in it, the second 30–40 cm deep is intended for a fire;
• both pits must be connected with a narrow gutter (10–15 cm). To do this, you need to remove the sod carefully, and then dig up clods of earth;
• in the furnace pit it is necessary to make a more gentle slope opposite to the trough for oxygen supply;

• after that, the earth must be tamped so that it does not crumble;
• with the help of bark, you need to close the gutter on top and two-thirds of the deeper pit;
• from above, the bark is covered with removed sod;
• a pipe of earth and sod is erected above the smoking pit with a height of about half a meter;
• rods with fish strung on them are installed in it;
• from above, the pipe must be closed with burlap;
• a fire is made in the furnace pit, the smoke from which flows through the chute into the "smokehouse".

This is the so-called cold smoking option.

To create it, you need to do the following:

• find a level place and dig a hole 10-30 cm deep;
• along the edges of the pit, it is necessary to drive in stakes, which are fastened from above with crossed sticks. This will be the frame of the smokehouse;
• stakes with pre-salted fish are suspended on the stakes;
• a film or a plastic bag of a suitable size is pulled up to half from above;

• hot coals are poured onto the bottom of the pit, they are covered with grass and the film is lowered to the end. It must be pressed to the ground so that the smoke does not come out;
• the smokehouse will fill with smoke in about 10 minutes;
• if the fire has broken through the grass, it must be extinguished and more herbs must be added;
• the bag can be removed after 1.5-2 hours;
• fish after cooking must be ventilated and dried. The procedure is repeated several times.

Seasoned anglers give some tips.

• You should use sawdust or twigs from apple, alder or spruce to give the fish a special aroma and taste.
• Do not forget that you can store hot smoked fish only for a couple of days.
• Gills should be removed before salting and allowed to drain.

For the types of drawings and diagrams of designs for a camp smokehouse, see the following video.