Introduction

Many years ago I owned an inexpensive meat smoker.  It was a thin-walled metal cylinder which used an electric burner for both heat and burning the wood chips.  I used it once to cook some chicken and it did great.  After a period of time I was in somewhat of a desperate need for a few dollars so I sold it to a friend and I regret having done that.

Recently my desire to smoke meat got relit - pun intended - so I decided to do it again.  Of course I could quickly purchase, for little cost, and obtain a smoker and get started right away but that is not the way I do things.  Instead I decided to build my own and this blog is a journal of that effort.

Here are some random thoughts and goals which, of course, are subject to change as I continue forward with this project:

• Relatively small in size - I do not have a lot of storage space nor will I be smoking tons of meat.
• Portable - Need to be able to move it around.
• Wood will be the primary building material
• Keep it simple
• Use electric heat as my source - I am not interested in either propane or charcoal for this project.

In an effort to learn more about what this project will consist of I did some Google searching and found web sites and YouTube videos where other people showed their similar projects.  There were a lot of good examples (even one built out of a 5 drawer file cabinet) and some even made me realize things I had not considered.  After mulling over what I had learned here are my thoughts at this point:

• I can get 2 electric hot plate burners for less than $10 each.  One will be used for heating the wood and the other for additional heat in the smoker.  Having 2 separate hot plates allows me control the production of the smoke and the cooking temperature independent of each other.
• I already have some casters I can use for making the smoker roll-around-able.
• Could use either oven racks or grill racks for my shelves.  Will probably use grill racks as they are slightly smaller.
• I want to insulate the smoker so I will put insulation in the walls and top and will seal the inside such that no smoke can get into the insulation.
• Need thermometers.  Will probably get 2: 1 for the cabinet temperature and 1 for the meat temperature.
• Need water/drip pans.  If I get deeper ones I can double their purpose...by placing water in them it will help to keep moisture around the meat and by using the same pans to catch dripping grease I prevent a possible fire (do not want the meat grease falling onto hot burners!!!).
• Size of the smoker will be based on the size of the racks I use.