DIY smokehouse from a flask

Many people like to enjoy smoked products, especially when it comes to home-cooked meat, fish or vegetables. However, not everyone is ready to pay several thousand rubles for a device that will be used at most a dozen times a season, so instead of purchasing “factory” smokehouses, many assemble them themselves from scrap materials. The design of such a homemade smokehouse can be based on anything - from a refrigerator to a milk flask. It is the can smokehouse that will be discussed in this article.

Hot smoked smokehouse from a flask

If we are talking about using an aluminum can as a smoking box, then depending on the preferences of the master, such a smokehouse can be hot or cold smoking. The same factor will determine the design differences between types of smokehouses. The hot smoking device will consist of the following elements:

1. Basics (can).
2. Tray for fat draining from food.
3. Hooks or racks for food.
4. A layer of sawdust at the bottom of the cylinder.

Important! Since the neck of the flask is quite narrow, it is impossible to place a full-fledged metal tray that would protect all the sawdust from dripping fat. For these purposes you will have to use thick aluminum foil.

As for the method of placing products in such a smokehouse, if you plan to put grates inside the flask, then you cannot do without cutting out a side hole in it to accommodate them. In this case, it is much easier to drill several holes in the walls and insert metal rods into them, on which products will subsequently be strung or hung.

In order to monitor the temperature during smoking, many people install a thermometer in the can body. Heat loss from such a smokehouse will be minimal, because the design of the can provides for a tight closure of the lid.

Reference! Many people claim that it is impossible to make a smokehouse from aluminum, since this metal at high temperatures can have a harmful effect on smoked products. There is some truth in this, however, food-grade aluminum has always been used to make milk flasks, the interaction of which with food does not pose any danger.

DIY cold smoked smokehouse from a flask

In order to turn an ordinary milk flask into a full-fledged device for cold smoking, you will have to follow the following procedure:

1. At a distance of a couple of meters from the smoking “reservoir,” a depression is made in the ground, which will subsequently become a place for starting and maintaining a fire. It is recommended to line the firebox with red brick.
2. A chimney is laid from the firebox to the reservoir (you can use an old chimney pipe or even dig a pit and cover it tightly with burlap).
3. At the junction of the chimney and the can, a hole of the appropriate diameter is drilled.

As for the structure of the smokehouse itself, it is similar to that described above.

There is a simpler option, but also much more expensive. For cold smoking, you can use smoke generators that heat the wood chips using electricity. However, in this case, you will also have to take care of injecting smoke into the smokehouse, which an ordinary air compressor can help with.

Using a flask smoker

In the case of hot smoking, it is recommended to place the can with sawdust on the bottom already on a lit fire. An ordinary barbecue or a stand of 2-4 bricks is often used as an installation site. Fish or meat should be hung on hooks at short intervals so that the products are better smoked. If the smokehouse operates for more than half an hour, then it is worth releasing excess moisture from it by opening the lid of the flask for a few seconds.

Reference! The first smokehouses were not used to produce delicious dishes, but to extend the shelf life of the products used, because the substances contained in the smoke from natural wood chips serve as a kind of preservatives during smoking.

The standard smoking procedure usually takes no more than one hour. After cooking, remove the flask from the grill or stand, open its lid and allow the food to cool. Finished products from a hot smoking apparatus must be consumed within several days from the day of smoking, depending on the type of products used.