Cold smoked smokehouse device

Smoked meats are very popular in our country not only as a delicacy for the festive table, but also as a dish that you can treat yourself to on weekdays. This is a great way to diversify your diet. Smoked meats can be purchased at any grocery store, but it is more interesting, and sometimes much cheaper, to make them yourself. In addition, when purchasing in stores, you cannot be sure of the quality of the purchased products, because cold smoking is a rather long and painstaking process.

Features of cold smoking

During cold smoking, unlike hot smoking, the products do not become very hot. Moisture gradually evaporates from the surface when exposed to heat. The smoke temperature ranges from 15 to 40 degrees.

Processing takes a long period - one full cycle of cold smoking lasts from 2 to 3 days. Both fruit and vegetable products and protein products can be subjected to this treatment. Also, the result is greatly influenced by the smokehouse itself, its structure and the materials that were used in its creation.

Types of cold smoked smokehouses

Smokehouses are:

1. Portable and travel. These mini-smokehouses are ideal for relaxing and hiking, fishing or hunting.Suitable for placement in a country house or in a tourist camp. This smokehouse is easy to disassemble and assemble, carry or transport from place to place. The smoke generator is made of metal, and a smoking chamber is equipped using a wooden or metal box.
2. Stationary. Design for regular use - such devices are usually installed on a pre-prepared and leveled area for regular use over a long period of time. Both smokehouse chambers are made of strong and durable materials and are of a capital nature. The main advantage of a stationary smokehouse is an individual approach, which allows you to create a device with the necessary parameters from the materials at hand.
3. Smokehouses made from used containers and electrical appliances. A refrigerator or even a gas cylinder can serve as the basis for such a device.

Important! Creating such a design requires certain knowledge, skills and tools, without which it is impossible to create a competently functioning unit.

In addition to self-made smokehouses, the market offers a large number of different models of ready-made devices of various configurations.

Cold smoked smokehouse device

There are three main elements that usually make up a device. Without them it is impossible to effectively smoke:

1. Combustion chamber or smoke generator - it is in this container that smoke is generated. This happens during the smoldering process of various sawdust.
2. The smoking chamber is the main compartment of the device. It contains those products that will be smoked.
3. A chimney is an elongated pipe that serves to remove smoke generated as a result of fuel combustion.

Important! Both chambers of the smokehouse should be located at a fairly large distance from each other, which will be approximately two meters, and the chimney will be located between them.

Operating principle of a cold smoked smokehouse

The operating algorithm of this device is quite simple. The sawdust is placed in a smoke generator and set on fire. Sawdust from fruit trees is usually used, but this condition is not mandatory. You should not opt ​​for conifers: high content resin in wood can spoil the taste of finished products.

After the sawdust begins to smolder, smoke is formed, which, under the influence of air draft, penetrates into the chimney and then into the smoking chamber. During its passage through the chimney, it has time to cool down and, already cold, has a continuous effect on the food, gradually drying them.

There are a number of common mistakes that prevent you from achieving good results:

• uneven heating that occurs in the absence of constant combustion of fuel;
• incorrect design of the chimney and smoking chamber, in which soot and all heavy elements do not settle on the pipe, but affect the food;
• If the smoke evaporates too quickly - in this case it does not have time to have the desired effect on the products.

A homemade smokehouse will allow you, at minimal cost, to enjoy smoked products for a long time, the quality of which you are absolutely sure of.