How to make a disposable foil smoker, simple methods

Food prepared in nature will be many times tastier if everything is done with your own hands. When it comes to a dacha or a country house, thoughts about kebabs and smoked meats come to everyone’s mind. But if you don’t need any special equipment other than a barbecue to prepare the first course, then not everyone can boast of having a good smokehouse.

Meanwhile, to become the owner of this wonderful device, it is not at all necessary to spend huge amounts of money on its purchase. With a little imagination, a smokehouse can be made from almost any household vessel. At the moment we are interested in a can smokehouse.

It turns out that to convert a milk can into a smokehouse, you only need to do a couple of manipulations. But before considering the work algorithm, let’s take a closer look at smoking. The fact is that there is no single way to implement an idea and cannot exist. Every beginner or experienced master tries to implement his own technologies. But at the same time, they must clearly understand what function the homemade device has, as well as each element that composes it.

Design, diagrams and drawings of smokehouses from a 200 liter barrel

The designs of hot and cold smokehouses are different: in the first case, it is important to observe the location of the firebox under the main structure, and in the second, to install a pipe from the smoke source. This is precisely the main secret of installing a homemade smokehouse from a 200 liter barrel. Below are clear drawings of both options - you should start from the preferences of the owner of the site.

Hot smoking is characterized by a shorter shelf life of the prepared product: up to a week if the temperature is maintained at no higher than 5 degrees

Technology and methods of smoking

Almost all products can be smoked, with the only difference being that even freshly caught fish is suitable for the hot method, and before cold processing it is necessary to carry out preliminary preparation and make a so-called semi-finished product. Also, when choosing products for cold smoking, you should pay attention to their level of fat content. Dry meat or fish are not suitable for this method. During prolonged treatment with smoke, their fibers will simply dry out and become stiff. Pork and lamb are mainly cold smoked. Suitable fish include eel, sturgeon, salmon, and mackerel. Hot smoke is poured over poultry and beef, as well as bream, roach, and herring.

What tools and materials will be needed

To make a smokehouse with your own hands, you will need a minimum set of materials and tools.

two hundred liter barrel – 1 pc.;
gratings or metal rods - 2-4 pcs.;
tray (collection of escaping moisture and fat, can be made independently from the bottom of the barrel) – 1 pc.;
bricks (for the stand) – 10-12 pcs.;
sawdust/chips (for filling);
chimney pipe (cold-processed smokehouse) – 15. -2 m;
additional capacity for smoke production (cold execution) – 1 pc.

Which barrel to choose

The main thing is the stainless steel body. This is necessary for the safety of materials and long service life. The original two-hundred-liter vessel can be either with or without a double bottom - in any case, this part will be removed using improvised means.

How to prepare a barrel

Preparatory work does not require special knowledge and skills. A two-hundred-liter stainless steel barrel itself is already a suitable material for creating a smokehouse. My only wish is to thoroughly clean the container from chemicals and dirt. It is also necessary to follow the instructions and not lose sight of the little things that are important for proper execution.

How to make a cold smoked smokehouse from a 200-liter barrel with your own hands

To make a cold smoked smokehouse, you need to move a two-hundred-liter barrel and the smoke source in opposite directions. The simplest way to make such a container with your own hands is the design shown in the figure below.

A self-built cold smokehouse from a two-hundred-liter barrel is a classic and not picky option. Creating such a design with your own hands is not difficult - you just need to follow the instructions.

The first step is to make a ditch about 30 cm deep for a two-hundred-liter barrel and 50 cm for a fire.
Place two recesses 1.5-2 meters from each other.
Cover the inner walls with refractory bricks, lay a pipe from the chamber to the opening of a two-hundred-liter barrel.
Remove the bottom from the barrel, place it in a shallower hole, and strengthen the structure with bricks for stability and long service life. Place a grate on top.
In another option, the container is drilled and iron rods are inserted into the holes - it all depends on preference. To prevent the smoke from flying away immediately, it is worth covering a two-hundred-liter smokehouse with canvas or matting.

How to use the smoker

At this point, you need to prepare a fire pit with hot coals. To extinguish the flame and slightly reduce the heat, it is recommended to sprinkle the firebrands with ash or soil. A disposable foil smokehouse is placed on the coals. After a few minutes, the smoking process begins, which is indicated by smoke from a homemade container. The smoke will stop after 30-40 minutes with the burning of wood chips and leaves, after which the smokehouse is removed from the fire. Tasting the product will show the level of skill of an amateur cook with the skills to create aromatic smoked meats in the field.

How to make a vertical hot smoked smokehouse from a 200 liter barrel

Before making a homemade smokehouse from a two-hundred-liter barrel with your own hands, it is important to study the structure and design. This kind of construction does not require much effort - it can be made from improvised means in just a few hours according to the step-by-step instructions provided:

The first step is to remove the bottom of the two-hundred-liter barrel - it will come in handy a little later. If the main material has an opening lid, it should be left.
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To make it easier to navigate the markings of the two-hundred-liter structure, draw and cut out the door. Stepping 3-5 cm from the bottom of the barrel, draw a rectangle of an individually suitable size (about 200x400 mm).

Important! The handle on the smokehouse door should be made of wood - this will prevent you from burning your hands when servicing the two-hundred-liter structure.
Cut out the door and attach a hinge to one of the sides - the bottom of a two-hundred-liter smokehouse with wood chips will open easily.
The next step is to prepare the space for the pallet. It should be located just above the future smokehouse door, about 20-30 cm from the bottom edge of a two-hundred-liter barrel. Using simple nuts, fasten 12 mm bolts along the perimeter of the circle so that the container becomes a stop-limit for the pallet.
The tray, cut out with your own hands from the bottom of a two-hundred-liter barrel, is equipped with another bolt in the middle - this will help in the future to lift the metal circle to the top. Lower the finished structure onto the screwed supports.
To install metal rods - an alternative to a ready-made food rack - you need to drill holes parallel to each other. Insert rods into them as shown in the photo.
The last step is to equip the smokehouse stand. It is necessary to lay out a small fireproof platform, and install a structure on it for starting a fire and supporting the barrel, also made of bricks. The photo shows an option for making a smokehouse from a two-hundred-liter container and a cauldron.
If there is no cauldron of suitable diameter, a metal sheet is placed on the bricks inside, and a two-hundred-liter barrel is placed on top. A fire is lit under the smokehouse, which heats the structure.

A simple and high-quality smokehouse is ready for culinary exploits. This design option will bring a lot of pleasure to lovers of smoked meat products. It will fit perfectly into the design of the site and take up little space.

Impromptu smoking in foil

To quickly smoke fish on the go, food foil and green leaves of trees or shrubs are used. To smoke, it is enough to pick about 10 green leaves from a tree growing nearby. It is advisable that these be leaves of a fruit tree, alder, ash or oak, since the smoke from them does not leave bitterness in the food. If there is no suitable plant nearby, willow leaves will do, although the smokiness will come with some astringency.

The fish wrapped in foil is in a closed space, so the juice and fat that flows out of it remains in place. The more juice, the less the cooked fish will resemble smoked food, but rather will resemble boiled or baked food. To reduce the amount of fluid released, you need to cut off the head and remove the insides.

The scales are not removed from the fish - they will serve as a natural protection for the meat from burning. Gutted fish are washed in clean water and, if time permits, hung to dry for 10-20 minutes. If time is limited, simply wipe it with paper towels, then add salt and rub with pepper. The fish is ready for smoking.

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If you need to smoke chicken, it is cut into portions, otherwise the meat will remain uncooked. The chicken pieces are dried in a draft for about half an hour, after which they are rubbed with salt and pepper and after a few minutes they are ready for smoking.

Smokehouse in foil with green leaves

A piece measuring approximately 40x40 cm is cut from a roll of foil, green leaves are placed in the middle and wrapped tightly in the form of an envelope. You should get a small pillow 15x15cm. All joints on it should be pressed well so that juice or fat from the prepared product does not get inside. The foil is cut off at the four corners of the envelope - smoke from the smoldering leaves will come out of it through these holes.

Advice. The edges of the envelope with leaves should be turned up so that juice does not get into the holes and smoke comes out freely.

Now the envelope with the leaves is placed on a larger sheet of foil, and the prepared fish carcass or pieces of chicken are placed on top. Large foil is wrapped first on two opposite sides, covering the food, and then the next opposite sides are wrapped. The package should be voluminous, with a small air space inside. The improvised smokehouse is ready, you can place it on the fire and start smoking.

Smokehouse in foil with wood chips

A version of the smokehouse with wood chips is made in a similar way:

Several branches with a diameter of 2 cm and a length of 15 cm are laid on a sheet of foil, the branches are laid on top of them in a transverse order - you get a kind of lattice;
Pieces of salted and peppered fish are placed on the grill, and if the fish is small, then it is placed whole;
The edges of the foil are raised in the shape of a bowl to create a makeshift tray;
Pour a handful of wood chips onto a large sheet of foil, and place a foil tray on top along with the fish;
Wrap everything in a large sheet of foil.

The end result will be a large bag containing wood chips, and on top of it is a tray with a wood grate and fish. In this case, the fish does not need to be gutted or the head cut off, since the fat and juice formed during heat treatment flows down the branches and is collected in foil.

How to make a horizontal hot smoked smokehouse from a 200 liter barrel

To make a horizontal smokehouse from a two-hundred-liter barrel, it is important to make efforts to achieve better structural stability. This option is good because this design is more convenient to maintain and convenient to load products. To make a homemade smokehouse in this design, you need to do the following:

The first step is to make a stand for the future smokehouse with your own hands. Since the barrel lies horizontally on it, you will need iron rods welded into a single structure approximately in the same way as shown in the photo.
Important! For special stability and strength, the stand is made in the shape of a stool with crossed legs. The corners screwed to the bottom of the future two-hundred-liter smokehouse help increase stability.
Mark a cover that covers almost the entire length of the structure. The width of this element should be approximately a quarter of the circumference of a two-hundred-liter barrel. Cut it out and attach it to the hinges - this will allow you to open the structure and conveniently operate the smokehouse.
The internal structure of a horizontal two-hundred-liter smokehouse is no different from a vertical one. First of all, wood chips are placed at the bottom, then a tray for fat, and the very top is a place for food. In this design, the grill is more suitable, since food can be placed on it more economically without much loss of space.
It is worth cutting an outlet on the side - this will help you control the amount of smoke entering the barrel with your own hands.

Do-it-yourself horizontal smokehouse is ready. This option will fit perfectly into any landscape design and will faithfully serve the owner of the summer cottage. With minimal effort, you can get excellent results.

Rules for making a chimney

Many craftsmen are stopped by the difficulty of creating a chimney. This fragment is made above the ground or underground. To create such a part of the structure, it is necessary to prepare a metal pipe or make a trench, which should be covered with soil or wooden plates. If you plan to create the most durable option, then it is recommended to make a chimney from brick or stone slabs.

When equipping a chimney, you need to take into account the type of smoking apparatus itself. The height of this element can reach 30 cm, and the length - 3 m. But its width should not be more than 1⁄2 m. This length is most successful, since the smoke will have time to drop to the desired temperature. Then the smoked meats will be aromatic and appetizing.

How to make a smokehouse from two 200 liter barrels

For the next option for making a two-hundred-liter smokehouse, you will need more than one barrel. The first container will serve as a source of smoke, the second – a chamber for food. All stages can be performed without special preparation with your own hands. The step-by-step construction of the structure is presented below:

The first step is to prepare the food chamber. Cut out a door from one of the barrels, the entire length and width of a third of the circumference, as shown in the photo.
Secure the lid to hinges or hinges for convenient opening of the smokehouse. It is worth paying attention to the chimney.
Equip the internal compartment of the food chamber according to the previous scheme: tray, rods or grate. Cut holes in the bottom to allow smoke to enter a two-hundred-liter container.
Place the second barrel vertically. This will be the base of the 200L smokehouse. Cut a hole so that the horizontally placed food chamber is stable on the stand. The docking is shown in the photo below.
The last operation is making the door at the base. The lower vertically placed two-hundred-liter barrel is equipped with an opening valve. A fire will be built inside it. By placing the part on hinges or hinges with your own hands, you can achieve a more convenient design. The smokehouse is ready.

Express smokehouse

The device is available in a wide variety of models and is intended for hot smoking in the kitchen or outdoors. Set of disposable mini smokehouse:

heat-resistant foil container;
base for chips made of food-grade metallized paper with perforation;
wood chips – assorted fruit and vegetable crops.

Express smokehouse
Nuances of using an express smokehouse:

open the aluminum paper container;
the chips are folded into a perforated base and placed at the bottom of the tray;
lay out the workpieces in an even layer;
close the lid, wrap the edges of the foil flexible container and place on the fire.

A disposable express smokehouse is used for preparing dishes in the oven, on the grill or at a campfire. The popularity of the device is determined by the opportunity to obtain a smoked product with a minimum of time and financial costs.

How to make an electric smokehouse from a 200 liter barrel

To make an electric hot-smoked smokehouse from a 200-liter barrel, you also do not need a load of special knowledge - all operations are performed at a basic and understandable level with your own hands. First of all, it is important to prepare a 200-liter barrel: wash the container and clean it thoroughly. Below are step-by-step instructions for making the structure:

Furniture wheels, which will become the main assistant in transporting a two-hundred-liter container, will not be superfluous.
The first step is to drill four holes along the circumference of the barrel. Insert hooks there or tighten bolts for the tray container. Install the grille a few cm lower and secure it.
Install the electric stove on the grate without a lid and unnecessary parts - you only need a heating element. Secure with screws.
Drill a hole in the wall of a two-hundred-liter barrel and install a thermometer inside.

Important! The thermometer will determine the temperature inside your home electric smokehouse. This homemade design element will help you safely and quickly find out the data necessary for cooking.
Install a smoke vent in the lid of the smokehouse yourself.
Place a grate or metal rods for food in the upper part of the future smokehouse.

To start the smokehouse, you need to connect the electric stove to the network and load the food chamber with meat.

Selection of base and its preparation

A standard metal barrel of 100 or 200 liters, as for making a boat, is an excellent solution for a base for a smokehouse. This option can be easily equipped with the necessary elements to obtain a product for a cold or hot smokehouse.

Note! It doesn’t matter what was previously stored in the barrel. The main thing is high quality metal, since the service life of the device depends on this factor.

But how to prepare the selected base for further use? The first step is to burn the material from the inside, since it is necessary to eliminate all possible harmful substances.

If hot substances or oil were previously stored in the container, you will need to thoroughly rinse the container and wipe it well. Only after this the tank is burned at the stake. This technique will eliminate any remaining substances and unpleasant odors.

Next, the container is cleaned a second time to remove:

soot particles;
soot;
unpleasant odors.

The final stage of preparing the base for the smokehouse is washing. The container must be thoroughly cleaned, and a hydrodynamic mini-wash will help to carry out the procedure most thoroughly.

Only after all the preparatory stages have been completed can you use a 200 liter container for smoking meat, lard, fish and other products.

On a note! It is impossible to make such a device from a wooden (oak or other) barrel, as it is unsafe.