I am a big fan of smoked foods and I have never found a food that didn’t taste better with a little smoke added! At first, I found it very intimidating to start smoking my own food, and then it turned out to be very easy because you don’t need fancy smokers or expensive gear. There’s really no perfect recipe or set-up, it’s non-fussy which is perfect for me. There is a lot of good information out there on the pluses and minuses of cold versus hot smoking but I currently cold-smoke my foods. This method also has the benefit of being safe while using the DIY smoker because my temperature is always under 50 degrees, so I don’t have to worry about wood finishes or plastic residues seeping into my food. Because I smoke my foods at a low temperature, this means the food needs to be cooked after smoking to be safe to eat. Maybe someday I’ll venture into hot-smoking too.  I currently cold-smoke my own salmon, moose sausage, pork sausage, turkey, and bacon. Next on the list to figure out is how to cure and smoke whole hams. Yum!

The Set-up

Again you do not need fancy equipment. I’ve made a box out of plywood and I’ve also used an old Propane BBQ to smoke my food. It all depends upon having a heat source, good ventilation, and how much food you want to smoke at one time. But this is my current set up and I’m very happy with it.

This is my kid’s playhouse that my neighbor gave us. It is about 5′ tall x 2.5′ wide x 2.5′ deep. It is now my smoker. I stapled greenhouse plastic over the windows  I plugged the cracks with local moss and left some holes at the top open for ventilation. I also use this playhouse at the end of my raspberry garden to help trellis up my plants. Multi-purposing.

Insides the smoker I place 4 large tiles I got for cheap in a package of 12 at the home improvement store in case a spark jumped out. I bought a single-burner turkey fryer for the heat source, that is hooked up to a propane tank on the outside of the building (which is what the silver pipe goes too). I’ve also used a one burner electric burner before, it works pretty well, it just takes longer to heat up and it’s harder to regulate.  I bought a used, rusty cast iron pan from an antique store for $10. I’ve also used an old round cake pan before. You can buy wood chips of any kind at the store specifically cut for smoking (look near the camping and BBQ section), soak before using. Or since I’m lucky and have alder growing in my yard, I cut finger length chunks off the tree about as big around as your pinky. A pan of it will last about 2 hours before you need to replace all the ashes.

I put one of those lids to keep hot grease from sizzling out of the frying pan on top, to keep wood sparks in.

I then mounted L brackets about a foot and half from the top of the roof (higher than my kid’s heads) all the way around, usually 3 brackets per side. I found old metal fridge racks from the dump, washed them well, and set them on top of the L brackets. They are not connected so I can easily take them on and off for cleaning.*Notice you can see the vent holes at the top.

With this setup, I can smoke 3-4 whole turkeys at once or a dozen fillets of salmon. I start smoking in the morning and smoke things for 6-8 hours depending on what I’m smoking. Adjust the temperatures so the wood is smoldering but is not actively burning. It might take some fiddling with. Remember to watch it during the day so pick a day when you are home and not running errands.

That’s pretty much it. Good luck. Feel free to experiment with your setup and what works well for you.