I am looking to possible built a wood smoke house and was wondering if there was an type of wood that would be a bad idea to use? I was thinking o using tongue and grove wood barn siding which i think is pine. Was not going to seal it or paint it due to worrying about chemical transfer if i decide to hot smoke in it. I was mainly wanting to try and use it for cold smoking cheese and other stuff in the winter so i can not have to use the Traeger and can leave it covered. Before you ask yes the thought has crossed my mind about wood and it will burn if i decide to hot smoke in it but not planning on that right now!
I can't speak to what kind of materials for making a true smoke shack, but what a lot of people have done (and I plan to do) is build a shack that will house your electric smoker (just assuming that's what the Traeger is?). I plan to build mine out of pine 2x4s, a bit of plywood, and some hardwood flooring I inherited that happens to be Brazillian Walnut. I'm gonna run a smoke stack through the roof of it and actually install shingles leftover from my new roof. The idea is my Bradley will live in it all year round.
Don't use an evergreen wood ie: pine. Don't use a treated wood either.
Quote from: KyNola on January 19, 2014, 08:06:02 PM
Don't use an evergreen wood ie: pine. Don't use a treated wood either.
Larry's right on the second part. I have a different view on the first. (I'm a woodworker)Any kind of wood to build the enclosure is fine as long as it doesn't have any paint products on it. In other words raw wood. It doesn't matter if it's oak, maple, cherry, poplar or mequite. The wood enclosure doesn't add anything to the smoke flavor unless it catches fire itself. :o If you are smoking fish, the smell of fish isn't going to transfer to the brisket that you're smoking next round. With a new structure you would smell pine if you stuck your nose inside, but once seasoned, the coating of volatile smoke resins etc. that attach to the wood structure would seal the pine aroma from affecting anything inside. Even if you were concerned about taste transfer, a wipe down with a food grade oil like EVO, peanut, grape, corn oil etc. would seal the wood anyway.
Just my $.02
Ok so stay away from Pine so that eliminates pine tongue and groove barn siding! I would like to find some old barn siding in order to make it look more rustic!
I used T1-11 Exterior ply. You wont be going much higher in temps than 180 so leaching of bonding agents is not a problem. I went from LPG burner to a Traeger assembly for mine and a few mods along the way. I did do an 18 hour burn in season of the smokehouse.
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/stlthy1/smokehouse/P3100011.jpg)
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/stlthy1/smokehouse/DSCF5415.jpg)
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/stlthy1/smokehouse/DSCF4346.jpg)
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/stlthy1/smokehouse/DSCF4613.jpg)
Quote from: wkahler on January 20, 2014, 04:32:26 AM
Ok so stay away from Pine so that eliminates pine tongue and groove barn siding! I would like to find some old barn siding in order to make it look more rustic!
There's nothing wrong with using pine. ^^^^See my previous post^^^^
If you take a look at Nepas pictures, you'll see that his smokehouse is constructed with OSB board (oriented strand board). The majority of the chips are pine and spruce mixed with a heat activated resin. I don't think Rick is getting any pine taste in his sausages.
I posted this back in 2011 and the guy who designed it gave me permission to repost it here and any where else I thought it could help people out with. It is a very well designed wood smoke house.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=21343.msg260280#msg260280
Thanks for the link that is a great cheap looking setup that i am looking for!
Quote from: devo on January 20, 2014, 07:51:25 AM
I posted this back in 2011 and the guy who designed it gave me permission to repost it here and any where else I thought it could help people out with. It is a very well designed wood smoke house.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=21343.msg260280#msg260280