Coverting an old refrigerator into a smoker

[CoreyMac]

True about the door panel, but usually the doors have provisions for butter and all the rest. These are usually molded from plastic. Gotta get that out. Maybe take a picture of the inside of the door. Plus if there is anything on the inside of the door it usually protrudes into the fridge cabinet, taking up space. If you put a flat piece of sheet in the door you gain some room. However, you may have been lucky and the door has nothing on the inside.

Pics will help but the inside door panel should be screwed in place, just remove the screws pull the panel completely out. Then cut a piece of sheet material to cover the inside of the door. I used pop rivets, could use sheet metal screws I guess.

Corey

[pfowl01]

I've got it made............

[CoreyMac]

So what your telling me is that inner door panel is metal? Wow you did luck out. If it is then that parts done. ;D

Corey

[pikeman_95]

Looking at the picture of the back I see that the compressor is under the unit. have you considered putting you heating system and smoke generation system down there and keep all the room in the main unit for sausage. I have done something similar with a railroad signal box I placed it up on a concrete box and concrete blocks. This gave me enough room to place my heating system under the unit. I have a propane burner which is thermostatically controlled and I also have a smoke generator in the same space. If you ever decide to use Propane give me a PM and I can give you a plan for a control system. It is quite simple and has all the heating capacity that I need. I can cook at 220 for the smoke cook process.

Kirby

[pfowl01]

So what your telling me is that inner door panel is metal?       

Well I thought it was until I inspected more closely and checked it a magnet to know for sure.............nope it's plastic :( Well I guess I'll be replacing that......thanks for the caching that!

have you considered putting you heating system and smoke generation system down there and keep all the room in the main unit for sausage.   

I have considered that and I haven't decided yet. What I know for sure is that I'm using a Bradley smoke generator, electric heat, a fan, and PID control.

[pfowl01]

the only plastic in them is usually the door stuff and just around the lip of the main cabinet   

Well I had some time today and I decided to ripe the guts out..........Corey you where right about the plastic.


Not sure but I'm hoping I don't have replace the inside plastic molding next to the door. I'm not sure if this would be an issue? I also have a light and a door switch I'm trying to save....got it ready to fish some high temp wire in.


I might build some kind of racking to hang sausage off of using the four bolts in the ceiling. they use to support the frezzer.

And these plastic nobs will have to go......but I might be able to use the bolt for racking.

[classicrockgriller]

Sounds like the plan is in motion.

Always fun to watch these projects.

Keep the pics coming.

[CoreyMac]

I didn't bother doing anything with the inside plastic moulding around the cabinet on mine, never had any issues. I just sheeted the inside of the door. You will have to figure out a new door seal though.

Looking good keep at it.

Corey

[pfowl01]

Corey,
If you left the plastic molding around the door and never had a problem I'm wondering if I would really need to re-panel the entire inside of the door. Couldn't I just resurface the part that is exposed to the interior of the fridge and not worry about outside edges, since those two come together and are not exposed to the interior? In other words....just the raised portion of the door panel in this picture?

[Mr Walleye]

It looks like your well on your way Paul!

If it was me, I would remove all the plastic. Plastic doesn't have to melt in oder to give off toxic fumes. Any of the builds I have done we removed all plastic on the interior.

Before you trash the door seal, have a good look at it. I have seen some of these used without any problems. If you do have to replace it you can find rope gasket for woodstove doors at a fireplace store. I've used this before and it works well.

I like the idea of housing the heat and smoke generator in the bottom section. You could set it up similar to the one in the picture below (just how they have the lower cabinet vented to the main chamber).




For hanging sausage I would just use some aluminium angle on each side wall near the top. (for that matter the aluminium angle works well at multiple levels for racks as well). Then you can hang your sausage on sticks. This way when they are done you remove the entire stick and hang it to bloom. Here's a picture of a blooming rack I built to hold up to 100 lbs of sausage from my big smoker. You can easily build it any width to utilize the size of sticks you using. It just made out of 1 & 1/4 ABS pipe. The legs are the only joints not glued so it can be easily stored.




Mike

[classicrockgriller]

WOW! Mike.

That is a load of Sausage.

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks Sonny

I think that was 80 lbs. For me (and everybody who raids my freezer) I usually do any where from 75 to 100 lbs at a time.

Mike

[NePaSmoKer]

WOWSERS

Mike the sausage looks great.

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks Rick!

That's definitely a compliment coming from you!

Man... luv the the smiley!

Mike

[pfowl01]

I like the idea of housing the heat and smoke generator in the bottom section   

Mike,
I was leaning that way also....I would have to seal up a few things first though



Question is....where do I install the fan? Main cabinet or lower cabinet?
I would also like to build this to have the capability to hot smoke if I want to......say up to 250-275deg. What is going to catch the grease? Thought about maybe putting a water bowl in the main cabinet similar to a gas smoker setup........any thoughts? I'm totally open to ideas and suggestions here ;D