Plans for My New Smokehouse

So this smokehouse is 8 ft wide including wood storage and drying box, and 8 ft tall from grade excluding the roof. It is 4 ft deep and meant to be an add-on to my blacksmith shop.

The smoke chamber is 4 ft x 4 ft wide and 8 ft tall. I plan to cast the foundation from concrete with a waste brick veneer. It has a Norwegian style drying box attached to it for winter drying of meats. It freeze-dries the meat. The cage is to exclude insects and raccoons.

The door will be made of tongue and groove boards nailed with copper plated horseshoe nails to the hidden door frame. It has a BBQ Thermometer set into the door at eye level to monitor the temperature. I'm currently trying to find good thin boards which I'll plane for the shiplap siding.

I didn't have room on the page to draw the tube connecting the firebox to the foundation. So there will actually be a galvanized stovepipe to cool the smoke as it goes from the firebox to the smoke chamber. It will be cast into the masonry.

The masonry will be cast using paper-covered wicker as the form. The internal structure of the wooden part is a hybrid between timber joinery and nails. The sill beams will be put onto large galvanized bolts cast into the foundation and tightened down with nuts and lock washers.

The hanging system will be hickory splits and butcher's twine.

Great plans. A smoke house is on my long term goal list. I look forward to seeing the final building. And I’d love to see how you get on, what lessons you learn as you build. I’m smoking my final chilli harvest today on my bbq . . .