ancient smokehouse

[spataro]

hello!

we were trying to build a smokehouse with my friend, when suddenly we found a very old smokehouse behind the bushes of our grandparents garden.

i am not sure about the operation of this smokehouse, it has a concrete layer between the fire pit and the smoking chamber. there are some holes in the concrete (baffle?).

our main issue is that there is no chimney on it, and I didn't saw any ventillation holes (except the small holes in the wall which were made by the last twenty year..)

we have refurbished the main door, the fire door is still missing.

does anyone have some experience with these kind of smokehouse?

thanks in advance,
cheers:gabor

[ssorllih]

That never had a door on the fire place.. Just build a little fire in the bottom and observe. That will be a cold smoke smoker is my guess.

[Blackriver]

That smokehouse is really neat. I like old smokehouses

[spataro]

That never had a door on the fire place.. Just build a little fire in the bottom and observe. That will be a cold smoke smoker is my guess.

thanks for the info! we would like to operate the smoker with woodchips, hopefully it will do the trick.

btw I am still concerned about the chimney. do you think that it will work well without it?

[redzed]

Welcome to the forum Spataro. We look forward to reading about your efforts. At looking at your photos and the fact there is no chimney, I would question whether that in fact is a smokehouse. To me me it looks like an oven used to bake bread. Talk to some of the old timers in the village.

[spataro]

Welcome to the forum Spataro. We look forward to reading about your efforts. At looking at your photos and the fact there is no chimney, I would question whether that in fact is a smokehouse. To me me it looks like an oven used to bake bread. Talk to some of the old timers in the village.

This is not an oven for sure, as one of the old member of our family remembers the time when this smoker was operating. Unfortunately she can not recall the proper method itself.

We found some rusty hangers as well in the smoking chamber.

[NorthFork]

Spataro-welcome! I agree with redzed, I think this is an old wood fired oven. In the photo I do not see a means for the smoke to move from the firebox to the main chamber. I have seen a couple of these old ovens and at least one of them vented around the roof rather than with a formal chimney. You will probably find some openings at the top (possibly under the vines. One of them is still standing, next time I am up that way I'll get some pictures and post them.

At any rate it is a great find and if not a smoker a wonderful old oven.
Good luck-

Pat

[redzed]

And, in a smokehouse the chamber would have been blackened from the smoke. There is no evidence of that on the bricks.

[spataro]

Spataro-welcome! I agree with redzed, I think this is an old wood fired oven. In the photo I do not see a means for the smoke to move from the firebox to the main chamber. I have seen a couple of these old ovens and at least one of them vented around the roof rather than with a formal chimney. You will probably find some openings at the top (possibly under the vines. One of them is still standing, next time I am up that way I'll get some pictures and post them.

At any rate it is a great find and if not a smoker a wonderful old oven.
Good luck-

Pat

Thanks for the heads up! I still think this is a smoker, there are at least 15 separate holes in the concrete (as I mentioned this might be the baffle which disperse the smoke in the smoking chamber).

I have checked the top of the building as well, and it is solid concrete from the outside.

[spataro]

And, in a smokehouse the chamber would have been blackened from the smoke. There is no evidence of that on the bricks.

hmm, that building is raising more and more questions..

I will go there tomorrow and shoot some proper pictures.

Thanks for your help in advance!

[ssorllih]

Cut some fuel wood about 20 to 30 cm long and split it to about 4 to 5 cm size and build a little camp fire in the bottom. That is very likely the way it was used. Your Grandps didn't have chips except for the ones from his axe.

[ajwillsnet]

I think my collegue from Vancouver Island has called it correctly as an oven. They would first build a fire in the upper chamber to heat it up. When the desired temperature was reached, they would shovel the coals out and deposit them in the lower chamber just to get the coals out of the way. They would then fill the chamber with whatever they wanted to cook, either bread or roasts or whatever. They probably covered the opening with a steel cover during the cooking. Have a look on the net under "cob ovens". They operate in a similiar way.

Bert

[ssorllih]

An oven would not have holes in the floor as this is said to have. Besides that the threshold is higher the the floor which would make using a peel impossible.

[crustyo44]

Gabor,
Welcome to the forum, You can still make a good smoker out of it.
Just put steel doors on the fire and smoking box with adjustable air vents.
Adjustable vents need to be on the top of the smoking box and one vent on the bottom of the firebox
Smoke needs to move out of the chamber to stop soot forming on whatever you are smoking.
It looks like an oven but with holes in the concrete base it can't be for baking bread, roasting meat, yes definitely.
You can do it. Good Luck,
Jan.

[Cabonaia]

The door to the bottom section is small, and there is no smoke on the top brick. Maybe hot coals were shoveled in the bottom.

I visited family in the Azores once. All the people in the villages had bread ovens - usually in cook sheds out back. They were small domed chambers with no chimney. Called fornos, I think. A small hot fire was started with dried corn cobs (they waste nothing over there). When it burned out, the floor was raked and swept. Then the bread dough was put in and a removable door placed over the front. The heated masonry cooked the bread. It didn't come out tasting smokey at all. I wonder if this could be a somewhat similar setup, for bread. Anything used for years as a smokehouse would have a lot of leftover soot. Or if it was (also?) used for meat, it was used for cooking, not smoking.

Just wondering.