Homemade Sausage Making

At Thanksgiving I was spending the week at the in-laws house so of course I was looking to get out of the house and do something. I was just walking around their yard and found an old dishwasher behind a shed. It was obviously junk so I found myself a dolly and drug it over where I could work on it. I stripped it down to just the steel tub and started experimenting on how I could make it hold heat and smoke.

Here it is stripped down. They also had some old metal shelving that became the door. I tried it screwed directly to the tub but it was very flimsy.


I also made this venturi type smoke generator but didn't like the thick smoke it produced so i scrapped that idea as well.


Once I got it home I framed it up.


I used this stainless steel finned strip heater for a heat source. You can also see the fireplace sealing rope I used for a door seal.



I stuffed it with insulation and drilled holes for vents and wires. Then closed it all up with plywood.


I got a PID temp controller so that I can set it to whatever I need. Here I was experimenting with it to see how it works. I had the temp probe inside the light for a heat source and it worked fine. On when the temp was to low and off when it was at temp.


For the first smoke I didn't quite have everything wrapped up but need to smoke some summer sausages for Christmas gifts so this is how it looked.



I put this mailbox on the side over a couple vents for smoke intake so I could cold smoke easily. I just put the smoke generator in the mailbox and it feeds the smoker. I also got the temp controller mounted.




Then i built this cart for it and mounted that up.


And finally I enclosed the bottom and I have a cabinet to keep supplies as well as a table to work on on the side. Also a pic of the amazen pellet smoker I use in the mailbox for smoke.





And bonus smoking views for making it this far in

You are brilliantly resourceful! Well done!

That is a very cool smoker and a great way to do it!

Charlie

There is no fault to be found with that piece of work. Very well done.

Beautiful post, beautiful smoker... most helpful. Inspiring. (Gush.)

The braided seal was what made me wonder if it was an oven. Now that we know that it's a dishwasher, I'm wondering if, after the smoking is done, there's an ice water rinse cycle to cool things down!

Great piece of work.

Hey Eyechart! (fagesbp),
I think your smoker is a work of art. It's.... uh... uh... well, it's "innovative"! It's beautiful. I really like how you've designed the cart too. The expanded metal shelves also give it a classy touch. Nice work pal.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon