The fire, for smoke, goes at the end of the tunnel, where the steel plate is. This would be for cold smoking. (hence the wooden doors of the smoke chamber where you hang meat or fish)
Thanks for all your suggestions. The house was built in 1985. There have been a couple owners before us. I don't know when the smoker was built.
So If I'm understanding things correctly the fire should go at the end of the long channel to smoke the meat inside the large box? I was thinking it worked like my egg with the fire and the meat in the same place.
Is there something missing that would contain the fire on the outside like a drum? I did see something rusting in woods near by.
Looks like a brick offset smoker. I bet you could do a cold smoke with that if you lit the fire at the end of the tunnel. That is probably why a wooden door never burned down. Noob here so take it for what its worth.
I found that exact thing buried in my back yard this past weekend (did not have the rod attached). Was wondering what the heck it was.
Listen to cowgirl! She's always right :grin:
I would go easy about firing it up to hot. As someone already mentioned, those don't look like firebricks, and depending on how old it is, the mortar between the bricks may not take high heat too well. Also check how the thermometer is calibrated. If it doesn't have high temp markings, that may be another clue that it was used for cold smoking or something.
Looks like a drain cover, but the OP's has been modded for smoking? Did you also find a smoker to go with it? :grin:
Cowgirl is cool.
I found that exact thing buried in my back yard this past weekend (did not have the rod attached). Was wondering what the heck it was.
Did you also find a smoker to go with it? :grin:
I believe that "wire" where the heat duct meets the cooking/smoking chamber had the damper attached to it. On your picture of that area on the inside, that was where a metal flap was (damper) it has rusted away but you can see the remains of it. On the outside photo you can see where there is a chain attached to it in order to hold the damper in whatever position you choose. It also seems likely that the round grate was hung inside the cooking/smoking chamber. That would be a lot of fun to experiment with. Great perk to your new home. Have fun with it.