Making A Wood Burning Oven!

[kikoman]

Lot of people on this forum, have been living a life without an oven.

One solution is to make your own, if you live in the middle of nowhere and have some room for an oven in your back yard. Not to hard to make if you have a little building skills. I used a 55 gallon drum, cement mixed with, sand,clay and rice straw, I think it came out very good.

About 4-5 years ago I built a Horno, out of little red brick, clay and cement. I works great, but it took a lot of wood to use it and my new one will use a lot less wood.

I still have my horno and will continue to use it once in a while!

You do not have to make it as big as mine, you can make one using a 5 gallon metal bucket, or one a little larger. it cost me almost a 1000. Baht to make this one, because I needed a food grade 55 gallon drum and had to pay 500 Baht for this one in Nakhon Sawan, I used to buy the same type drum in Sattahip for 150 baht. Also you need to find one hopefully with out the red liner that coats the inside of the drum. It is a job to grind it out and a 2-3 hours of hard work, I have grinded out two 55 gallon drums as I also made a UDS, ugly drum smoker, that also works great.

Cheers:

[David006]

sorry for maybe a dumb question but why /advantage of the clay and rice straw in the mix, also why/advantage of the drum.won't it burn through eventually?

I am just thinking that when I was in Portugal in the year dot they just used hornos made from firebrick methinks.

Anyways a horno has been on my round tuit list for years...goodonya.

[kikoman]

sorry for maybe a dumb question but why /advantage of the clay and rice straw in the mix, also why/advantage of the drum.won't it burn through eventually?

I am just thinking that when I was in Portugal in the year dot they just used hornos made from firebrick methinks.

Anyways a horno has been on my round tuit list for years...goodonya.

The clay and straw are used as insulation to retain the heat of the oven, as my horno is made out of the same material. Three considerations I had to make the wood burning oven.

I placed my chicken egg laying house to close to the horno.

The horno uses a lot of wood before you can use it, you have to heat it up to 500o degrees, and then take out the fire and bake until it loses it heat. One could always keep the fire while baking pushed to the sides of the horno (like the Italian pizza ovens) or hook up a gas line to it.

This oven heats up fast you can adjust the heat through the size of your fire and can start using it about 15 minutes after starting your fire and uses a lot less wood.

It may rust out in time but I will not be here to deal with that, at my present age.

The third reason I needed to keep busy, and not just sit around and vegetate.

I have no issue against the horno, which also reminds me of the old country., and is still very useful to me!

You can see it in the background of the attached photo!

Cheers:

[notmyself]

Looks great. What do you do in the smoker?

[kikoman]

I mostly make ham in the smoker, and also smoke ham hocks to flavor my pinto beans which gives them a lot better taste

In the picture with the pot I made Barbacoa that I usally make in my underground pit, wanted to see if it would work and it worked great.

That is a little loin ham I was also testing, a lot easier to build that the wood oven and the smoker is portable I plan to add rollers or a couple of handles to carry it.

Cheers:

[I Like Thai]

Where does all the smoke from the fire go. I don't notice a chimney anywhere

[notmyself]

I mostly make ham in the smoker, and also smoke ham hocks to flavor my pinto beans which gives them a lot better taste

In the picture with the pot I made Barbacoa that I usally make in my underground pit, wanted to see if it would work and it worked great.

That is a little loin ham I was also testing, a lot easier to build that the wood oven and the smoker is portable I plan to add rollers or a couple of handles to carry it.

Cheers:

That looks lovely mate.

I reckon the Mekong giant catfish would be good smoked. What do you think?

[kikoman]

There is not to much visable smoke when using the smoker, for the air output we simple used the holes that were already on the barrel, and at the lower end was added 4 air in-takes. The main one being the ball valve which we always point in the direction of the pervailing wind, with one basket of about 5 pounds of charcoal will hold a temperature of 225 degrees for 8-10 hours and at the last couple of hours the temp will drop to 200o.

As long as it smokes good, I will not worry about the smoke, and it works great!.

I have never smoked fish, but it would be possible, look up on the internet if fish smoking, recommends for a hot smoke or cold smoke. for a cold smoke we would take out the coal basket and put in a hot plate on which we would burn the water soaked wood chips.

Cheers:

[David006]

There is not to much visable smoke when using the smoker, for the air output we simple used the holes that were already on the barrel, and at the lower end was added 4 air in-takes. The main one being the ball valve which we always point in the direction of the pervailing wind, with one basket of about 5 pounds of charcoal will hold a temperature of 225 degrees for 8-10 hours and at the last couple of hours the temp will drop to 200o.

As long as it smokes good, I will not worry about the smoke, and it works great!.

I have never smoked fish, but it would be possible, look up on the internet if fish smoking, recommends for a hot smoke or cold smoke. for a cold smoke we would take out the coal basket and put in a hot plate on which we would burn the water soaked wood chips.

Cheers:

The BBQ chicken lady in our market uses a big Chinese egg pot upright with the chicken in frames around the inside edge and charcoal in the bottom with a bit of tin on top...don't see any air intake holes though?

Think it would work as a smoker too...using those sandwich with handle type frames . Thai version of a Weber?

Maybe using an egg pot as a horno liner would work too? Might get through three or four before you manage to cut the chimney hole though without it breaking.lol

[kikoman]

There is not to much visable smoke when using the smoker, for the air output we simple used the holes that were already on the barrel, and at the lower end was added 4 air in-takes. The main one being the ball valve which we always point in the direction of the pervailing wind, with one basket of about 5 pounds of charcoal will hold a temperature of 225 degrees for 8-10 hours and at the last couple of hours the temp will drop to 200o.

As long as it smokes good, I will not worry about the smoke, and it works great!.

I have never smoked fish, but it would be possible, look up on the internet if fish smoking, recommends for a hot smoke or cold smoke. for a cold smoke we would take out the coal basket and put in a hot plate on which we would burn the water soaked wood chips.

Cheers:

The BBQ chicken lady in our market uses a big Chinese egg pot upright with the chicken in frames around the inside edge and charcoal in the bottom with a bit of tin on top...don't see any air intake holes though?

Think it would work as a smoker too...using those sandwich with handle type frames . Thai version of a Weber?

Maybe using an egg pot as a horno liner would work too? Might get through three or four before you manage to cut the chimney hole though without it breaking.lol

I have seen many types of inovative Thai cookers in my 11 years living here in Thailand, you can make almost anything work for you.

While not being anything close to an expert on the subject of smoking, what you described to me is more of a cooker, as the chicken is cooked by direct heat. Verses a smoking by indirect heat/smoke over a long period of time.

I made a food dryer out of a big cardboard box, a light bulb and a small computer fan, makes great beef jerky.

Try your idea of a smoker and let us know what the results are, good luck!

Cheers:

Edited October 1, 2012 by kikoman

[notmyself]

There is not to much visable smoke when using the smoker, for the air output we simple used the holes that were already on the barrel, and at the lower end was added 4 air in-takes. The main one being the ball valve which we always point in the direction of the pervailing wind, with one basket of about 5 pounds of charcoal will hold a temperature of 225 degrees for 8-10 hours and at the last couple of hours the temp will drop to 200o.

As long as it smokes good, I will not worry about the smoke, and it works great!.

I have never smoked fish, but it would be possible, look up on the internet if fish smoking, recommends for a hot smoke or cold smoke. for a cold smoke we would take out the coal basket and put in a hot plate on which we would burn the water soaked wood chips.

Cheers:

Cold smoked I imagine. It just seems like a good fish to smoke while smoking a snapper doesn't.

[schondie]

Very nice job. I have a cheap oven but want the same for my house when it's built. Thanks for the photos as I've now got a better idea of what to build.

[beammeup]

You can easily make an oven out of firebrick. I used an chicken house, (those little woven thinks they keep the chickens in during the day) and formed around it and then used vermiculite mixed with concrete as insulation. works great for Pizza. Been using it for years.

[I Like Thai]

There is not to much visable smoke when using the smoker, for the air output we simple used the holes that were already on the barrel, and at the lower end was added 4 air in-takes. The main one being the ball valve which we always point in the direction of the pervailing wind, with one basket of about 5 pounds of charcoal will hold a temperature of 225 degrees for 8-10 hours and at the last couple of hours the temp will drop to 200o.

As long as it smokes good, I will not worry about the smoke, and it works great!.

I have never smoked fish, but it would be possible, look up on the internet if fish smoking, recommends for a hot smoke or cold smoke. for a cold smoke we would take out the coal basket and put in a hot plate on which we would burn the water soaked wood chips.

Cheers:

Could you incorporate a water boiler into the design, piped to the house, this would heat your water as well as doing the smoking/cooking ?

[kikoman]

There is not to much visable smoke when using the smoker, for the air output we simple used the holes that were already on the barrel, and at the lower end was added 4 air in-takes. The main one being the ball valve which we always point in the direction of the pervailing wind, with one basket of about 5 pounds of charcoal will hold a temperature of 225 degrees for 8-10 hours and at the last couple of hours the temp will drop to 200o.

As long as it smokes good, I will not worry about the smoke, and it works great!.

I have never smoked fish, but it would be possible, look up on the internet if fish smoking, recommends for a hot smoke or cold smoke. for a cold smoke we would take out the coal basket and put in a hot plate on which we would burn the water soaked wood chips.

Cheers:

Could you incorporate a water boiler into the design, piped to the house, this would heat your water as well as doing the smoking/cooking ?

I like Thai, About, 15 years ago i made a hot water heater into a wood stove, i found an old radiator heater that was used in the old days to heat our school in the 1940s. Placed the radiator in the side of a brick stove the water was heated and I used an old gas water heater to store the water. Took out all the gas burner system and built a brick base on the water heater and in the morning built a wood fire to heat up the water that had cooled over night, It can be done.Could have used the radiator or the water heater alone would have worked great.

Beammeup, if you look at the picture above, behind the barrel stove is an Horno, that works the same as a Pizza Oven, I also used a Thai wooden chicken pen as a top and on the outside used little Thai red brick, burned adode for the baking surface in the oven and then covered it with about 5 inches of clay, sand and cement mud mixture slapped on by hand. Worked excellent, how I made it is in an old post in this Western foods forum.

As now I have two ovens, I will convert the Horno to bottled gas, as of both ovens it uses a lot more wood. Keep on Cooking!

Good Luck and Cheers:

[notmyself]

What wood do you use for smoking?