I know I posted about this before, but I have been reading a lot in the other smoker thread and this is a good story.

Years ago I bought some goats to clean up a piece of property. When they were done I decided to make sausage out of one of them. My father and I killed and skinned it. I let it hang in my garage for a few days. When you make sausge from lean meat instead of pork you have to add extra fat. I went to Swaggerty's plant in Sevierville to buy fat and casings. The pure fat cost me $1.99 a pound while a pork shoulder roast would have cost $1.69.

I borrowed a commercial grinder from my cousin. That thing must have weighed 75 pounds. I almost killed myself getting it into the kitchen.

On Valentines day my fiance and I ate psychedelic mushrooms drank a bunch of wine and made the sausage. It was a crazy experience. I had never used the a sausage grinder before so we wasted a bunch of the casings. But eventually we had a sting of links. They just were not very uniform in size. Of course we did not clean anything before going to bed and the next morning we awoke to a kitchen where every square inch of surface seemed to be covered with grease and fat. Not a pleasant experience with a hangover.

But the real crazy part was my homemade smoker. I read online how to make a smoker from and old freezer. I bought one for a few bucks from a salvage yard and cleaned it out well. Drilled a small hole in the side and inserted a meat thermometer. Then I cut a hole in the roof and laid a board over it to open or close it. Hung up the strings of sausages inside and placed a pan of charcoal and water-soaked hickory chips in the bottom. It was a lot of trouble to keep the temperature in the correct range, but at the end of the day I was pleased with the results. I dried them pretty hard like a summer sausage.

But when I was through I noticed that the plastic liner of the freezer had melted all out of shape. So I assume the sausage probably had some amount of chemicals from the melted plastic. They tasted very good and I ate them all. I figured one batch would not have enough poison to hurt me too bad. But I would never do it on a regular basis.

So my homemade smoker worked, but it was a "one use" deal.

A metal 55 gallon drum works perfect, the problem is finding one that hasn't had something you wouldn't want to eat in it.

(03-01-2021, 03:43 PM)Benton Wrote: A metal 55 gallon drum works perfect, the problem is finding one that hasn't had something you wouldn't want to eat in it.

Last time I got a 55 gallon drum to use to burn trash I could not even cut a hole in the bottom of it.  Those things are tough as shit.

I ended up using my .38 to make some vent holes in the bottom.

(03-01-2021, 03:43 PM)Benton Wrote: A metal 55 gallon drum works perfect, the problem is finding one that hasn't had something you wouldn't want to eat in it.

The sell them.....  https://pitbarrelcooker.com/collections/cookers

I have an uncle who cured his own sausages from game he'd hunted (elk, hogs, etc) in a converted mini fridge. But he wasn't smoking in it. The heat was actually generated by a lightbulb as I recall. It was an interesting setup and I'd never seen anyone do it like before. This was years ago and I have no idea if he's doing it. Building a fire in a fridge with all that plastic is a little more ballsy than I think I'd go

(03-01-2021, 03:30 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I know I posted about this before, but I have been reading a lot in the other smoker thread and this is a good story.

Years ago I bought some goats to clean up a piece of property.  When they were done I decided to make sausage out of one of them.  My father and I killed and skinned it.  I let it hang in my garage for a few days.  When you make sausge from lean meat instead of pork you have to add extra fat.  I went to Swaggerty's plant in Sevierville to buy fat and casings.  The pure fat cost me $1.99 a pound while a pork shoulder roast would have cost $1.69.

I borrowed a commercial grinder from my cousin.  That thing must have weighed 75 pounds.  I almost killed myself getting it into the kitchen.

On Valentines day my fiance and I ate psychedelic mushrooms drank a bunch of wine and made the sausage.  It was a crazy experience.  I had never used the a sausage grinder before so we wasted a bunch of the casings.  But eventually we had a sting of links.  They just were not very uniform in size.  Of course we did not clean anything before going to bed and the next morning we awoke to a kitchen where every square inch of surface seemed to be covered with grease and fat.  Not a pleasant experience with a hangover.

But the real crazy part was my homemade smoker.  I read online how to make a smoker from and old freezer.  I bought one for a few bucks from a salvage yard and cleaned it out well.  Drilled a small hole in the side and inserted a meat thermometer.  Then I cut a hole in the roof and laid a board over it to open or close it.  Hung up the strings of sausages inside and placed a pan of charcoal and water-soaked hickory chips in the bottom.  It was  a lot of trouble to keep the temperature in the correct range, but at the end of the day I was pleased with the results.  I dried them pretty hard like a summer sausage.

But when I was through I noticed that the plastic liner of the freezer had melted all out of shape.  So I assume the sausage probably had some amount of chemicals from the melted plastic.  They tasted very good and I ate them all.  I figured one batch would not have enough poison to hurt me too bad.  But I would never do it on a regular basis.  

So my homemade smoker worked, but it was a "one use" deal.

You should be ashamed. Poor goat worked for you and that's how you "reward" him?

(03-01-2021, 04:29 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Last time I got a 55 gallon drum to use to burn trash I could not even cut a hole in the bottom of it.  Those things are tough as shit.

I ended up using my .38 to make some vent holes in the bottom.

I use an angle grinder.

(03-01-2021, 11:16 PM)Synric Wrote: I use an angle grinder.

I have a metal cutting blade for my circular saw but could not get it to cut without an edge to start on.

Damn that’s one of the most redneck stories I ever heard. In a good way.

(03-01-2021, 04:29 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Last time I got a 55 gallon drum to use to burn trash I could not even cut a hole in the bottom of it.  Those things are tough as shit.

I ended up using my .38 to make some vent holes in the bottom.

Oh yeah, those things last forever. I remember my grandparents had the same barrel they burned garbage in for 30+ years. Thing stood up to heat, rain, whatever.

(03-01-2021, 07:47 PM)Sled21 Wrote: The sell them.....  https://pitbarrelcooker.com/collections/cookers

They do, but some people like the challenge of making one. Personally, I just replace my cannister smoker whenever the bottom rusts out. But I get where people like to make their own. For those folks, it's hard to find a "food grade" kind of a drum that doesn't cost as much as just buying a decent smoker.

(03-02-2021, 12:12 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I have a metal cutting blade for my circular saw but could not get it to cut without an edge to start on.

I've never gotten good results using metal cutting blades on a circular saw. Band saws are good for metal and, depending on the cut, a Dremmel. Reciprocating saws are great on metal, but you can't get cheap blades or they'll just kick.

How were the mushrooms?

(03-04-2021, 10:50 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: How were the mushrooms?

Good.  Since we had a project to complete we took a very small dose.  But it is by far the most memorable Valentines Day of my life.  We really had no idea what we were doing but instead of getting frustrated we laughed until our sides hurt.