Clay Pot Smoker

One man's castoffs, is another woman's treasure!

3 tiers of beef jerky after smoking for 3 hours.

So many people in my family enjoy beef jerky, and I love to make homemade jerky.
My son recently requested a batch, and how could I refuse!
Teriyaki beef jerky is usually what I prepare.  Having just heard about smoked beef jerky, I thought
I would give it a try.

Now is the tricky part, I don't have a smoker.  The internet is full of ideas though, and I
happened to see a picture of a smoker using clay pots.

Two days later a neighbor was getting rid of the lovely clay pots seen in the
photo at the top of the post.
As they were more than happy to be getting rid of them, I was more than happy to bring them home.

They were scrubbed and hosed clean, and once dry, were ready to be put to use.

I placed 3 bricks under the bottom pot to allow for ventilation from the drain hole.
Placing three smaller bricks inside to create a base for the pan of fuel.

Using an aluminum BBQ drip pan for holding my fuel, I put in some wadded paper, and then
some lump charcoal. Once those were burning and turning light gray, I gently spread them out and
added my soaked hickory chips.
With an oven thermometer hanging inside, I was able to monitor the temperature.

Using the lip of the pot to rest the bottom rack of meat, and then stacking the other racks with
brick or rocks, between the racks for air flow and even smoking.

Place the top pot on as a lid, and you can see the smoke come out the drain hole.

Now that I have created my smoker, I am sure I will be using it all summer!

As Always,

ENJOY!