Build Your Own Trashcan Smoker
Grilled on July 15th, 2006 in SmokologyOh, believe it… people have built smokers straight out of trash cans for a total cost of under fifty bucks. Before you say: “Yuck! Smoking my food in a trash can???” you must realize that you’re going to use a trash can only for smoking, so it’s basically a big metal container.
Anyway, the basic idea is that you’ll use a hot plate as the heat source, easier to regular and cheap to find, and put it at the bottom of the can (you’ll have to cut a hole). Then, you’ll need to install an actual grill so you can rest the meat somewhere. Finally, you’ll have to snag a woodchip box to hold the woodchips and you’ve basically built your own smoker. The site I referenced above has a great instructional page about it, including numerous pictures. Remember to drill air holes at the top of the can.
Read the site, it’s cool and I think I’m going to try to make my own smoker sometime.
3 Responses to “Build Your Own Trashcan Smoker”
- 1 Pingback on Aug 7th, 2006 at 5:58 pm




How would you regulate the temperature if the hotplate is in the bottom of the can?
You could turn it down or up and then check the thermometor at the top where your meat would be.