Handbook of Meat Processing

242 Chapter 12

arranged so that their common back walls

can be lifted. In such an arrangement, the

loading and pre - drying of the product takes

place in the front row of ovens. After lifting

the back wall, the meats are pushed into the

back row for further heating, smoking, and

fi nally unloading. This principle may be

applied also in operating other types of

smokehouses.

Advanced types of smoking kilns, still

with a fi replace in the bottom, may extend

over two stories of a building. The drying,

heating, and smoking conditions in the lower

and higher sections of such ovens differ sig-

nifi cantly, which is convenient for processing

different assortments of meat products.

Smokehouses with External

Smoke Generators

Modern smokehouses (Fig. 12.2 ) make pos-

sible full application of the principles of food

bottom and top to handle the fi replace and
enable the access of air and to control the
airfl ow and humidity, respectively. The third,
a large door in the middle, is used for manual
loading and unloading of the frames, as well
as for observing the process. A duct to the
chimney connects the coned ceiling. Its
coned shape assures that the water and smoke
condensate does not drop on the meats but
drains down the walls. The smoke duct is
equipped with a shutter to control the fl ow.
In order to produce smoked meats of fairly
standard quality, the operator may have to
rearrange the frames at various distances
from the fi replace during smoking to coun-
teract the effect of the differences of tem-
perature, draft, and humidity on the cross
section of the oven. Smoking in such condi-
tions is a labor - intensive task if no mechani-
zation of the handling of the loaded frames
is available. The process may be improved if
two smoking ovens, or batteries of ovens, are

14 9 6

5

1

2

3

4

(^139)
(^1211)
7
10
8
Figure 12.2. A smokehouse with external smoke generator. (1) Smoke generator, (2) sawdust container, (3)
electric heater, (4) ashtray, (5) smoke duct, (6) inlet fan, (7) smoke - distributing channel, (8) jet, (9) throttle, (10)
smoke inlet collector, (11) outlet fan, (12) afterburner, (13) smoke outlet passage, (14) heater. (Courtesy of
Jerzy Balejko.)