New investment.

Started by manxman, April 18, 2006, 08:07:13 AM

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manxman

With all this talk of new model digital BS's, people investing in PID's, Guru's Raptors and the like together with some of the marvellous setups we have seen from people here on the forum (particularly iceman) I was feeling really left out. :'(

So to cut a long story short I have made a new investment and replaced some items that were around a year old. ;)

http://www.johnwatkins.co.uk/personalpages/coldsmoking.htm

My new cardboard box and tumble dryer hose have arrived  ::), at the not inconsiderable investment of £9/$14!! Having said that I can cut the 10 foot length of tumble dryer hose into two as each section appears to last about a year and 5 foot is plenty long enough. :-[

Joking apart, this is all you need to get set up for an interesting alternative to hot smoking and the point of this posting is to get new members to perhaps give it a try...... it is suitable for fish, bacon, cheese, vegetables, salt to name but a few.

Cold smoking traditionally is more popular this side of the pond whilst hot smoking has been more popular on the US side, however it opens up a whole new range of possibilities.

All for £10/$14......... and one of the bits was free! ::)
Manxman

IKnowWood

My cold smoking box is looking a bit ratty as well.  I am planning to eplace it again soon.  This time I may go ahead and make one out of wood so its easier to dump and less smoked comes out from the sides.  Of course I need some time for that.  so who knows when that will be.

I have cold smoked steaks, cheese, and bacon.  Its getting warmer now but I plan to do some cheese soon.  I am using some ice in the cabinet with the seperate cold box to keep temps around 60 degrees.  Good enough for cheese and bacon.
IKnowWood
Coming to you from the DelMarVa (US East Coast that is)

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Habanero Smoker

I guess it is time to replace my cardboard box also. But the only box that I can find to meet my needs has a new computer in it, so I guess I am going to have to purchase a new computer. I wish  ;D

Seriously speaking, I have to agree that the cardboard box and dryer vent hose works great.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

manxman

QuoteI guess I am going to have to purchase a new computer

Aw, wow! Love your inspired logic HS, wish I had thought of that! Getting away with it is another matter!! ;D
Manxman

iceman

Hmmmm, I never thought about the cold smoking problem up here. Kummok and myself have to put some heat to it just to keep it above freezing. How about mounting the generator on an old little cheif smoker and running the dryer vent hose from there? Seems like the aluminum box would last longer than wood or cardboard. Just a thought.

manxman

QuoteSeems like the aluminum box would last longer than wood or cardboard.

Yes, I agree. Must admit I have been keeping an eye out for a suitable aluminium box but to no avail so far. The other idea I have is getting an old (whiskey) barrel from a local brewery, an ex school colleague runs a distillery so next time I meet him I plan to try and barter for one!!  ;)

In the meantime cardboard boxes work well even if I only get about a year out of them. Not a big deal, we get plenty of sturdy suitably sized boxes at work all the time!

Can't imagine living in an enviroment where it would be too cold to cold smoke...... kind of intriguing! :o
We get plenty of wet and windy weather but fortunately the prevailing wind is such that there is plenty of shelter under my car port for smoking in most conditions.
Manxman

IKnowWood

How about a wood box, lined with Aluminum.  They sell sheets and sextions at my local Hardware store.

I would just need to roll it and attach it to the inside surfaces.  What will that do.  Prevent the smoke from charring the inside only?  Is that all the alluminum will do?

hmm.  I need to check this out.
IKnowWood
Coming to you from the DelMarVa (US East Coast that is)

Look up Our Time Tested And Proven recipes

manxman

I think that would work well, quite what would be the best thing to attach the aluminium to the wood I am not sure but as there is no heat involved nothing has to be heat resistant.

Having said that I would imagine quite a few materials including just wood or plastic could be used for a cold smoking box placed between the smoke generator and BS cabinet.

There is one smokehouse in the South of England that I have visited that used a big timber framed shed construction, part of which is plywood. I would not use plywood for hot smoking as it could affect the glue in the laminates but the guy running this smokehouse reckoned it was perfectly safe for cold smoking as the glue would reamin unaffected.

The main thing I am careful with using a cardboard box is to cut the hole big enough to ensure there is no danger of the smoke generator heating plate touching the cardboard! The other thing is to cut the hole in the box directly above the heating plate so the smoke passes straight up the dryer hose, the box seems to get less messy that way.

The dryer hose is plastic and that is fine, it gets well and truly coated with smoke gunge over time but is easily replaced.

Manxman

Kummok

Quote from: iceman on April 18, 2006, 11:03:29 AM
Hmmmm, I never thought about the cold smoking problem up here. Kummok and myself have to put some heat to it just to keep it above freezing. How about mounting the generator on an old little cheif smoker and running the dryer vent hose from there? Seems like the aluminum box would last longer than wood or cardboard. Just a thought.

Absolutely keee-rect on the "freezing" part, Iceman! However, now that I have three Bradleys, the plan for cold smoking is to elevate one Bradley and lower another nearby Bradley and then run the smoke from the lower Bradley's top vent (I've made a vent adaptor) into the upper Bradley's smoke generator hole (with the smoke generator removed), via metal ducting. I figure that this will give me cooler smoke from the lower unit, while maintaining the advantage of Bradley's insulated "meatbox" for the upper unit. I haven't actually used this yet....still finishing the fish/smoke processing center in the new garage/museum built last year. I'll be posting pics of the set-up when finished...and hopefully reporting on the results of a succesfull coldsmoke....still want to try creating the lox about which Manxman speaks so highly!

TomG

#9
Here's my solution for attaching dryer hose from the remote box to the cabinet.  The 4-3 inch vent reducer was a near perfect fit to the generator opening but needed a  little help to stay in place.  I cut and bent two strips of sheet metal, and soldered them on the vent as shown.  They provide more than enough spring to hold the clamped hose in place and yet makes removal easy.  The fitting in the smoke box is a cheap vent from which I cut the baffles.  Hope this helps.







manxman

That's really neat TomG.

I attached my dryer hose to a plastic fitting similar to the metal one in your picture which in turn fitted into a length of piping a few inches long which came with the dryer hose kit to enable building a vent through a solid wall.

By lucky coincidence this nicely fitted into the hole in the BS cabinet, although I made the fitting really snug using a piece of self adhesive door draught excluder wrapped around the piping.

Looking forward to a picture of Kummock's proposed set up, this raises the possibility of hot and cold smoking at the same time!! (he says tongue firmly in cheek!! :o)
Manxman

TomG

Quotethis raises the possibility of hot and cold smoking at the same time!!

Hey Manx,

I'm not sure that I'll attempt to do them at the same time, but was hoping to cold smoke first and then turn on the heat without removing the hose.  :D

iceman

Kummok, that is a great idea. I think on the next smoker I'll mount the Bradley box to the side of the big smoker and pipe the smoke from it into the big one. That way I can hot smoke on one side while cold smoking on the other side. Anns gonna kill me if I don't stop making these smokers. I ran out of space so now I have to build another garage and get the smokers off the deck per the boss lady. This is starting to cut into my beer time!!! :D ::) ;)

IKnowWood

Tom

you once again show us your ingenuity and give us an idea how to do this a bit better.  I am stopping at hardware dtyoor and see what I can make up.  Thanks for the pictures and ideas.
IKnowWood
Coming to you from the DelMarVa (US East Coast that is)

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