I'm going to try my first cold smoke tomorrow. It is forcased to be a high of 25F with a low of 10. I am trying ronbeaux's recipe for "Smoked duck and andoui gumbo." http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12485.0 (http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=12485.0) My question is, how warm (cold) should my cabinet temp be in the Bradley. I have read where in warmer temps people just use the smoker, and put a bowl of ice in the bottom to keep temps low. Is 20F outside air with just the smoker going to make a warm enough cabinet temp to cold smoke duck? Thanks for your help! :)
I'm sure your outside temps will be fine, but not living in Chicago now I haven't tested it. If it does get a little warm, you can always crack the door open.
Rexy,
If you're going to follow Ronbeaux's recipe for cold smoking the duck, he only smoked it for 30 minutes. You won't have to worry about temp in the tower getting too hot in 30 minutes. If you just use the smoke generator and not the main heating element, the temp in the tower is not going to rise very much at all, especially with the outside air temps you're looking at.
KyNola
Thank you for the fast replies! I wasn't too concerned with it being too warm, just wondering what temp would be too cold. Can you still cold smoke effectively at below freezing cabinet temps? What is the ideal cold smoking cabinet temp? Thanks again for all of your help!
Oops, sorry. Misinterpreted your question. I wouldn't worry about the below freezing cabinet temp although you could kick on your tower heater and bring the temp up a bit, say to 50 degrees or so.
Ideally the best temperatures to cold smoke would be between 70°F - 90°F, but if you go lower you still should get good smoke flavor.
You are going to need to preheat your generator, so if you cabinet gets to warm during the preheat period, just hold the door open a little longer when you load the duck, until the temperature decreases.
I cold-smoked some cheese earlier this month. Temp was in the mid 30's. The SG alone got the temp up to near 90 and I had to crack the door to cool it down.
At your temps, I'd "preheat" with the SG only, then start the smoke and add the duck. I'd guess you'd get 60-70 out of the SG.
Thank you all for yor replies. I'll be sure to post after and let you know how it went!
Well I did my first cold smoke this afternoon and everything went pretty smooth. The outside air temp was 24F with a 6 Mph wind bringing the "wind chill" to 17F. I had the smoker in full sun. Preheated the cabinet for about 30 mins using the smoke generator only until the box temp was 70.
Started out by soaking the duck breasts in milk over night (about 14 hours).
(http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u62/bbflyboy82/DSC02757.jpg)
Then I rinsed and patted dry the duck and put it on the rack. I decided to throw a couple of chunks of cheese on there too, since I had the smoker out.
(http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u62/bbflyboy82/DSC02759.jpg)
Put it all in the smoker for 1 hour with Cherry, vent wide open. I also put ice water in the bowl to try and keep it cooler.
(http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u62/bbflyboy82/DSC02761.jpg)
The temp stayed in the 80-90 range most of the time. A couple of times it got above 90 so I cracked the door for a couple of minutes to cool it down. This was my first smoke with my new Maverick and it confirmed what I had been suspecting. My BDS temp reads lower then it really is. At 70 on the Maverick, I was 14 degrees low on the BDS, and at 90 on the Maverick the BDS was 20 low! I guess I'll have to give Bradley a call and see what I can do about the inaccurate readings.
Here it is after it came out of the smoker.
(http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u62/bbflyboy82/DSC02762.jpg)
Not sure how it all tastes because it's still got another half hour to simmer, but the whole house smells great! Thanks again for all of your advice, and thank you ronbeaux for the recipe!
Just tasted it, very good. Next time I'll use more duck (probably 6 breasts), and I'll try smoking it longer (maybe 2 hours).
(http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u62/bbflyboy82/DSC02763.jpg)
Hello Rexy and welcome to the forum. That's some good looking Gumbo. I agree with more time in the smoker. When you cold smoke you need to smoke longer. I did a batch of cheese with 2 hrs smoke and it was not enough smoke. You could hardly tell it was done. I will do mine for 4 hrs next time and something stronger than apple like oak or hickory. I use a dettached cold smoke box so keeping the temps down is not a problem, but somewhere around 75 to 85 degrees is where I will target.
Just wondering where your Maverick probe was as compared to the bradley sensor?
Being in two different places is what usually makes the difference in readings.
Quarlow- Thanks for the advice. I'll try 4 hours with a stronger wood on Saturday (cooking up a double batch for a super bowl party). ;D
Gizmo- I'm not sure where the Bradley sensor is. If it is the round disk on the back of the cabinet, about half way up, then my probe was a couple of inches above that. If you look at the pictures above, you can see my temp probe hanging above the duck. I put the meat on the second rack from the bottom (4 rack smoker). I wouldn't think that that should equal the difference in temps that I am seeing... ???
Don't forget to wrap or vac pac and age that cheese for at least 10 days to 2 weeks. Age is the best friend of smoked cheese.
Mesquite-Very strong
Hickory-strong
Oak-strong but not overpowering
Pecan-mild version of Oak
Maple-Mild
Cherry-Mild & fruity
Apple-Mild, fruity with a slight sweetness
Alder-Light with a hint of sweetness
Just wanted to give an update. I made the gumbo again last weekend for a superbowl party. This time I smoked the duck for 3 hours with hickory. Gave it a stronger smoked flavor that I was looking for. Everyone at the party said it was great. ;D
Don't ya love it when a plan comes together.