hails all,,
just got the smoke generator W/adaptor for xmas/birthday. i instaled it on my latest smoker and doing lake trout / spareribs as i type this. am very impressed with the smoke output fro this unit so far. i have been useing propane camp stove for heat with the old house, but decided to go electric with the new to match up with the generator. useing a 240 bake element for the heat so that i could do more then the fish and jerky that i have been diong. its nice to be able to regulate the heat so closely for a change.
and heres the newbie question that all have been waiting for,,lol,, just what is "lox"? a form of sushi? is the fish acutly cured or just seasoned?
nice info on the fourms on recipes and tips.
Outlander;
Welcome to the board.
Lox are cured, and are "chemically cooked" by the salt during the curing process. Then lightly smoke to add flavor.
Lox is the cold smoked cured salmon commonly found in Europe, it tastes magnificent.
The most common recipe I see on the net, and one I highly recommend along with a lot of people here is Spyguys recipe to be found at
http://www.susanminor.org/smokers/salmon/salmon/bestsmokedsalmon.htm
Lox tends to be very expensive in posh restaurants served with canapes, you will be able to make it very easily with the smoke generator as no heat is wanted on this one.
so just out of my own morbid curiosity,, what is the working temp range of the smoke generator? looking for the lower end of the scale. am wondering if its just too cold out side to get the pucks to advance, or if my x-mas gift has a electrical problem. right now i have the stove timmer on so that i can hand bomb a new puck onto the hot plate area to keep the smoke going for the ribs i have on. the advance button does not seem to be working at all so far. it worked great the first time i used it to do up some smoked lake trout and first attemped at ribs two weeks ago.
thanks for any info.
outlander
Seen post here with people doing smokes at freezing temperatures. I would suspect there is a mechanical or electrical problem with the advance mechanism. You can search the site for the various posts on what others have had to do to fix them. Gunk buildup, linkage, and electrical issues have been seen before. A call to Bradley may be in order if the visual doesn't point to something obvious. More details on what you are seeing may help those here that have intimate knowledge of the puck advance to be able to give you the "Tinkers Digest" advice. I has been amazing at how many have had some spot on diagnosis.
Outlander. It is very cold here in North San Diego County. They say headed for 29 degrees near the coast... burrrrrr. Got the sprinklers set for three short runs tonight to try to keep cold off the Impatians.
Cold smoking bacon in tonight in honor of record setting cold. Have not missed a puck...
BUT I MAY still have you beat by 30 or more degrees. cold lake Alberta Canada may be a problem. Some of your northland friends will have to share thier experience.
thanks for the reply gizmo,,
am now thinking that it is just the outside temp thats causing the problem. have the smoker up to 107c and the button seems to work if held in. have the stove timer set to 20 minuts and i am thinking that on the last puck, it had advanced on its own. meausered with finger to level of pucks remaining, and will see in 15minuts or so. lol,, gotta love the canucks weather up here this year. but when you can get smoked ribs at 20 below,,ya gotta love it. took some pics of the weather station read out and the home brew smoke houses i have built. will try to get them to show online later when i pull the ribs out for dindin. hopefully its just a matter of getting the temp up so that it heats up the generator enough to operate properly.
outlander
hailz there WCK.
well,, the temp here is sitting at -28.1 c as per the weather satation i have hooked up.lol,, hoping it warms up for sunday cuz i have a hip of venision i have cureing to make some pastramie.
I could see why the arm doesn't advance, I would think the heater would throw up its hands as well. LOL. You didn't mention if you preheated the box before starting? If not, it might help with those bone chillers you have there. Good to hear you may end up with some good chow after all. Can always finish in the oven (house) if needed.
yup,, preheated to roughly about 90C before turning on power to generator. gotta love the 240volt power, took about 20minuts.thinking that it might be a bit on the cool side to expect the gen to run right though. have the cast iron frying pan with wood chips as back up though. will try to get some pics of the smoker up for you to see later this weekend. but as so far, i cant say as i have had any bad thoughts about the bradly products, and am looking foreward to building a 120volt portably unit to take out to the lake this summer. will just have to jump the generator to and from the one at the house.
outlander
Sounds like you do have some nip in the air! May want to store your generator inside till your ready to smoke and then hook it onto your house. Dont even know how to calculate to F when its negative C. Anyway it is too cold when I shiver enough my beer starts foam out of the bottle. :D ;D
Please do post the pics of your smokehouse. I and am sure a number of others would be very interested in seeing it... sounds like a quite a setup with that electric power heat plus the bradley.
The generators do put out amazing amounts of smoke for what they look like.
Take Care and wear a coat! 8)
WCK,
I don't think a coat is going to be warm enough, better wear a "Bear".
i vote for photos of the smoke house...
photos good...
you gotta eat...
owrstrich
Outlander, You can't post photos directing onto this site so go to this place: http://photobucket.com and get yourself registered (it is free but you need an account - used by many on the forum),
Just follow the instructions on the photobucket screen and your set. There is a box to click i did not notice for a while that lets you do clickable thumbnails or you can do the size for forum boards.
When you insert the photo into your post it goes between the brackets that come up in the post when you click the insert image icon.
Click preview before you click post and you can see how it will look when posted.
lol,, well,soups on , and if that dont beat all. the sons,s friend asked if he could wrap up his leftovers to take home. i think thats the best complement i have ever had about my cooking. following post are the pics i took. dont known how to down size them yet, so will add one per post
(http://[img]http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1907/ribs011ye4.jpg)[/img]
Put the URL Link from your hosting service between the brackets. That pop up when you click insert picture. Other wise it wont let most member see your picture.
Looks like it is getting colder ( I had to go to properties of your post and copy / view into the search bar to see your picture) Really looking forward to seeing your smoke house.
If you click preview before post you can see how it will look.
Take Care...
lol,,attempt # 2,, with the photobucket, thanks for the link WCK,,
(http://[url=http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ribs004er6.jpg%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img412.imageshack.us/img412/9462/ribs004er6.th.jpg)[/URL] (http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1907/ribs011ye4.th.jpg) (http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ribs011ye4.jpg) (http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8905/ribs010to4.th.jpg) (http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ribs010to4.jpg) (http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6071/ribs009za2.th.jpg) (http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ribs009za2.jpg) ] [/img] (http://img386.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ribs005lu2.jpg)
older smoke house for fish and jerky(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/outlan2/ribs005.jpg)
new smoke house i built for use in the canadian winters. used a 240 bake elemnt with a oven thermostatic control. installed a 240 all metal fan to keep the heat moving around. aprox 2 square feet by five feet high with six shelves/ 12 shelves if doing fish or jerky where vertical space can be kept at a minumum.will get some inside photos tommrrow when i start the pastramie smoking.
(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/outlan2/ribs002.jpg)(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/outlan2/ribs004.jpg)
Now then, those would be ribs!! :D :o
What is the construction on the old smoke house. Is that a metal wrapped wood? Then the propane burner and wood box in the bottom? Interested in the story, what you did and didn't like and what you did different in your new one, why - your heat set up in the new one etc.
Yea, gonna steal your experience and will even admit it.
I remember that stuff - snow right ;D Good eating, Good night.
canada is well represented on these forums...
even though canadians still cant brew a good beer or distill a good whiskey...
however the ribbs are looking good... the smoker is looking good...
i gotts a feeling the outlander is eating good...
owrstrich
Outlander, that looks really cool. Or maybe really cold. Or mabye frigid a$$ freezing.
O.K., the box, cool, the surrounding, the rest. ;D Will need to modify the grin face to have the teeth chatter up and down. I can see your next project moving the box into the house and setting up the OWSTRICH indoor smoking arangement. As he would say, you gotta eat.
Outlander
Great job! When you live in this climate you just have to be creative ;D By the looks of the photo you guys got hit by the big storm system that just came through Alberta and Saskatchewan. -40 C = -40 F. We had -35 and wind gusts up to 85 km (50 mph). That makes it around -45 C to -50 C with the wind chill. Today is -24 C and no wind. It's kinda nice out. This is why I mounted my DBS in my heated garage. Plus you can sit and have a beer and supervise the process.
Mike
Admiring from afar. 74F here in the Florida panhandle.
outlander,
Very nice setup. I assume the box is ungrounded so that if someone tries to steal your...... :D :D :D
Arcs_n_Sparks
hailz WCK
the older smoke house was built with a 2X2 frame, sheeted with 3/4" plywood.i also used some 2" semiridged mineralwool insulation i found lying around work (good up to 1200'F). the outside was covered with 30 gauge galvanized metal. i used the metal break and lock former at work to prefab the metal. installed in on the smoker at home in the backyard. for vents i used 2 floor vents i bought at wallyworld.the heat source was a cheap one burnner pack stove set on a 6 inch pice of steel pipe. useing a 6" cast iron frying pan , i could get about an hours worth of smoke at a time.
pro's,, was a project i did with my son, will do 30lbs of jerky or smoke 25-30 whitefish at a time, brought back fond thoughts of my father.
con's,, cheap burnner only provides temps for jerky or smokefish. hard to control heat level with burnner control inside smoker.
(http://[url=http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tempgaugevg6.jpg%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img212.imageshack.us/img212/1488/tempgaugevg6.th.jpg)[/URL] (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/9897/floorventskr7.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=floorventskr7.jpg) (http://img307.imageshack.us/img307/8905/oldersmokehouseim0.th.jpg) (http://img307.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oldersmokehouseim0.jpg) (http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/299/cheapburnnerhb1.th.jpg) (http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cheapburnnerhb1.jpg) [/img]
as for the new smoker, i built one for my brother useing utilidor insulated sheeting. basical 1 1/2" thick foam samwiched between two sheets of metal. we set it up to use a stove top burnner and a infinet switch to control the heat level.,lol,, he melted the first two aluminum pans he used to burn the chips. had to lend him my frying pan. when i made the second one for my self, i used a bake element instead, in an attemped to spread out the heat. then the wife and son were nice enough to get me the smoke generator for x-mas/birthday. i am useing a electric meat probe set on the door to regulate the cabint temp, and a remote sending meat probe to watch the internal meat temps. the second probe has a temp alarm system to alarm once the disired temp is reached. i also came across a 240volt all metal fan that i installed above the temp switch to circulate the internal air to advoide any hot spots.
i went with the elcetric heat source so that i could control the temp inside the box and to bring it up to temp in a very short time frame. am thinking of building another smaller box for camping.found a 120volt heater element to use.
pro's,,, fast preheat time, precise heat control from verey low to 300'F+,double the fish and jerky loads with the double racks,can now do more meats/types,load and go with the smoke gen :D,can now use it instead of the oven in the summer so that the trailer dont heat up,and just plain fun to use.
con's,, forgot to put "D" handles on sides to make moving it easyer, need to build a small stand for it later.
(http://[url=http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image=remotereciverav4.jpg%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img77.imageshack.us/img77/7905/remotereciverav4.th.jpg)[/URL] (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6784/remotemeatprobewl1.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=remotemeatprobewl1.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4198/cabinettempprobevg6.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cabinettempprobevg6.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6064/convectionfangk6.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=convectionfangk6.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5134/therosticprobeoffinfinitj0.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=therosticprobeoffinfinitj0.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/7954/240bakeelementlf9.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=240bakeelementlf9.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5773/newsmokerid0.th.jpg) (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=newsmokerid0.jpg) [/img]
heres todays smoken project,,venision pastramie
(http://[url=http://img167.imageshack.us/my.php?image=seasonedvenisonec2.jpg%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2920/seasonedvenisonec2.th.jpg)[/URL] (http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/7876/venisonhippj0.th.jpg) (http://img167.imageshack.us/my.php?image=venisonhippj0.jpg) [/img]
(http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2920/seasonedvenisonec2.jpg)
outlander,
Very nice story and pictures. Looks like the Bradley on steroids... :o
Arcs_n_Sparks
Outlander thanks greatly. I am wanting to build something and looking for ideas ... you certainly gave me lots of pointers and i appreciate it.
I am thinking about propane gas, did you notice a lot of moisture due to the water vapor from the propane? I guess another advantage of electric is clean and no moisture.
No issues with the utilidor insulation and heat? I need to learn about them. Very nice work on the house not to mention the venison!!!! :P
Take Care, wck
OH NOOOOO
ANOTHER PROJECT FOR ME
"DOH" :o
SOMEBODY SLAP ME
looks real nice outlander
nepas
Hey Outlander, looks good. i just finished mine home built and used the new propane generator for smoke and the same electric element as you. I mounted the element above the generator and when running @220v. it started the briquetts on fire. Hows it working with the generator above the element? I wired mine as 110v. instead of 220v. and it seems to work fine, but does not get red hot like on 220. Did first smoke today of some kippered springs from 2 seasons ago. Looks pretty good. Im guessing you are in prairies somewhere I'm in central Alberta and its turnned cold and snowy here again. All the best
:o hummm,, shiny button snydrome,,did you know that hitting the refresh button before posting is a bad thing? and now for the shorter version of the disapearing post.
i tried running at 120V, but didnt feel the heat output was enough. at 240V i can preheat the smoker up to 250 degrees in -30 below in about 15 to 20 min's. i found a 120V BBQ element that is about the same size and sape as the 240V one. going to switch it out and see if i get good heat with it. ( keeps the wife happy when she's trying to do the laundry and i have the smoker pluged into the dryer outlet ).that way i can bring it out to the camp site this summer and run it off a gen set.
i havent had any probs with the smoke gen above the element so far, mind you i dount use a water bowel to catch the spent pucks, just the pan that came with it.playing with the PID controler idea to control the heat, and mabee the generator as well. right now i have a unervirsal thermstic oven controler switch. it has about a 9 degree temp swing as is.
what part of central alberta are you in? am in cold lake up along the sask border.
Ahhhh... The ole disappearing post trick.
And here all along I thought I was the only David Copperfield of the keyboard. Shucks!!! :D ;D