Cold Smoke

[royston]

Hi there. I wonder if one of you good people may be able to help.I purchased the BS611 The Original Bradley Smoker yesterday, so am a novice. When I purchased, I asked the sales person can I cold smoke on this , to which he said, absolutely, in paticular cold smoked salmon. However, in reading the owners manual it says: Cold Smoke: use the smoke generator only. Unplug the Short Power Cord. From what I can gather is, it is the short cord that plugs in to the tower, so hope I dont sound dumb, but I figure that wouldnt allow the smoke generator to work at all LOL. A little bit confusing.  Would this mean to use the long cord on smoke generator?? Many thanks in advance :)

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi royston,

Welcome to the forum. Don't be hesitant to ask any question. These days manuals that come with a product, if you are lucky to get one, lack information and that can cause confusion. Having said that, Bradley manuals, are better than most.

I don't have that model; but to cold smoke with this model - you setup the Bradley as you would to hot smoke, then when you want to cold smoke unhook the short cord that goes from the generator to the cabinet. The generator will work, and heat the bisquette burner to produce smoke.

Even after unhooking the short cord, you may find that the cabinet will still reach temperatures above the cold smoking range. To cold smoke you should keep the cabinet below 90F. I prefer to keep the cabinet around 70F. If you do a lot of cold smoking, you may find it worthwhile to purchase a cold smoker adapter.

Other Tips For Cold Smoking:
Move your food directly from the refrigerator to the smoker.
Smoke during the cooler times of the day.
Keep the smoker in a shaded area, and out of direct sunlight.
Place ice in a container that will hold the water when the ice melts, and place that in the cabinet.
Larger blocks of ice work better than ice cubes
Keep your vent wide open.
If heat builds up, you can open the door until the heat lowers.
You may need to crack the door to reduce heat. This can be done by wedging a pencil between the door and cabinet frame.

I'm sure there are other tips. Take some time to read some of the recipes in the Cold Smoking section.

[manxman]

 Welcome to the forum Royston.  :)

Good advice from Habs as always.

As someone who predominantly cold smokes on my original Bradley Smoker I would recommend investing in the Cold Smoker attachment if you plan on doing cold smoking on a regular basis, it makes life an whole lot easier, more efficient and safer in terms of achieving the correct temperatures in my opinion.

[manxman]

Back in the day a good number of people used this set up for cold smoking, safe as long as it is done properly as explained in the text. There is also a picture of the set up.

https://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=9044.0

Links to this method seem to have largely disappeared now that there is a proper Bradley Smoker accessory which is reasonably priced to be fair but it may be a way of getting started and seeing how much benefit you would get from purchasing such an add on?

[royston]

Thanks so much for the very informative replies people, it clarifies things really well and I appreciate it. Also the welcome greeting as well!! Think I might get the adapter, I love cold smoked salmon. Cheers!!

[manxman]

Something to maybe get you started plus mention of the original (Spyguy) cold smoked salmon method.  :) Also shows the sort of cold smoke set up you can use.

A couple of the links are no longer valid and some comments relate to the UK and are not relevant elsewhere but the other info may help cut out the trial and error I went through!  ;)

https://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=15312.0

I modified the method I use as per this link:

https://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=38459.msg429648#msg429648

I thoroughly recommend the whiskey glaze even if I do say so myself!  8)

[Habanero Smoker]

I forgot about those recipes. I'm going to make this in September. I just have to bring out my old Bradley, from storage. :)

[At]

I have used this process to cold smoke cheese. Unplug the cord from the smoker and just leave the puck unit plugged in. I left the door slightly open and placed a stainless container filled with ice cubes just below the cheese. I ran through three pucks and kept an eye on the temp so it wouldnt get above 90°. Place the smoked cheese in a ziploc bag and leave it in the fridge for a few days to let the smoke flavor permeate the cheese and it's good to go.
Heat will still generate from the smoke being generated so be careful.