Cold Smoking Belly Airflow Tip

[Gizmo]

This is a tip for keeping the flow of smoke going out the top of the Bradley when force (using ice) cold smoking.

Cold Smoked a couple of Pork Bellies this morning.  Outside Temp was 80 and expecting to rise quickly (finish outside temp 105).  Wanted to keep the box temp well under 100 and wanted 4 hours of smoke.  Used the offset technique with a cardboard box.  Ice and water in the water bowl.  Aluminum tray in the bottom of the Bradley received a full load of Ice as well.  Bellies went in right out of the refrigerator.  I also had a small pork loin that needed to finish thawing (had been in refrigerator over night after removing from freezer) so I tossed it in as well to also help with cooling, and get some smoke flavor.

Box temp dropped from 80+ down to 69 deg quickly after closing up with ice and meat loaded.  Only problem is when the smoke was getting developed, it wanted to settle to the bottom of the cabinet and back into the cardboard box because the smoke was colder and not rising.  There was no wind, the smoke generator was on the ground, and fairly well blocked from any potential breeze.

To help force the smoke, I placed a small fan on the ground several feet from the smoke generator and angled it so it was not blowing directly on the smoke generator (and the inlet vents).  I adjusted it so the air bounced off the wall and only some of it would hit the generator.  This provided just enough airflow to keep the smoke from backing up into the generator but not blowing all the smoke out of the cabinet in the process.

I first tried to put the fan on top of the Bradley (near the edge to just generate an updraft) but it was too strong and I felt it was drawing too much smoke out.  I also wanted to minimize the amout of air going into the works as the air is hot.  After an hour, I was able to shut down the fan as a small breeze finally developed and took over the job nicely.