COLS SMOKE ADAPTER

Sailor · November 06, 2011, 08:13:41 AM

Nice build on the box. Look very nice.

Quote from: viper125 on November 05, 2011, 06:45:19 PM
Plywood does have some nasty chemicals. But have seen many smokers made from them. Haven't heard or seen any one hurt because of it. But the dryer wood gets the lower the flash point. I have know them to burst into flames even at low temps. So be careful!

viper you are correct that wood can get a lower flash point. Pyrophoric carbon can and will ignite at a temperature as low as 170 degrees F. To get this type of build up you will have to have the wood exposed to heat for an extended period of time. I am not convinced that using a wood box for a cold smoker is going to have the heat and extended time to create pyrophoric carbon.

I built a cardboard box with the smoke vent offset of the puck burner. I even had the vent attachement set down into the cold smoker 4 inches hoping to trap the heat before it rolled down the 4 inches to get to the chimney. What I found is that the ambient air was 77 degrees and when I fired the SG the cabinet temp climbed to 96 degrees. After 1 hr the cabinet temp climbed to 101 and held. I was getting lots of heat coming into the cabinet from the generator. This is not a problem for those that live in the cold north as you need that heat. Living in Florida I need to really cool the smoke. I put an ice pan on the bottom rack and got the temp to 75 degrees. Had to run the heating element to get the cabinet temp to 85 for my cheese smoke.

I am thinking that I will build a box that has a metal top where I can place as pan of ice to wick the heat before it goes up the chimney.

mrphilips · November 06, 2011, 10:26:37 AM

thanks for some knoweldable confirmation!
first - the length of the metal pipe will greatly reduce the heat going to the chamber... the longer it is, the more chance it gets to radiate and be absorbed by the metal, so there's a factor as well...

BUT i like where you're going with the metal top... i still don't want to work with tin, but you've given me an idea:
perhaps my buddy with the jig-saw can cut me a loaf-tin sized hole in the top that i can wedge a loaf-tin into and fill with ice... the metal would absorb heat and i could drop ice cubes into it to cool the interior of the chamber.

will look into that after a my test-burn gives me the actual results

viper125 · November 06, 2011, 02:34:10 PM

Or build a shelf above the burner for a low side pan to sit with ice. Small enough for smoke to wick around. The ice and pan should catch the heat and smoke should continue on.

mrphilips · November 19, 2011, 09:27:29 AM

so, here's the completed unit with loaf-tin installed and the access door open...

...generator fits snugly against the one side...

...complete setup with elevated smoke-chamber...

...and the results:

the weather man said it was 11C/52F out.
my maverick told me it was 15C/59F... perhaps cause everything had just come out of the warm house.
anyway, i'm still on the thrid floor and it was - again - a windy day, but after 30min to warm up the generator and an hour of smoking, the cold-smoke adapter got up to 44C/112F and the chamber got up to 22C/72F.

by my calculations, that's an increase of only 7C/13F in the chamber. technically too cold to smoke cheese (which i've read is best at 32C/90F), but i could heat the baby up before hand i think...
in the summer, the temp should be perfect.
and i feel pretty secure that the adaptor-chamber is not getting too hot at all, so that's good news.

now, as i said, it was windy and the wind across the top the smoke chamber was causing some back-flow... but only a wee bit. considering the weather, i think that's ok. there's smoke leakage around the aluminum pipe up at the chamber and some around the loaf-tin, but again... not much at all.

perhaps i didn't need the loaf-tin... after the fire i had, i was feeling cautious!

Sailor · November 19, 2011, 09:33:21 AM

I like the cold smoke adapter with the tin. I have been playing around with this idea in my head. Have you put ice in the pan to see how much head it takes out of the smoke? I bet that if you put ice in the pan that your Bradley chamber temp will be close to or lower than the ambient outside temp.

Quarlow · November 19, 2011, 09:40:34 AM

Did I miss something. You said you had a fire?

mrphilips · November 19, 2011, 10:06:52 AM

Quote from: Sailor on November 19, 2011, 09:33:21 AM
I like the cold smoke adapter with the tin. I have been playing around with this idea in my head. Have you put ice in the pan to see how much head it takes out of the smoke? I bet that if you put ice in the pan that your Bradley chamber temp will be close to or lower than the ambient outside temp.

hello sailor...

... the simple answer is no. but yes, that's the whole plan.
well, half the plan.
muebe was using copper heat sinks on his get-up, and i figured the insulating factor of plywood would be greater than his aluminum pipes, so i feared it would get too hot.
someone (sorry - ferget who) mentioned using metal somewhere in the construction, which sparked my idea... so the tin has a dual purpose: a heat sink to decrease the heat by simple conduction, and also an option to go the extra step and fill it with ice!

i haven't tried it like that yet... the temp in the chamber seemed fine for the peppercorns i was smoking, but i figure the option to ice the chamber will help when cold-smoking fish and cheese, depending on the ambient.

i'm not 100% on my snuff, but i think there's optimum absorbtion-based temperatures for different foods, and i may have actually over-cooled it... most recipes i see say to smoke cheese at 85-95F.

mrphilips · November 19, 2011, 10:12:57 AM

Quote from: Quarlow on November 19, 2011, 09:40:34 AM
Did I miss something. You said you had a fire?

yup, :-[ ...
i put minor details up in the thread a few pages back.
basically, my BPS with cardboard-box adapter worked a few times and i got configdent and careless, and when 1 minute it was fine, the next it was alight.
i lost the cardboard box (no biggie), a temperature probe, the barbeque cover (remarkably, the barbeque was fine), an aluminum pipe, did some serious work to my BPS generator after the dry-chem fire-extinguisher was used, a massive clean-up, minor damage to the deck, no sex for about 2 days (she doesn't like wildfires) and as a renter... well, i lost about a year of my life over the stress.

anyhoo, i built a new adaptor quickly to smoke the 6lbs of sausage i had made the day before and the three racks of cheese, but new from that point on i was a) done with the propane smoker (never worked well anyway) and b) needed a better adaptor.

today i am happy and my wife loves me :D

Sailor · November 19, 2011, 10:14:12 AM

I am not expert on cheese but I think I read where cheese should be between 80 and 90 degrees as anything over 90 may melt it. When I did my load of cheese I had a big pan of ice on the lower rack and the temp was around 75. I hooked up my PID and maintained 85 degrees using the element. I am betting that the Ice in your bread pan will cool the cabinet temp down. I am going to build one like yours I think. Really would be interested in seeing how much yours cools down if you put ice in it. I want to be able to smoke cheese when the outside temp is in the 90's and Ice in the cabinet and in the adapter might just be the ticket for me to drop the temp down 5 to 10 degrees.

mrphilips · November 19, 2011, 10:27:40 AM

it should probably work for you exactly as you're suggesting... and all in all, even if you didn't have the wood lying around, not a pricey or difficult set up at all. yay home depot.

with everything i've tried thus far, and everything i've snooped in the forum... and all the sage advice from all my forum friends, or course - i think this is the best set up for me.
muebe's was awesome, but i needed something "tighter" due to the airflow needs within the set up and the windiness of living 30 feet above street level, and this box has more or less done it.
(a little leakage here and there... haven't solved that yet. suggestions appreciated)

tell ya what, i'll head down to florida and watch you build yours for a week or two. i'll pass the beer. and pretend to feel badly for your excessive ambient temps... ;D

and to be completely honest with you, i've smoked cheese with the cardboard adaptor and propane smoker a number of times, sometimes too cold (low 70s), sometimes too hot (high 90s), and it's always deliscious. i think we're talking about true optimum's here, not mandatories. obviously, too hot and it'll sweat and then melt, but i'm not sure how bad too cold really gets.

as big of an issue for me was the fact that the BPS produces massive amounts of steam when the propane burns. the chamber practically rained in there, and everything was dripping wet afterwards and needed to dry out before being put away. definitly happy to leave that unit at the cottage and move on to the OBS

Sailor · November 19, 2011, 10:44:06 AM

To seal up your pan you might go to Home Depot and get some round plastic that is used to secure screen. I bet you could wrap it at the top where the lip is and then force down and you would get a seal.

mrphilips · November 19, 2011, 11:37:33 AM

i know the stuff... sorta soft plastic stuff. could work and i doubt the heat/chemicals would be a problem as it's essentially outside of the box, or just barely in contact with the inner air.

as for sealing the aluminum tube where it enters the chamber... i guess a few wraps of dish towel or something would work. the only fear of ignition would be if i did end up turning on the chamber too to raise the heat, but it could probably still be done safely.

i shall tweak and repost.