The New Project Cold Smoker

[Fisher]

Hi all...

I'm building a cold smoker and could use some help.



The Cooling Box 6 X 9 X 12 inches will be attached to the Bradley Generator with two Bufallo Heat Pipe CPU Coolers.  Above the Cooling box will be three 2-3/4 inch fans exhausting out of the cabinet.

See above.


The dimensions of the Cooling Box.

See below.





I'm not sure where to put the two heat sinks and the 5 inch Flex discharge pipe.

Here are some pictures as we all like pictures.  Some time pictures are better than a thousand words.



The Heat Sink and the Smoke Pipe on top of the Cooling Box. A hole will be cut out for the pucks to drop through.



This is just a draft setup. I hope we can see the built Cooling Box in are minds to see what I'm getting at.








Not sure if the Flex pipe should be directly above the hotplate or off to the right of the hotplate, also not sure of the heat sink placement.

I hope this is understandable. If so your thoughts will be appreciated. :)

Later Fisher...

[Mr Walleye]

Very cool project Fisher!

Because heat naturally rises I would put the heat sink directly above the puck burner and have the exhaust over to the right. That would give the heat sink an opportunity to take away some of the heat before it goes through the exhaust and up to the smoker.

The only thing in your plans that I don't see, unless I'm over looking it, is an intake vent for the smoke generator. If you have an enclosed box that you are venting with your 3 fans you are going to need intake air otherwise you could create a down draft situation.

The other thing you might consider is having the spent puck bowl, or preferably larger pan, inside the enclosed box for the puck burner hot plate. This way if you choose to use another form of wood chips for a specific project you could.

Great looking project.

Mike

[NePaSmoKer]

That is cool.

[SamuelG]

Very nice!


SamuelG

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[beefmann]

very cool project,  I  would increase the  height of the box to match the height of the smoke generator  because of the weight of the cold smoking box  causing the smoke generator to tip, also need to consider the weight  of the heat sinks, and duct work,  and place the bowl inside ,, then add a door and place the bowl inside.

second idea is add  support legs to the far end of the box to prevent the  unit  from tipping then cut a  hole for the bowl under the puck burner


good  luck

[Fisher]

Very cool project Fisher!

Because heat naturally rises I would put the heat sink directly above the puck burner and have the exhaust over to the right. That would give the heat sink an opportunity to take away some of the heat before it goes through the exhaust and up to the smoker.

The only thing in your plans that I don't see, unless I'm over looking it, is an intake vent for the smoke generator. If you have an enclosed box that you are venting with your 3 fans you are going to need intake air otherwise you could create a down draft situation.

The other thing you might consider is having the spent puck bowl, or preferably larger pan, inside the enclosed box for the puck burner hot plate. This way if you choose to use another form of wood chips for a specific project you could.

Great looking project.

Mike

Thanks Mike for your thoughts.... I was going in the same direction too, with the heat sink above the puck burner and exhaust to the right. I should have been clearer on the lower cabinet with the three fans and the shelves to the right for the rack rotation. The left, right and back side of the cabinet will be closed in, with the front wide open.  I do like the idea of a totally closed cooling box with the pan inside with a door.

[Fisher]

very cool project,  I  would increase the  height of the box to match the height of the smoke generator  because of the weight of the cold smoking box  causing the smoke generator to tip, also need to consider the weight  of the heat sinks, and duct work,  and place the bowl inside ,, then add a door and place the bowl inside.

second idea is add  support legs to the far end of the box to prevent the  unit  from tipping then cut a  hole for the bowl under the puck burner


good  luck

Thanks beefmann for your thoughts.  I like the idea of the cooling box with the bowl inside look like you and Mike are on the same page with that. I was trying to get away from using a door. Plans can be changed as you see this is only a draft setup. It was great that you picked up on the missing legs I forgot to draw them in when I drew up the plan.

[TomW]

Um... I marvel at your planning process and interest in getting it "just right"...however, what's wrong with a simple, air cooled, Bradley cold smoker box and 5" pipe?  It works as advertised, and leaves you time to solve world hunger...<grin>

[devo]

That thing looks like it can fly to the moon  ;D

[Fisher]

Um... I marvel at your planning process and interest in getting it "just right"...however, what's wrong with a simple, air cooled, Bradley cold smoker box and 5" pipe?  It works as advertised, and leaves you time to solve world hunger...<grin>

Tom...Nothing wrong with a simple cooling box. Being retired and the heat sinks and fans in a the junk box. I thought I would build something with this accumulating junk in the garage. It's good to stay busy when retired. It is to easy to just go out and buy a simple air cooled box.

[Keymaster]

I'd like to have an hour in your junk box ;D Very cool concept :)

[TomW]

I'd like to have an hour in your junk box ;D Very cool concept :)

I understand it well... nothing like a good project to keep the energy up!.  Please post a complete tutorial when you get done!  I might need a project in a few years.

Tom

[viper125]

I'd like to have an hour in your junk box ;D Very cool concept :)

I understand it well... nothing like a good project to keep the energy up!.  Please post a complete tutorial when you get done!  I might need a project in a few years.

Tom

Don't know if you could ever get it cold enough in Texas! LOL

[Fisher]

Hi I finely got some work done on the cold smoke project.  Sorry I took so long to add to the post.  I had so much going the last month.

I did a dry run with just the hotplate, heat sinks and exhaust fans on.  The outside/room temperature was 73F.

I will soon be doing the smoke run.

Here are the results of the heat run In a 5 minute interval and some Pictures.

Note: The cabinet temperatures is starting to stabilize at 55 minutes.

In Fahrenheit      Start Temp   5 Min   10 min   15 Min   20 Min   25 Min   30 Min   35 Min   40 Min   45 Min   50 Min   55 Min   60 Min
                                          
Cooling Box Temp   66   69   75   83   87   89   91   91   92   92   93   93   93
                                          
Flex Pipe Temp   66   70   79   86   90   91   93   95   95   97   97   97   97
                                          
DBS Cabinet Temp   68   68   68   70   73   75   77   79   81   82   82   84   84
                                          
DBS Sensor Temp   65   65   65   66   68   70   72   74   74   75   75   77   77
on the Generator                                       



5 minutes into the Temp test. The top number 75F is the Flex Pipe Temp and the bottom number 68F is the Temperature at the second rack from the top.



5 minutes 65F DBS sensor.









20 minutes in with the cabinet 73F. When the first puck would have dropped.



93F inside the cooling box one hour into the temp test.



Cabinet temp 84F one hour into the test and looks like the temp stabled.

I also received the Auber PID the other day and also ran a test. I had a high deviation in temperature so I ran the Auto Tune, wow the Auto Tune sure held the set-point but very slow to recover set-point after 4F change so I looked at the auto tune results and found the Integral was 998 witch was strange because the range is 0-900 and the derivative was 499, the range their is 0-300 so I did a manual tune. 

Well I have to go now I will post the results of the smoke run.  I'm looking forward to see how the puck burn results turn out.

And a Happy New Year To All

[Drac]

Looks great.  If I may ask a couple questions.  Being a computer geek did you add any of the silver paster on the heat sinks?  For CPUs it makes a big differance.  Also does the fan blowing the hot air from the fins onto the pipe heat it back up some?

Jim