Smoking a 22# Ham and 24# Ham this Weekend!

[Arrow'em and Smoke'em]

Butchered a hog a couple weeks ago and I have a 22# and a 24# ham in the brine. Me and my buddy are going to put our Bradley smokers to work this weekend. Start to finish it should be 36-hours of entertainment! They go in the smoker Friday evening and I will try to keep pictures posted through the weekend.

[ghost9mm]

We'll be awatchin... :D

[Arrow'em and Smoke'em]

Hams in the brine in a cooler. Temperature of brine 35.2 degrees F.
Roll over every 24-hours....they want to float a little.

[love the smoke]

wheres this octopus of wires and this $10,000 controller ?

LTS

Frankensmoker ?

[Arrow'em and Smoke'em]

That was going to be a suprise! For everyone else here is the scoop. The smoker is going to have PID control of the heating element using a really expensive industrial control system called DeltaV. I have calibrated (4) industrial temperature transmitters to monitor the smoker temperature and the internal temperature of the ham in a few locations. All these measurements connect into the DeltaV system. The output of the control system will use time-proportioning control of a solid-state relay to manipulate the duty cycle of the heating element. All this will be interfaced to my laptop with a graphical interface, including graphical trending of all temperatures, so I can watch what is going on and adjust the software-based PID controller settings if necessary. Over-kill??? Yep! Why? Because I am bored and it will help pass the 36-hours waiting for the ham to get finished.

[GusRobin]

when I did one a while back I just drank Gentleman Jack and Bud light for the 30 hours.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sounds like quite a setup.

Even though you are turning the hams every 24 hours, you should weigh them down so that they are fully submerged. By the looks of you cooler you can do this by placing a small rimmed sheet pan over the hams, and add a few heavy plates. But continure to turn them, and stir it up some at the same time.

[ankorklankor]

when I did one a while back I just drank Gentleman Jack and Bud light for the 30 hours.

I like this method of smoker monitoring.  ;D

[beefmann]

cant wait

[ArnieM]

That sounds like quite a system!  But, you forgot one thing -

EATIN' IT!

[viper125]

I do like to open the door once in a while. Not so much to look as my chimney does such a good job I don't get the great aroma otherwise. LOL

[Arrow'em and Smoke'em]

Tomorrow night we go. The smoker is all rigged up to the DeltaV DCS control system and I tuned the PID loop tonight. Going to monitor and control the smoker temperature, monitor the meat in two locations, and monitor the outside temperature for the heck of it. I will have a graphical display of all this on the laptop, real-time and will be able to switch to the historian to see what all the temperatures have done over the approximately 36 hours. My wife thinks I am crazy.....probably true.

[squirtthecat]

Looking forward to pictures of the 10 million dollar hams!

[mikecorn.1]

You got any pics of this so called Delta Force, Navy Seal, Special Forces, Recon calibrating thingamajig ya talking bout. :D :eek:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Arrow'em and Smoke'em]

The ham is hanging!!!

Transmitters sending temps to DeltaV

Computer screen displaying internal and external temps, Software-based PID controller on the right of screen.
Another screen graphs the trends of all temperatures and the duty cycle of the heating element.

DeltaV rack to interface sensors and transmitters to the graphical interface and trending on the laptop.
I am pretty jacked and this is totally unnecessary but fun in a really nerdy way!
BTW........I teach this stuff at a college and we started Christmas break today. 2-weeks of smokin and eatin!!!!