Cold Smoking/ dryer hose

julian · October 03, 2003, 10:18:05 PM

In a post someone suggested using aluminium dryer hose, great suggestion, but what happens to the hot ash from the biscs, do you cut a hole to allow them to fall out or just let them accumalte in the pipe and hope they dont damage the smoke unit?.
I have done / and am doing some smoked salmon and the temp always goes too high to get the shiny near see through texture of real smoked salmon. any ideas ?. regards Julian

Chez Bubba · October 07, 2003, 10:46:07 PM

Julian,

Have you tried putting icecubes instead of water in your water pan? Also make sure your smoker is in the shade, not out in the sun.

http://www.chezbubba.com

woodpen62 · October 14, 2003, 05:22:25 PM

Julian:

I have found that if you put a bowl of ice on the bottom shelf it will cool the smoke right down. Be sure to use a metal bowl as this conducts the cold better. Also keep your top vent open. [}:)]

michel · November 13, 2003, 04:30:00 PM

cold smoke

i have been experimenting a lot to cold smoke salmon and it is impossible with the bradley smoker as it is designed now to keep inside temperature of the smoker around 80 degrees F or 25 celsius.
This is the temp at which salmon should be smoked if you want to achieve the same results as you expect when you order smoked slamon in a restaurant.

to solve the problem I have attached the smoke generator to a used stainless steel tub and running an aluminum dryer hose to the smoker
gets me perfect results.

I sell the finished product in my restaurant in Quebec city and I get rave reviews
I dry cure it for 24 hrs and after washing the salt,sugar and spices from the salmon i brush it with a mixture of equal part of port wine maple syrup and water, smoke it for 4 to 6 hrs to taste

julian · November 14, 2003, 06:56:37 AM

thanks Michel, sounds like a sound idea, will give it a try, what is the name of ytour restaurant, next time i am in Quebec City i will agive it a try,
Julian..

BOOKER · January 05, 2004, 09:02:10 PM

I have been using a smoker which I can consistanly get 110-120 f out of. I am looking at the Bradley smoker.I would like to cold smoke lox so I need 80-90 f fairly consistantly . Can any of you guys tell me based on your experience if I can achieve this with a Bradley smoker??
also can any one tell me what your min-max temps on these units are.
Thanks !!! Booker

CheapThrills · January 06, 2004, 10:51:48 PM

Hi All
I have have cold smoked sockeye,pinks and arctic char. Another forum member told me how to keep the smoke cool. Build a dummy box and put the smoke generator in it, run a flexable dryer hose out the top of the box. Put the Bradley about 3 feet higher than the generator. I put the Bradley up on a table and the generator on the floor. Works good. I have also found that if I wait for the ambient air temp to drop to below -4C, I can get away with using the Bradley and the generator the proper way with the bowl full of ice cubes.

Chez Bubba · January 07, 2004, 02:42:09 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by BOOKER
 I have been using a smoker which I can consistanly get 110-120 f out of. I am looking at the Bradley smoker.I would like to cold smoke lox so I need 80-90 f fairly consistantly . Can any of you guys tell me based on your experience if I can achieve this with a Bradley smoker??
also can any one tell me what your min-max temps on these units are.
Thanks !!! Booker
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Booker,

In my experience the Bradley unit will only produce about 50 degrees F plus ambient temp if you have the heat disconnected & are only using the smoke generator. This can change by about 20 degrees if it is sunny & no wind.

I have never smoked lox & don't know how long it needs to smoke, what I've cold smoked has only been 2-4 hours. Maybe the temp can increase more than my experience if you have to do it for a lot longer time and you're a good boy & don't open the door every hour to check on it!

Cheapy, nice to "see" you again. You've got the right idea with the ice thing, it will work wonders on the hotter days.

http://www.chezbubba.com

BOOKER · January 20, 2004, 02:40:46 PM

HEY,THANKS FOR THE INFO, i JUST DID AN EXCELLENT !!! BATCH ON THE WEEKEND OF LOX,i PURCHASED A BRADLEY HOWEVER AFTER TESTING COULD NOT KEEP THE TEMP BEOW 100 F . i NEED 70-90 F . i PURCHASED A PIECE OF SPLIT RIGID METAL TUBING ,ALMOST LIKE STOVEPIPE FROM HOME DEPOT, IT IS APPROX 4 FEET LONG,I HOOKED THAT UP BETWEEN THE SMOKER UNIT AND THE BOX AND WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN AN EVEN 80F. THE AMBIENT HERE IS -10 DEGREES C. i WILL BE ANXIOUS TO TRY THIS IN THE SUMMER TO SEE IF i CAN MAINTAIN THE PROPER TEMP FOR COLD SMOKING.

CheapThrills · January 20, 2004, 05:37:09 PM

I cold smoked 8 humpback fillets yesterday.1 pound fillets. I think that pinks smoke up nice. Actually I am glad I have found a use for pinks. You can buy whole frozen pinks for 5 bucks.The texture is very pate like. I smoked them for 12 hours. I used party ice in the bowl. You have to babysit the whole time as you have to put new ice in the bowl every hour. I used 10 pounds of ice. I tried big chunks of ice in the bowl and it does not work as well as the party ice or ice cubes. I also kept the draft open. The ambient air was just above freezing. Next I am buying a remote thermometer. Right now I am using a dairy thermometer, they read very low temps. The brine I use for this amount of fish is 1 and a half cups of kosher salt, 2 cups demerara sugar, pressed garlic,dill, and 1 and a half gallons of water. I brined them for 12 hours. The night before the smoking I air dried them all night in the cold room on racks with a small fan blowing on them. Today I am smoking atlantic salmon, which are not really salmon they are more closley related to trout. I think atlantics taste just like brook trout.

Chez Bubba · January 21, 2004, 03:11:40 AM

OK, I'm really at a loss now. The only time I've cold smoked and the temp neared 100d F was when we were invited to cook at a cooking college and it was indoors at 70d F ambient.

Do you guys (& gals) slide the rheostat all the way to the left?

If so, have you tried unplugging the smoke box from the smoke generator? I haven't experienced it but one of our customers claimed that if you don't, the bulb will still produce heat. It's on my "gotta check out next time list".

I cold smoked duck breast for 3 1/2 hours. During that time the temp never got above 85d F. I had the water bowl full of cubed ice & only changed it once. Don't know what to say, but it is only my experience.

Happy smokin' all,

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com

CheapThrills · January 23, 2004, 11:28:08 PM

[?]I just had the worst luck cold smoking atalntic salmon fillets. I cold smoked them for 18 hours and they were so oily! So I decided to hot smoke them. I gradually incearsed the temp. starting at 80 degrees to 140. I hot smoked for 8 hours. Too long. The fish is dry. So what now. Nothing. I will probably huck them out. My depression lasted for a day. Now I am about to move on. I still have 15 pounds of atlantic salmon fillets to deal with. I am wondering if instead of laying the fillets on the racks, I hang them vertically using wire to hook them to the undersides of the racks. I am thinking that by hanging the fish during the cold smoke process that the oil will drip, kinda like a natural trough. Before I do this I need feed back. I love the forum, has been a great inspiration for me. The people that have answered my letters are nice. The smoker world is certaily interesting. [:X]

buck5611 · June 07, 2004, 04:27:55 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by michel
 cold smoke

i have been experimenting a lot to cold smoke salmon and it is impossible with the bradley smoker as it is designed now to keep inside temperature of the smoker around 80 degrees F or 25 celsius.
This is the temp at which salmon should be smoked if you want to achieve the same results as you expect when you order smoked slamon in a restaurant.

to solve the problem I have attached the smoke generator to a used stainless steel tub and running an aluminum dryer hose to the smoker
gets me perfect results.

I sell the finished product in my restaurant in Quebec city and I get rave reviews
I dry cure it for 24 hrs and after washing the salt,sugar and spices from the salmon i brush it with a mixture of equal part of port wine maple syrup and water, smoke it for 4 to 6 hrs to taste

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">[?]
ichel can you tell me where in Quebec city you buy your bisquettes for the Bradley smoker? Thanks. Carol

BrentK · June 07, 2004, 05:53:03 PM

I smoked chedder ans swiss chees the other day. The temp in the smoker never got above 60 F. I used to temp sensors to verify the temp results just for my own knowledge. I put ice in the bowl and two more bread pans of ice on the lowest rack. Outside temp was about 55 F and I had only the smoke generator on.

The cheese was great!

BrentK
Grand Forks, ND

Oldman · June 08, 2004, 06:06:48 AM

Not to jack this thread, but cold smoke what a joke....I live in Florida! When it is 90F plus outside the only thing cold is the beer in my hand! Even then you better drink it quick. [:D]

I have thought about cooling the smoke in a secondary box with an small A/C unit.... however with my luck I would make the smoke too cold and it would fall to the bottom of the box.