Stoopid NooB Questions

[AzJazz]

Hi!

I wanted to try cold smoking salmon (lox) and cheese with my Bradley Digital, and I had a few questions:

(1) Do I have to wait 'till winter? It's averaging around 105 Deg out here in Phoenix right now. What daily temperature should I be waiting for?

(2) What gives with the various "Rube Goldberg Machines" that I see people build in these Cold Smoking forums? Do I need to build something special to attach to my Bradley to cold smoke? I thought it is supposed to be good for cold smoking "out-of-the-box".

(3) Any suggested Lox cold-smoking/brining recipes you would recommend?

Thanks!

AzJazz

[Smoking Duck]

Azjazz,

I would say you would want to wait until winter time if you live in AZ.  105F is above what I consider cold-smoking weather.  I try to keep the cold-smoking at 60F or thereabouts.  Perhaps it gets down that low at nights but probably not.

You do not need to build any special box necessarily to cold-smoke.  I cold smoke with the smoke generator directly attached to the tower, but again, I wait until it is colder to do it.  The smoke generator will generally put your temp inside the box at around 75F which doesn't take into effect the ambient temp.  To do some cold smoking without having the smoke generator attached, thus reducing the temp inside the tower, you'd want a smoke box (which is simple to make; you can even use a cardboard box to do it).  It may be your only way to cold smoke at this time of year where you live.

Here you go with regards to recipes:

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=103

Someone else will chime in here if I've messed up or to add more info.

Welcome and good luck!

SD

[La Quinta]

Az...first off welcome!! I feel your pain on the cold smoking. I live out near Palm Springs...and I have only been able to cold smoke in fall and winter...but...lemme tell ya...the results are well worth the wait...just do a boat load...vac seal...and freeze for summer. Duck pointed you to the recipe site on lox (and perhaps cheese, didn't go to the link) but...in our temps...even to off-set the smoke unit is not that realistic until it cools down a bit. Our lows in the middle of the night are still in the 80's. But...look on the bright side...when you fire that sucker up in warm temps...gets hot way faster then our cold weather friends!!!  :)

PS...I had to mooch cold smoked cheese from Gizmo earlier in the year  :)...gonna have to repay he and his wife somehow!! Lots of really good people on here...get to know them!!

[Habanero Smoker]

I find if I don't detach the box my smoker will get up to 150°F, and if the sun is shining on it, it can get up to 185°F. As long as you can keep the interior of the cabinet below 90°F (70°F-80°F is better), you will be alright for lox. Other things that can help keep the cabinet down is to leave the vent wide open, leave the door slightly ajar, and/or add ice in the cabinet.

Generally if the ambient temperature is over 80°F, I will need to add ice in the cabinet. I have never attempted to smoke when the temperature was above 85°F, and generally do my cold smoking in the early morning or late evening hours. In cooler weather I can smoke during the day, as long as I keep the cabinet out of direct sunlight, or smoke on overcast days.

This is the cold smoke setup with a Cardboard Box. I use this setup with no problems.