Condensation

[lumpy]

Hi guys
I smoked 15 lbs of salmon just before xmas. (Kummoks method)The outside temp was around 5F. I had an unusual amount of water dripping out of the bottom (door side) of my BDS. I'm used to getting a little bit od water under normal outside temps but would the extreme cold have had something to do with the excess water dripping.
The water dish was filled up to my usual level, which is about 3/4 full. The vent was less than 1/4 open all the time.

Any ideas why?

Lumpy

[Habanero Smoker]

You need to open your vent more. Too much moisture is building up in your cabinet, this is do to a combination of having your vent closed too much, and the colder temperature. Also this moisture will keep your temperature down, though it wouldn't matter that much when smoking fish because you need the lower temperature any way. Use a wider vent opening, at least half open with a large load, after awhile, when a lot of the moisture has been expelled you may be able to us a smaller opening.

[lumpy]

All this time I thought that keeping the vent closed as much as posible to keep the temperature in and would cook faster.
Thanks for the info Hab!

I think I'll smoke something this week end.

Lumpy

[Smoking Duck]

I concur with Habs (come to think of it, I've never disagreed with him.  That's a much better ratio than with the wife :o)....I never really close the vent down to 1/2 at the very least and usually keep the vent wide open.  Everything still gets plenty of smoke even with the vent full open, IMO.

[pensrock]

Nothing to add, just agreeing with what has already been said. Its better to have the vent too far open than too far closed.

[KyNola]

Ditto ditto ditto.  Should never have water dripping out the bottom of the door.  Never less than half vent at my house.  Poultry, full vent no matter what time of year.  Cold ambient temp no matter what, open the vent wide.

KyNola

[Smokin Soon]

Lumpy, I made the same boo-boo on my first smoke and these fine folks here set me straight! I was lucky that my smoke generator was not damaged! Do not be shy about any questions, cause most of us have already made those boo-boo's