My 25$ smoke generator

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grilldad

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 30, 2013
71
19
Longview, WA.
I saw how to build one of these on youtube and had to make one for myself. I got the aquarium air pump at petco  for 21$ and picked up some copper fittings at Lowes. I already had some copper pipe and the cocktail shaker. I drilled a hole on the top and bottom of the shaker. Top hole was sized to fit the copper pipe through and the bottom hole is to light your chips and allow just enough air to get a good smoke. the venturi part at the top was simple, just a hole drilled in a pipe cap and small brass tube soldered inside so it clears the "T" and is centered inside the outer pipe. I left the back removable so I can play with the inner tube length to see what works best. With this pump I can control the output volume to get the right amount of smoke. I'm going to smoke some pepper jack and cheddar cheese tonight!



Ran both outlets into one for more output


Venturi nozzle


lighting hole


On low


On high

 
Nice! That is worthy of Scrap Iron Chef! 
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well The smoke generator pumped out smoke for over 4 hours but I took my cheese out after only 2. The cheese had a nice color to it and after it sets for a bit in the chill box I'll try it. Should be tasty though I used apple chips... If its good stuff I will make lots more for the holidays.
 
That looks very effective. What do you have inside the cocktail shaker? Do the pellets rest on a mesh or go straight to the bottom?
 
I must say that is very cool!!!! I have a couple smoke guns and they throw way too much smoke and have too small of a bowl for the chips to last very long.

I too am curious about the set up inside the shaker. Is there a way you can show it more detailed. Does the wood chips sit on anything? Do you think you could use pellets?

In your lighting hole picture it looks like there is another hole on the side of the shaker. Is that for more air flow?

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This is just way to cool not to make one!!!!
 
There is nothing inside the shaker. Just toss the chips in and light it up. I haven't tried pellets but I think it would work even better. The holes on the sides are for more air if you sit it on the ground the bottom hole will be covered up.
 
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Ok, here is more than likely a dumb question but what is the Venturi nozzle? Is this something you can buy at Lowes along with the rest of the copper pipe?
 
Ok, here is more than likely a dumb question but what is the Venturi nozzle? Is this something you can buy at Lowes along with the rest of the copper pipe?
The venturi nozzle is no more than a pipe fittings that you can get in the pluming section of any home improvement store. Just a pipe inside a pipe, moving air through the inner pipe will create a suction.
 
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The venture nozzle is no more than a pipe fittings that you can get in the pluming section of any home improvement store. Just a pipe inside a pipe, moving air through the inner pipe will create a suction.
Thanks, that's what I was hoping. It would be a fun project to make one of these.
 
I made one last night for work. It cost a bit more due to not having some of the parts already, but still not too hard on the pocket....

Thank you for sharing this!!!
 
Thanks. ..I wish I would have used the box from my daughters new Barbie jeep to make a big cheese smoke house but she wanted a play house instead. This little smoke generator will put out some smoke! I ran it on low and still Had to kink the airline a bit for this little box. But after the cheese was in for two hours I removed them and opened up the generator to see how long it would run wide open and it went for about 4.5 hours!
 
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