smoke generator help

bohner

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Original poster

May 24, 2015

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• May 24, 2015

• #1

A bought a used smoker from a guy and we have tried smoking on it but it just doesn't seem to give the meat much smoke flavor.  It has an electric stove top element that creates the heat to start smoking the chips or dust for cold smoking.  It also has an oven element that creates heat for hot smoking.  In the smoke generator there is a fan on top that blows the smoke from the generator to the smoke house.  

I believe that the fan is to powerful and blows the smoke in to hard to let the smoke penetrate the meat.  

I will be at the smoker on Monday to update this with better pics and maybe if I can post it a video showing the air flow that it puts out.

 

bohner

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May 24, 2015

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• May 24, 2015

• #2

20141130_124802.jpg

• bohner
• May 24, 2015

 

bohner

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May 24, 2015

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• May 24, 2015

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20141130_125013.jpg

• bohner
• May 24, 2015

 

bill1

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Apr 25, 2015

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• May 30, 2015

• #4

more info and pics are probably needed to get the discussion going.  Are you wired to 120 or 240V with this?  What is the chimney/exhaust like?  What does the smoke coming out look like?  What temperatures are you generating inside?  Is the bucket in your picture to catch fat or to put wood?  

 

bohner

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May 24, 2015

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• May 30, 2015

• #5

I am wired 120/240v 120v is for the fan and stove top element and the 240v is for the oven element. The pot in the picture is for dust, underneath it is the drive element. Using just the stove element i can cold smoke, then to hot smoke i use the oven element. I can get the smoke up to 300. The cherry is a 6" chimney vented out of the smoke house. Sorry about not getting pictures i was busy seeding and didn't have time. I'm hoping to get done pics in a few days

 

daveomak

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• May 30, 2015

• #6

That is your typical commercial smoke generator.... You don't necessarily want a heavy smoke... light, thin smoke for several hours is what the commercial smokers did when I worked at them.... Smoke with cool temps, the meat surface dry.... use a fan to dry the meat... The smokers were usually fan forced air to uniformly smoke product and uniformly raise temps... the air flow inside the smoker seemed like a hurricane was blowing... the ductwork was huge...
Then the smoke is turned off and the product is cooked on a higher temperature until final internal temp is reached... sometimes they cook the food with high temp steam... then spray wash the product with cold water to cool it down... and wash off excess smoke...

 

daveomak

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• May 30, 2015

• #7

What is the size of your smokehouse.....

 

bohner

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May 24, 2015

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• May 30, 2015

• #8

The smoke house is 3'x3'x6'. Is there anyway to increase the amount of smoke flavor in the meat

 

daveomak

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• May 30, 2015

• #9

Slow down the fan.... get a fan speed controller.... You will have to determine if the motor and controller are compatible......

 

Last edited: May 30, 2015

bill1

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• May 30, 2015

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If the fan consumes less than 600 watts, this could be another approach to dialing it down: 

 

Or just try disconnecting the fan completely.  If it heats lower than it vents, it will develop its own draft.  

 

Last edited: May 30, 2015