Another MES Mod - Cold Smoker Assist!!

[tallbm]

Well guys the mod(s) are being tested right now but I ran into an issue where it is harder to see the smoke than I anticipated hahaha. I know things are working because there is no lingering smoke coming out of my mailbox mod and elbow joint connected to the MES.
Last time I cold smoked, the smoke lingered and slowly moved from the mailbox mod into the MES and I could easily see smoke leaking out of the mailbox mod and the elbow joint.

Also I think my other convection fan mod is really contributing to sucking the smoke into the MES from the mailbox mod and AMNPS with it's stirring functionality, while the top blower fan is doing a good job of making sure there is a draft to then suck the smoke OUT of the MES. It seems there is a combo effect going on.

I tried putting the fan so it blows over the MES vent and I think it worked some but hard to tell and see the smoke with a sideways draft.

I then quickly taped the fan up in a rig like jwed980's and it definitely is working. It is working much better than the other approach because I can see smoke in the sky and I can actually see TBS every now and again coming from the cardboard column!
Additionally the TBS is coming out at a rate that is really no different than when I hot smoke with only 1 AMNPS row being burned (I am only burning 1 row of Alder now).

There was no need for me to reduce fan speed at all. We were all discussing the 10.3 CFM of the fan but I think that would only take affect if the fan was actually blowing INTO the MES. With a draft being created opposite direction of the MES internal volume I think that 10.3 CFM is not nearly possible from blowing away from the internal volume of the MES. Translation: Using the blower to help draft air out of the MES by blowing up and away is NOT NEARLY as strong as the 10.3 CFM that would occur if the blower were blowing into the MES to circulate air.

Other items of note:

-Temp in the MES is holding about 10-12 degrees higher than outside temp. It is 40-42 degrees outside and internal temp of MES is holding around 52.5 - 52.7F. The heat from the AMNPS pellets is adding no more than 10 degrees if that is really what is happening at all.

-I used a steel scrubbie as a filter in the elbow joint of my mailbox mod. I wanted to try and filter as much creosote as I could in case smoke was going to linger inside the MES... which dos not seem to be the case so far.

I will do a more detailed and better organized summary post in the future. I will even post some pics of the mod and what TBS I could capture coming out of it. As it stands right now the blower fan tube approach is working like a charm :)

 

[motocrash]

Success! Nice man!

 

[jwed980]

Awesome!

Good observation. You are correct-the airflow being sucked from the MES is much less than the 10.3 cfm of your blower.

The cardboard tube vacuum experiment in the following link does a good job of describing the basics of why this works.

https://woodgears.ca/physics/venturi.html

Have fun, and thanks for sharing.

-John

 

[tallbm]

Ok another report.

So I unpulgged the blower tube mod and everything is still working well.

Also the temp was starting to inch upwards so I filled a gallon ziplock bag full of ice and put it in the smoker to stop the increase of temp and drive it down slowly. It is working so so far so good.

I have a feeling that the with the temp being warmer inside the MES than outside AND the fact that I left the cardboard chimney over the vent (with the blower unplugged) physics is keeping the flow going strong! Well that and maybe my convection fan mod inside the smoker is helping too :D

In any case I still feel like the blower tube mod helped get the ball rolling and now it isn't stopping :)

 

[dr k]

I'm going to put a bag of ice on the mailbox/pipe next cold smoke.
-Kurt

 

[tallbm]

I'm going to put a bag of ice on the mailbox/pipe next cold smoke.
-Kurt

I'm curious to see what that does for you. Just keep an eye on it to make sure the bag doesn't melt and spill out :)

 

[dr k]

I'm curious to see what that does for you. Just keep an eye on it to make sure the bag doesn't melt and spill out :)

Mr T suggested putting ice on the mailbox/pipe. Last summer The IR therm gun read 120*F on top of the mailbox with the Amnps going for over an hour. Les Stroud, Survival Man boiled water in a plastic bag over a camp fire so the mailbox should be ok. I'll put a thin dish towel on the mailbox first and wet it so plastic won't stick to the mailbox. I got a feeling I'll be going through a lot of ice unless I can mould a bag with water in it before freezing so it stays on the mailbox. The Pecan dust should be cooler than the pellets.
-Kurt

 

[Braz]

Here is my approach. I pirated a cooling fan from an old PC and wired it through a 3-12 volt variable power supply. After a test I added the "legs" in order to reduce the suction effect somewhat. It works a treat for cold smoking running at around 5v.

 

[tallbm]

Here is my approach. I pirated a cooling fan from an old PC and wired it through a 3-12 volt variable power supply. After a test I added the "legs" in order to reduce the suction effect somewhat. It works a treat for cold smoking running at around 5v.

That is awesome! It is simple and it seems to work well.

My first approach was going to be like that but after the discussion on here I decided to go with a different design so my fan wouldn't get sticky and seize up at some point in the future. If I had a pirated fan I would have gone that route but had to buy one online so figured I would try and make it last forever lol

So on scale of 1 (no real help) to 5 (extremely helpful) how would you say your cold smoker fan helped out?

 

[Braz]

I guess on that scale I'd give it a 4, only because I haven't used it long enough to see if it will get smoke gunky and fail. (I have another old PC that has two fans in it so I'm not too concerned about a fan failure.)

Before I added the fan when I'd cold smoke the box would fill with thick smoke and just seem to sit there. I didn't like that because it seemed like the meat was just getting creosoted instead of smoked. I was always having to put heat in to get a draft going. I also had occasional problems with my AMPS going out, I suspect from lack of draft. With the fan running relatively slowly it only pulls a little draft but it seems enough to keep the AMPS going and to keep the smoke moving through the box. I take the chip loader out completely, by the way.

 

[tallbm]

I guess on that scale I'd give it a 4, only because I haven't used it long enough to see if it will get smoke gunky and fail. (I have another old PC that has two fans in it so I'm not too concerned about a fan failure.)

Before I added the fan when I'd cold smoke the box would fill with thick smoke and just seem to sit there. I didn't like that because it seemed like the meat was just getting creosoted instead of smoked. I was always having to put heat in to get a draft going. I also had occasional problems with my AMPS going out, I suspect from lack of draft. With the fan running relatively slowly it only pulls a little draft but it seems enough to keep the AMPS going and to keep the smoke moving through the box. I take the chip loader out completely, by the way.

Fantastic info!

 

[tallbm]

Ok guys I am finally getting around posting about my little makeshift device to assist with cold smoking. See the images here!

The device is a Hunts Spaghetti sauce can with the top and bottom removed, cardboard then wrapped around the can and duct taped to make a chimney.
I then took cardboard and taped it to the blower portion of the fan to make "spout" which I then cut at an angle to go into the cardboard chimney.
I then cut a rectangle into the cardboard chimney and married up the fan and the chimney and duct taped it flush. Now the blower blows into the chimney at an upward angle to create the flow of air that will pull the smoke/air from the MES vent when the whole contraption is put over the MES vent.
I used an old 12 volt (.850A) plug that could handle the Amperage pull of the 12V blower fan (.2A) and butt spliced the wires together then taped over the connector with blue duct tape.


The device worked greatly and I actually didn't need it for the entire smoke.

In the past the smoke lingered and didn't seem to want to come out of my MES vent so easily... very much the opposite of a hot smoke.

The first hour of the smoke the device was instrumental in keeping the smoke flowing. Also the smoke was very thin and hardly visible.

After about 2 hours into my 4 hour cold smoke the smoke was much more visible and flowing with ease.
I got the idea to unplug the device and low and behold it kept chugging right along. I left the device/chimney over the MES vent and I think that helped keep things going without the fan creating the blow suction.

There was no smoke lingering. During my last cold smoke I think the lingering Alder smoke left a kind of strong smoke taste on my salmon. I think this was because it was stale smoke with the addition of creosote on the salmon.

Additionally I put a steel scrubby into the elbow joint of my Mailbox Mod I think that also did wonders in trapping the creosote from the cold smoke.

I would say that overall everything was a huge success!

Anyhow that is my report. If you have any questions let me know!

 

[motocrash]

So it just needed a little push and then sustained flow.Cool!

 

[tallbm]

So it just needed a little push and then sustained flow.Cool!

In my setup for a cold smoke, it seems so.

My Franken-MES setup also has a convection oven fan mod installed to stir the air/smoke inside the smoker. I think that once the draft was good and established at the stirring fan basically kept it going.

So I'm guessing that my device will prime or kick start the flow and after an hour or two it is no longer needed or at least I may be able to just unplug and let the chimney do the rest :)

So far it seems this experiment and the one braz did may eliminate that "harsh" smoke and "need to mellow" type of effect that is often had when people are cold smoking stuff like cheese and salmon lox, etc. I have read quite a few posts where people talk about harsh smoke flavor on cheese.

 

[motocrash]

I bet it would sustain flow faster(in less time)if the chimney were all steel cans taped together with metal duct tape.The steel would warm and maintain heat faster...

 

[tallbm]

I bet it would sustain flow faster(in less time)if the chimney were all steel cans taped together with metal duct tape.The steel would warm and maintain heat faster...

I could see that. I only had one can and a bunch of boxes from Christmas shopping online :)

 

[motocrash]

Probably would get the thermal going pretty quickly 15-25 min ??

 

[jwed980]

There's thinking outside the box, and you actually used the box-that's brilliant!

Well done.

 

[tallbm]

There's thinking outside the box, and you actually used the box-that's brilliant!

Well done.

Hahaha thanks!

It's not pretty but it is effective :D

 

[tallbm]

Well I would like to report another successful cold smoke using the cardboard based fan assist cold smoking device I whipped up about a month and a half ago.

This time around I did NOT run my convection fan inside my smoker and still had the same great success only using the cold smoker assist :)

I smoked about 3 pounds of salmon lox for my cousin and MAN did it turn out great!
I am really loving 4 hours of 100% Alder on a salmon lox cold smoke. Alder is such a "fresh" smoke flavor to me. It reminds me of the flavor you get when you cedar plank grill a piece of fish, but not as pronounced of a flavor.

If I ever smoked cheese I would give Alder a shot... too bad I'm quite lactose intolerant and am not motivated to go out and buy a few pounds of cheese to smoke and then eat hahaha. Don't get me wrong, I can tolerate a good amount of cheese before I have to watch out but I'm sure that if I smoke some cheese it would taste so good I would likely eat too much and suffer horribly for it hahaha. I think smoking some almonds or cashews would be great to do with Alder. Maybe that will be my approach :)