Cabinet electric smoker build

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AlexTram

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 29, 2019
17
1
Hi guys, new to the community and joined because I building a cabinet smoker for hot smoking salmon and as I'm pretty new to smoking want to ask for your advice, opinions and suggestions.

I got 3 stainless steel thermal panels for free and made a design to make the most of them without wasting much.
So the cabinet is something like this:
upload_2019-7-29_22-10-4.png
f87e5365-e2ba-4c23-a814-66a3117edfaf



The inside design at the moment is something like this:
upload_2019-7-29_22-12-41.png


I'll do everything modular so I can take everything apart to deep clean.
The heating elements are two 2,5kw home oven replacement parts, which will be controlled by a PID and a contactor.
As in my country it is not easy to find good chips, or pellets, I need to use chunks, so the idea is to put them directly over the heating elements, over a perforated tray or rack.
Problem here is that i'm not sure if the "ON" time of the elements (once it is in temperature) will be enough to keep a good amount of smoke.. ??

I'm not very sure about air intake/ chimney /air flow. By logic I shouldn't have much air flow because the O2 would light the wood on fire, right? But I guess some air flow must exist to "renew" the smoke...
As for the chimneys I was planning to do two 5cm (2 inch) chimneys with air flow control, is that ok?

This is a work in progress, so I'll keep updating and all your comments are much appreciated.
 

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I can't help you very much, but I'll be following along.
Where are you from Alex?
 
I can't help you very much, but I'll be following along.
Where are you from Alex?
Thanks Dan.
I'm from UY, not a lot of smoking here.. although we have the most consumption of meat per cápita.
 
Alex, morning... Use chunks of wood... only use 1 chunk.... A small frying pan will work well for the wood OR use a thin plate of steel to set the chunk on... directly on the heating element....
1 chunk of wood will not catch fire... A fire take 2 pieces of wood to burn....
DISCLAIMER... Fish / meat, fat / oil burns very well.. protect the heating elements and wood chunk from dripping oils... if it does happen, you will have a BIG fire... I know... it's happened to me...
 
This is how I chunk my wood, and the thin SS pan they go in 1 at a time... Dump the ash and add another chunk... Do not stack them.. One at a time...

Totem Smoker burner.jpg
 
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This is how I chunk my wood, and the thin SS pan they go in 1 at a time... Dump the ash and add another chunk... Do not stack them.. One at a time...

View attachment 401850

Thank for the tips Dave!
How do you suggest to protect the elements from the dripping fat without disturbing the smoke flow? To cover the whole element with a thin plate?
 
That might work... If the plate is too hot, the fat will burn... Put drip pans in a staggered layout, on staggered shelves if you think you have a problem.. Try and allow for air flow with the layout....
 
That might work... If the plate is too hot, the fat will burn... Put drip pans in a staggered layout, on staggered shelves if you think you have a problem.. Try and allow for air flow with the layout....

A non perforated tray as drip pan in the shelves wouldn't affect heat and smoke distribution?
 
How about good smoke generation when the heating element is turning on and off because the temperature is on target?
That depends on the air flow? To keep the wood smoking even if the heating element is off?
I have the fear that I would need to setup a specific element for smoking or inject smoke with a generator...
 
If you used one element instead of two, it would stay on longer and might help with the smoke generation part.

Yes, you are correct Dave. And technically I dont have two, I have four, because each is double, 1,9kW the external and 600w the internal. I could wire them to keep one small element on. The problem is the overheating..
upload_2019-7-29_22-16-32-png.401824
 
Hi guys, i'll update a little bit this post.
I have been building the cabinet in a couple of hours per day anytime I had some spare time.
Sorry for the pictures, they were taken from time to time and without much criteria.


I did it with 3 gifted inox panels and spare parts I had around.
upload_2019-8-23_14-25-6.png


The inners were made by a friend that works with inox steel.
I designed it to be able to take everything apart with just 4 screws and be able to clean it easily.

upload_2019-8-23_14-39-1.png


upload_2019-8-23_14-26-58.png


The electronics are pretty simple:
- Differential and thermal switch for protection
- The PID has a 5v pulse output, which is connected to a 5v relay which sends signal to a 220v contactor switch.
- PT-100 probe
- 2 house oven heating elements (each one is 1,9kW + 0,6kW) for a total of 5kW.

upload_2019-8-23_14-35-33.png



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upload_2019-8-23_14-40-27.png


upload_2019-8-23_14-40-42.png
 
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I'm stilll no 100% sure of which is the best way to generate good and steady smoke.
I tried chunks over the heating elements and is is difficult to have consistency and not having them set on fire.
Jonok's generator could be an option, I got all the info from him, but there is a moment when the elements dont go on very often and I'm not sure if I'll have continuous smoke.
Also as I plan to use chunks the AMZN and such are not really an option.
Saying all maybe the best option is an external smoke generator like Smoke Daddy Magnum, or such.
Any ideas?
 
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