cold smoking anyone?

[homeruk]

looking to get some kind of cold smoking set up in the next few weeks now its getting cold

idealy want to use it on the kamado and the wsm depending on the amount of food for smoking

ive seen plans for smoke chambers connected via flue pipes to cool the smoke down etc but i really cant be bothered to go down that route..so low heat smoking is what im after

any advise or pointers please?

 

[wade]

Hi Homer

An inexpensive solution is to use your WSM as your smoke chamber and either a ProQ smoke generator or a steel kitchen sieve with dust or pellets.

Open up all of the bottom and top vents on your WSM and place the smoker legs on 3 bricks to raise it off the ground by a few inches. Take a large cardboard box apart to get a card sheet that is long enough to wrap around the bottom of the WSM so it is just touching the floor. Cut a small rectangular hole in the bottom of the card that is big enough to slide the smoke generator inside - so that it is underneath the bottom of the WSM.

If you are using the ProQ cold smoke generator then fill it with dust, light it and slip it under the WSM.

A cheaper solution is to buy a steel kitchen sieve from the Pound Shop and push in the bottom to create your own cold smoke generator. Ass the pellets or dust around the ring leaving a small gap to ensure that it only smoulders in one direction

5 Seive Starting.jpg

• wade
• Nov 1, 2016

6 Seive burning.jpg

• wade
• Nov 1, 2016

Here is a post that shows this in operation with a cardboard box smoker.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/256666/smoking-without-a-smoker#post_1653847

You can then place whatever you are smoking on the cooking racks inside the WSM. The smoke will pass in through the bottom vents and then out through the top.

If you find that the inside temperature still starts to rise higher than you need then fill the water pan up with cold water.

 

[homeruk]

thanks wade

 the proQ smoker Ive read up can be a bit hit and miss? having got my setup pretty much fire up and forget now last thing i want is to introduce something which may fail and leave me salmon not smoking for several hours

I am tempted to go down the sieve idea so my next question which has popped up is..will smoking wreck the wsm..that is will after a few cold smokes everything then cooked on it will taste strong of that smoke?

is it not possible to put the sieve setup in the bottom of the wsm or will it introduce too much heat over time?

and is there a spell checker on this forum because mine is terrible 

 

[wade]

 
the proQ smoker Ive read up can be a bit hit and miss? having got my setup pretty much fire up and forget now last thing i want is to introduce something which may fail and leave me salmon not smoking for several hours

Initially I too found it to be unreliable however once I started zapping my dust in the microwave for a couple of minutes to reduce the moisture content its reliability greatly improved.

I am tempted to go down the sieve idea so my next question which has popped up is..will smoking wreck the wsm..that is will after a few cold smokes everything then cooked on it will taste strong of that smoke?

is it not possible to put the sieve setup in the bottom of the wsm or will it introduce too much heat over time?

It will not damage the WSM but you may need to wipe some smoke residue off the bottom after you have finished smoking. Don't worry about residual smoke flavour - as soon as you bring the smoker up to hot smoking temperature the next time any of the cold smoke residue will burn off. Anyway, you are usually looking to get additional flavour from the smoke...

and is there a spell checker on this forum because mine is terrible 

LOL - yes spelling is not my strong point either !!! Look in the edit ribbon above when you are typing a post and you will see an icon that has "ABC" and a tick. This is the spell check. Beware though it tries to get you to use American spelling...

 

[homeruk]

whats your thoughts on using a fridge as a cold smoker?

i bought a wine cooler a few months back that was new but not working and converted it to pid control and fitted a humidifier with a view to making hard cheese..kinda gone off the idea now but still have this unused now digital and working fridge, so if i take out the humidifier could it be used as a cold smoker?

am thinking along the lines of a pellet smoker tube in the bottom in some kind of stainless steel pan and fitting a vent in the bottom and an outlet at the top so then being able to keep the temps right down using it as a working fridge also, it is a normal compressor type setup

again I'm really after as much as possible fuss free setup

the attached link is the same fridge all made in the same gaff i guess

temp range is just the standard built in thermostat can go lower now with the pid control

abc spell checker seems to work 

http://ao.com/product/ccv150bl-candy-wine-cooler-black-15692-31.aspx

 

[smokin monkey]

Yes I would think it would make a good cold smoker. As a fridge engineer, I would be very careful where you drill for the air inlet and outlet. Definitely keep away from the sides and back, as this is where the condenser will be (series of tubes with in the skin to dissipate heat). I would go for a hole in the bottom and one in the top, but run the fridge first and test with your hand to see which parts are hotter than the rest, this is where the condenser will be allocated.

 

[homeruk]

been away to sunnier places and had a good think and surf seeing as the wifi was an excellent speed for a change
ordered up some bits which some have arrived but still waiting for a few so will be a next week project
was toying with the idea of the bradley digital smoker with add on cold tube, but the sensible head cut in..with a bit of moaning from the lesser half chucked in also
running out of allocated "smoking area" and already have the kamado and weber mountain with the offset stuck in the graveyard..just cant get rid of it!
so little weber joe ordered..the short version, will connect up a 100mm tube 3m long and attached this to the kamado air inlet and use that as the smoking chamber, ordered some pellets and a few other bits
theory being the kamdo should be big enough (famous last words) and if not in the future i will use it with the mountain
just dont have the room to justify getting another lump of a smoker so this seems the best option
will post up when ive done it!
and I will keep the modded fridge for curing purposes