Cold Smoking in Warmer Temps?

[johnh12]

I live in NE Florida and have a question for those in the south who prefer to cold smoke instead of hot smoke their sausage, jerky, and other things.

How do you manage to keep the temp cool enough in the smoker when ambient temp is 80+ degrees?

This past winter our temps were very mild for most of the year. I see posts from several who live in southern Florida regarding cold smoking.

I have the 5x8 AMPS and a couple of bags of pellets and have a Lang 60 Deluxe with the warmer baffles as an upgrade.

Will I have to hope for a cold snap or is there a way to keep the meats and sausages cool enough to complete the cold smoke process?

Thanks.

 

[tallbm]

Well I'll let more of the experts on cold smoking elaborate but I did my first cold smoke on salmon lox a couple of weekends ago here in TX, http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/259178/first-smoked-salmon-lox-with-qview

I lucked out and was able to do it when the when the weather was about 52 degrees in the early morning.

I used the AMNPS but with a mailbox mod which I think was key to not raising temps much in my MES40.  No need for a heating element to make smoke with wood.

Finally, I put a foil pan filled with ice in the bottom of the smoker to help keep things cool.

After a 4 hour smoke my temp inside the smoker raised only 15 degrees to 67F.  I think a lot of that increase was due to the ambient temp outside raising into the low 60's.

I know a lot of guys mention taking frozen jugs of water and putting them into the smoker to drop the temp and keep temps down.  I did this with a pan of ice but I guess that is your best bet for keeping things as cool as possible.

I hope more this info helps give some ideas and I hope more seasoned cold smokers chime in :)

 

[donr]

The consensus is that cold smoking is 100°f or lower.  Cheese will sweat real bad and butter will melt at that temp.

When it's warm like that I use my AMNPS and cold smoke at night.  The AMNPS doesn't raise the temp. a lot.  I believe that using dust in it raises it even less.

If smoking during the day, definitely keep the smoker in the shade.

Some use 2 liter soda bottles, milk jugs or juice jugs filled with water and frozen to help keep internal temps down if necessary.