Cold weather Curing chamber for newbie

[365buckin]

Anyone have any tips for a curing chamber that's NOT built out of an old refrigerator?

I have some 3inch foam board, a heat lamp, window unit ac, and a cool mist humidifier. I'm thinking with my average temps being below 40 for January and February I could make an insulated box with my components plugged into the proper regulators for humidity and heat. As long as the box is small enough, a heat lamp should bring those temps up enough to keep the sausage from freezing when night temps drop below freezing. I have no need to make sausage in the summer or warmer outside temps and I don't want to buy an extra fridge. Thanks for any tips or advice!

 

[JC in GB]

Sorry, my bad... My brain switched gears and I thought you were asking about cold smoking.. OY!

Ignore my message below.

What do you use for your hot smoker? I added a small heater in my cabinet smoker to keep the cabinet above freezing. I then used a pellet smoker tube for the cold smoke. If you cabinet is large enough, you can do the same. If you have an electric smoker cabinet, you will have to upgrade your control system to do it.

JC

 

[365buckin]

Sorry, my bad... My brain switched gears and I thought you were asking about cold smoking.. OY!

Ignore my message below.

What do you use for your hot smoker? I added a small heater in my cabinet smoker to keep the cabinet above freezing. I then used a pellet smoker tube for the cold smoke. If you cabinet is large enough, you can do the same. If you have an electric smoker cabinet, you will have to upgrade your control system to do it.

JC

I have a 30inch MES with the cold smoker attachment that I'm using for my hot and cold smoking. But, are you suggesting using my MES cabinet for my drying/fermentation chamber?

How do I upgrade my electronic control panel?

 

[JC in GB]

I have a 30inch MES with the cold smoker attachment that I'm using for my hot and cold smoking. But, are you suggesting using my MES cabinet for my drying/fermentation chamber?

How do I upgrade my electronic control panel?

You could use it as a drying, fermentation chamber of you switched up your controller. I don't know what the minimum that you can set an MES 30 to but I do know that you can use an off the self PID controller to keep your temperature just above freezing.

I do that with my Stump's Baby.

The pic is a MES 40 that I pulled the defective controller off and put a PID controller in it's place. This unit can now run from 35 degrees up to 275 degrees.

Here is the unit I put into my smoker to keep the sausages inside from freezing.

I modified a 10" to 8" reducer to hold the burner element in the smoker. (Not pictured)

Not sure if any of this will help you. The MES 30 control mod pictured costs less than $50.

I would be happy to assist you further if you want to pursue this option.

JC

 

[365buckin]

Here is the unit I put into my smoker to keep the sausages inside from freezing.

I modified a 10" to 8" reducer to hold the burner element in the smoker. (Not pictured)

View attachment 430453


Not sure if any of this will help you. The MES 30 control mod pictured costs less than $50.

I would be happy to assist you further if you want to pursue this option.

JC

That looks awesome! If my heating element in my MES 30 is working correctly, would I still need to replace it, like you did with the burner? Is the PID all I need?

 

[JC in GB]

All you would need is the PID controller. The electric element is already there for you. My smoker is charcoal and there is no way I could keep temps that low burning charcoal that is why I made the supplemental heater. It won't get hot enough to run the smoker though unlike your element. The PID controller I use can be programmed from 35 degrees to well over 500. You can program limits in to idiot proof the unit so you don't accidentally set your smoker for too high a temp.