Fist test to see how hot I could get my cold smoker. Just a test.

[rick@ornamentalgate-fence]

So I started a fire and got all kinds of smoke or maybe steam out of the smoker. over around a 4 hour period I got it up to 200 deg. I really wasnt expecting much but thought I would give it a try. BUT for the heck of it I made up some Kraft Mac and Cheese with some other cheeses mixed in and sat it in the smoker for around 2 hours. Pulled it out and it tasted, not good!! LOL I have read where you have to let things sit overnight or for a few days and it would taste better. It was a little better the next day. I really dont know what kind of wood I was burning. I was guessing you could use most any wood. Was this my first lesson on knowing what I am burning?
It smoked very heavily for a couple hours then the smoke reduced a lot but the temp went up.

 

[Steve H]

First. Welcome to the forum!
Now, I'm not trying to be a jerk. But that smoke is plain nasty. I doubt that after a month the cheese would be good.
Cold smoking is just that. Cold smoking. Under 100 degrees is the target with thin blue smoke.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Agree with Steve.
Thats gray dirty smoke.

 

[rick@ornamentalgate-fence]

Could this have been all steam from the concrete and underground piping? Or was it all about the wood and probably wet wood? LOL I think I know the answer.

 

[SmokinEdge]

With a set up like that you want a smaller clean burning fire, lots of air flow around the fire to make clean smoke. Also seasoned wood is a must nothing green. Buy the time the smoke travels the flu it will cool dramatically and be a more white color which is fine if it started as thin blue clean smoke. What I see in the picture is dirty smoke from a smoldering fire, that acrid smoke from any wood and not good for food.

 

[rick@ornamentalgate-fence]

I ended up making a perforated metal tube 4" x 4" x 16" long. I filled it with pecan pellets and shoved it into the underground pipe at the fire box. I lit it and got a lot of smoke and very little heat. The smoke lasted around 4 hours. The temp seems to stay around the 50deg f mark even on days when the outside temp gets down in the 20s. Is this what I am looking for? It seems to have a very good draw at the fire box tube so I restricted the inlet to the fire box down to slow the burn down. I saw blue smoke coming out of the pellets but in the smoke house it was filled with white smoke. Is this right? I would like to stick a chunk of cheese in there but dont really want to waste it. Any tips on this? Is a lot of pellet smoke good? The pellet fire didnt seem to raise the temp much at all. Thanks in advance.

 

[BigW.]

Pellets will not cause the temp to raise much. Pellet dust burned in a maze will raise temps even less. You may be able to put the tube/maze in the bottom of the smoke house and bypass the long fire box tube. The long tube was designed to cool off the heat and clean the smoke before reaching the house. I think your set up is more for cold/cool smoking than hot which is fine. For wood look for hardwoods , oak hickory pecan etc. Pine/cedar should not be used and looks to be plentiful in your yard. Take a few interior pictures of smokehouse with dimensions. Folks here will offer plenty of good tips for you.