Folks,
I have one of the PB 700-series models. I tried cold-smoking cheese this weekend with my 12" AMNTS, and I was disappointed with the thick, white smoke it produced and the bitter, acrid, chemical taste of the cheese after smoking. I have vacuum sealed the cheese and plan to let it mellow for 6 weeks before trying it again.
I discovered on my second batch, that I could turn the cooker on (no pellets in hopper) and the fan would run, making the smoke thinner, and a bit "bluer", and better smelling, but not to the sweet-smelling TBS level that would be most proper. The fan also helped keep the temp a bit lower, which I struggled to keep below 80 F (about 50 F ambient temp).
Is there anything easy that I can do to make the combo of the pellet cooker and the AMNTS work better for me for cold-smoking? The solution I am thinking of is a mailbox mod incorporating some sort of fan (hairdrier?) to keep the combustion temp higher for a cleaner smoke and channeling the smoke into the 3" port for the (seemingly discontinued?) cold smoker box attachment. The two problems with this are 1) it's more complicated than I would like, and 2) this would channel the smoke into the *top* of the cooker, which I imagine may not expose the contents to an even smoke, as I imagine the smoke won't reach the bottom of the cooker very well (other exhaust ports are also on the top of the barrel).
Suggestions?
I have one of the PB 700-series models. I tried cold-smoking cheese this weekend with my 12" AMNTS, and I was disappointed with the thick, white smoke it produced and the bitter, acrid, chemical taste of the cheese after smoking. I have vacuum sealed the cheese and plan to let it mellow for 6 weeks before trying it again.
I discovered on my second batch, that I could turn the cooker on (no pellets in hopper) and the fan would run, making the smoke thinner, and a bit "bluer", and better smelling, but not to the sweet-smelling TBS level that would be most proper. The fan also helped keep the temp a bit lower, which I struggled to keep below 80 F (about 50 F ambient temp).
Is there anything easy that I can do to make the combo of the pellet cooker and the AMNTS work better for me for cold-smoking? The solution I am thinking of is a mailbox mod incorporating some sort of fan (hairdrier?) to keep the combustion temp higher for a cleaner smoke and channeling the smoke into the 3" port for the (seemingly discontinued?) cold smoker box attachment. The two problems with this are 1) it's more complicated than I would like, and 2) this would channel the smoke into the *top* of the cooker, which I imagine may not expose the contents to an even smoke, as I imagine the smoke won't reach the bottom of the cooker very well (other exhaust ports are also on the top of the barrel).
Suggestions?