Improve air flow management - cookshack

[wineyarders]

Greetings,

I have a cookshack sm160. The chamber is ~4' high with 2' sides heated using a PID controlled heating element and an AMNS smoke generator. I smoke a lot of fish, and I'm convinced the smoker does not allow me to control the air as much as I want, which is hindering the drying stage. Meaning the smoker is retaining air and moisture more than I want. The air intake is whatever can be drawn through the ~1/2" drain hole and door leaks. The outlet is a 1 inch pipe nipple in the top of the smoker. I'd like to add a slide damper in the bottom of the door and a stack with damper in the top. Wondering if anyone has feedback on what I'd like to do. Good idea? Thoughts on stack and damper dimensions. Thanks.

Ryan

 

[Lonzinomaker]

I use a 120v AC 23 cfm axial fan mounted on a 3 in PVC cap when doing jerky to increase air flow. You can buy the same thing premade from Smokin-IT and Smokin Tex

 

[daveomak]

You are correct about the air flow.... Drill 3/4 - 1" air holes... 3 in the bottom of the walls and 6 in the top of the walls... Use corks to plug them off when not in use or build slide dampers...
You can also get a Big Chief to do fish in... This has over 30 years of doing fish... has a few mods but modern smokers don't compare...



Best fish smoker made....

 

[bill1]

I'm with Dave. At 4' high, you don't need pipe nipples on top for a draft-inducing smoke stack. Just double or triple the area of the holes you have now (top and bottom) and go from there. You may end up with as many holes as Dave recommends, but you can always go half-way there for a start.

Making the total top (exhaust) hole area 2-3X the size of the bottom (intake) is a good rule of thumb.

Make slide dampers if you like the looks or elegance or challenge of it, but like Dave says, just covering up the top holes (bathroom tiles work well too) to throttle down the flow gets the job done too.