Looking into building a mail box mod.

[Steve H]

Thanks to my wife I'm going to be smoking about 15 pounds (or more) of cheese for gifts. I'll be using my gas smoker as the cabinet. But the A-Maze-N tray has a hard time staying lit. I've seen people here use a computer fan, or a muffin fan. But I am concerned that it would provide too much air and maybe ignite the pellets. So I got a 120VAC muffin fan. And wired a motor rated speed control to it. I think this will do the trick. I'll find out soon enough!

 

[Fgignac]

I've been thinking of putting together something similar so I will be interested in seeing how it turns out.

If it works well maybe you could post some pictures of the setup so I can see how you went about it.

Good luck!

 

[Winterrider]

I have a 10 cfm fan I've placed on top of the 3" vent 90 I put on the exhaust of my MES 30 as a wind block when cold smoking cheese. Sometimes when cold smoking there is not enough heat to induce a natural draft so a mechanical draft is needed. I also use a mailbox mod and the pellets I have yet to ignite.
The rheostat is for dialing down the fan but in a pinch simply taping over some of the face of the fan will restrict the amount of air it'll move.

I have MES 40 and going to smoke some cheese for the 1st time. Is there not really enough airflow to keep a tray of dust going in a mailbox mod without assistance? I do have Auber PID, which I don't know yet if I could set that at about 45 degree if that would help (if goes that low)?

 

[Winterrider]

Thanks, I'll try the low heat before more mods

 

[daveomak]

I'll be using my gas smoker as the cabinet. But the A-Maze-N tray has a hard time staying lit.

Steve, morning.... Flame consumes smoke and oxygen... Tough environment for the AMNPS... You may have to install the MB mod above the burner to maintain smoke... You may also have to add exhaust holes in the top of the walls of the smoker to increase the chimney effect/draft for good air flow... I would put them on at least 3 walls to make for a uniform air flow through the smoker... 7/8" holes using a step drill will work...

 

[Steve H]

Morning, and thanks Dave. I was thinking of using the mail box mod. I'll be attaching the fan to the front of the mail box. And have a hose coming from the back of the mail box going through the bottom door of my smoker. If I'm doing it this way I shouldn't be concerned with the pellets going out. Or with drafting concerns.....I hope!

 

[daveomak]

If the smoke enters below the burner, the flame will consume it... hence, no smoke.....
Flame is a tool used to eliminate pollutants..... Ever notice no smoke when a fire is burning good ??

 

[Bearcarver]

I just use Dust, instead of Pellets.
Then I put a Jug of Frozen Water in to cool it down.
Below is my old MES 30 set up for Cheese:

I would think Since a Gasser is hard to keep the Temp down, you could just use an amazing smoker in there without the smoker turned on, and get enough warmth for smoking cheese. (Without Ice)

Bear

 

[Steve H]

If the smoke enters below the burner, the flame will consume it... hence, no smoke.....
Flame is a tool used to eliminate pollutants..... Ever notice no smoke when a fire is burning good ??

Oh, I understand what you're saying. I should have made myself clearer. This will be used for cold smoking only. The burner in my smoker will not be lit.

 

[johnmeyer]

That fan, even if slowed way down, is probably going to produce way too much air. I'm not sure you'd ever get much smoke concentration because all that air will dilute the smoke.

 

[Braz]

I use a computer fan and run it through a voltage controller to vary the sped. I have also raised it up a bit so it doesn't pull the smoke out too fast. Run an AMNPS for cold smoke.

 

[Steve H]

That fan, even if slowed way down, is probably going to produce way too much air. I'm not sure you'd ever get much smoke concentration because all that air will dilute the smoke.

I think this will work. On low speed you can see the blades rotating clearly with no blur. And not pushing air hardly at all. But, we'll see.

 

[Steve H]

I use a computer fan and run it through a voltage controller to vary the sped. I have also raised it up a bit so it doesn't pull the smoke out too fast. Run an AMNPS for cold smoke.
View attachment 382111

That's interesting. And you're drafting enough to keep the tray burning good? That maybe the better, and cheaper, way to go. If I keep the bottom door to my smoker open to allow air to flow that might work well.

 

[Braz]

That's interesting. And you're drafting enough to keep the tray burning good? That maybe the better, and cheaper, way to go. If I keep the bottom door to my smoker open to allow air to flow that might work well.

No problem keeping the pellets burning. I have this setup in an MES and have a sheet of aluminum laying on the bottom tray which extends about 2/3 of the way from R to L. This serves to direct the air from the intake on the lower right of the box to the pellet tray on the left. It would be pretty easy to devise some ducting to move the air flow where you want it. For cold smoking you could even use cardboard.

 

[tallbm]

I do something similar to Braz. I copied a large design another member had but I made it small and it works great!
Another benefit of having the fan over the vent to cause draft to suck air/smoke up and out of your smoker is that you greatly reduce the chances of having stale smoke when you cold smoke.

I was getting a little stale smoke on my salmon lox cold smokes that would go away with letting the meat mellow out in the fridge for a day or two. I created my little cold smoking assist device and BAM, stale smoke issue went away AND I had no more issues with my pellets staying lit in my Mailbox Mod.

My device simply blows up a chimney that I place over my MES vent and that causes all the draft I need for cold smoking.
Here is what my computer fan based cold smoking assist device looks like:

Best of luck and I hope this info helps! :)