Off the shelf cold smoker?

[zapper]

Actually I am hoping for an off of the shelf electric unit that will do the full temp spectrum from maybe 80 to melting iron?

I keep kicking the idea around of building one and have some thoughts about what I want but have not settled on a final design.

I like the idea of the cooking area to be above 54" above the ground. I am thinking of maybe a lower base cabinet like a kitchen lower, with a work surface and the cooker being about 18" above that.


Maybe 48" wide, 24 high and 18" to 24" deep for the cooking area

I like the idea of a door that drops down to the front like a shelf to maybe keep drips off of the work surface below ( I may have to have a portion that hinges up and out of the way because an 18" door to reach across seems far) I have also considered side hinges but a 48" door seems awful big and two doors seems like it may be hard to get a seal without a center stile (I don't want anything in my way)

I guess that I am thinking about putting the element and smoke generator in the lower cabinet and ducting the heat and smoke to the box.

I would love stainless but I can't work it at this point and while I know a couple of real good shops, but they don't work for free. Which kind of brings me to a question of wether I should have the metal bent or cut and weld the parts myself (Most likely gonna be both)

I would like to get the design down to a "T" so that I could publish the plans or maybe go into custom production, but that is even further down the road.


So... In the mean time I am looking at buying an electric with the full temp range because I can't work or even think on an empty stomach!


Any suggestions on what should go into say a five foot wide freestanding smoking station? Say a mini fridge? Butcher block work top? Drawer or two? Running water? (the thing about a sink is that I don't really want to plumb in a drain and running water and a small sink is really about useless to me) Electric turning spit? Wheels and handles? Lets hear your ideas for a perfect smoke station or see some links to photos of the clever things that you have or wish you had.

 

[deejaydebi]

54" off the ground? Thta's like up to my neck! You must be really tall!

Have we gone here before? Tall people always fastinate me! I come from a family of munchkins.


We represet the lolipop guild ....

 

[zapper]

Nah, not that tall, only 6'-2". It is that I don't think that cooking should be happening below the waist, (err...ummm I mean below a decent counter height)

Attached is a rough idea of what I have in mind.

I wonder if the heat coils need to be of any special service type, like food grade or something if different grades even exist.

I also wonder about the ability to make "cold" smoke or if ducting it far enough will change the charactoristics of the smoke by lowering the temps and a good detail on a smoke generator


I know that there will be some baffels involved to spread the heat and smoke, and a water pan option

 

[deejaydebi]

Wow your looking for a commercial unit for sure!

 

[Dutch]

You could have the door hinges set up so that you pull the door out slightly and then it lifts up out of the way. You could also have a 'pull-out' drip pan that would be located just under the unit.

 

[zapper]

Dutch

I figured that the water/drip pans could slide in at the lowest possible shelf support. I also considered that I could maybe do the same with a fire box for grillin'. I figure that one of the problems with too big on the doors is the heat loss, but access is improtant too. So that's why maybe the horizontal split door with the bottom half being kind of a drip gaurd/shelf when it is open. And piano hinges are simple to work with (So to speak) But maybe a slide up door would be good too. I am sooooo confused

When I get a chance I will start looking further into the cold smoking, mainly making smoke with out too much of the heat making its way into the cook box.

 

[shellbellc]

I'm with you Deb, I'm from oompa loompa land, a sidewalk curb is a hurdle for me...