Sausage maker Electric build

[pc farmer]

Nice work         

 

[s2k9k]

Looks Great!!! Can't wait to see some sausage!!!!

 

[fish killer]

You got it looking good. One thought on your back piece that you said wouldn't. Clean up really good. Take your grinder and put on a flap pad and just sand it down. The pad would end up putting a new brushed surface on the stainless. It only a cosmetic issue and don't matter either way just I thought I had.

 

[bamafan]

I did give that a try on another spot cuase I thought the same thing about the brushed look, but it started surface rust on the grooves? Didn't think that would happen with stainless?

 

[JckDanls 07]

Atta boy Tim... looking good bub....

 

[fish killer]

I did give that a try on another spot cuase I thought the same thing about the brushed look, but it started surface rust on the grooves? Didn't think that would happen with stainless?

Hmm, that is strange. Oh well you still got yourself a real nice smoker. I really like your heat shield. I have that same heating element. I might look into setting mine up like that.

One thing to keep an eye on is how you attach your stove rope. I have a freezer build and my inside door panel is stainless. I used a black stove rope cement to adhere the rope to the door. The problem I had was the cement didn't want to stick to the stainless because of how smooth it was. It stuck just fine to the rope but there was nothing for the cement to grab onto with the stainless steel. It would hold for awhile but then would slowly start to peel away from the ss panel. I tried roughing the surface where the rope would be but I had to eventually drill small holes in door and use ss panhead screws through the stove rope into the door. I just worked some of the fibers over the screw and you can't even tell the screws are there. Might not be a problem for you but just in case.

 

[bamafan]

Fish, thanks for the heads up on that. I was going to run a flap disk around the edge of the door before i try and glue it on.But the small screw trick might be a good addition.

 

[DanMcG]

Great looking build Tim.. Thumbs Up

 

[ironhorse07]

I have never had any lasting results with the black gasket cement. Ditch it and use the red high-temp silicone. Nice looking smoker.

Doug

 

[boykjo]

Yep...................great looking build there Tim......

    its going to produce some awesome smoked sausage.......

    There are different grades of stainless and the lower grades will rust....  If quality stainless steel has rust it came from some where else... Something is imbedded into the stainless and that is whats rusting... A flap disc wont do the trick cause all you are doing is spreading the contamination around. An old can that had rusted in the spot at one time may be the culprit. To properly clean the stainless you will need to pickle and passivate it......

 

[bamafan]

Temp Test. Since the rain was forecast I decided not to try sausage today but did hook up the element with out the PID controller and ran it full bore for a couple of hours. Temp got to 180 in 1hour 20 minutes. Ran it another 40 minutes and it looks like 180-185 is max. Was a little disappointed, would have thought I could break 200 easy in this thing?

 

[JckDanls 07]

uh ohhhhh... now ya got me worried about mine....

 

[fish killer]

Sorry to here about that. Your element looks like the same one I have. 1500 watts on 110 volts I'm guessing. If you want to stay with 110 volts then you might want to check at Grainger. They have an 1800 watt element that runs off of 110. I think it was like 75 or 80 bucks. You would need to buy the high temp wire also to fashion your own cord. My smoker is as tall as your but not quite as wide or deep. My element can get me up to 300, so considering how much more space you have I'm guessing you need more heat.

When you place your hand on the outside of the smoker can you feel heat from the inside.? I'm assuming by the picture that it is pretty well insulated. How much if any heat do you lose from the intake vent? That looks pretty big in the picture. Try blocking half of it off and see if that makes a difference. I have a 3 inch intake and exhaust.

 

[dward51]

I 2nd the air inlet being too large.  That type is what most people with gas burners use and they need the massive air influx and gas burners produce way more heat than electrics like this do.  Try closing it down or cover most of it with cardboard and tape on the outside and see what the temps do.  Do you have a damper in the exhaust?  If so close it down most of the way also.  It does not take much air flow to keep the pellets burning and really all you need is just enough to keep them going.

Also, how much fiberglass insulation did you put in? Did you compress it or did you split the batts to make them thin so they would fit?  1,500watts has been used by others in this size cabinet before and I did not expect a heat problem in yours. One other thought.  Check the PID and make sure it's not in manual mode.  If it is, you may not be running at a 100% cycle and it may only be running part of the time.

I suspect the large air inlet is the main culprit, but I'm trying to think of others to check out...

 

[bamafan]

The only insulation I added was when I curt the top off. It was 3"bat and I squeezed it in there. You cannot really feel much heat on the outside of the box. I had the element plugged right into the outlet so it was not hooked to the PID. I'll try shutting down the air flow and see what happens. May have to add a damper to the exhuast. Thanks for the advice.

 

[bamafan]

I took some metal tape and closed off half the exhaust pipe and shut the intake damper down and got to 200. I have to make a damper for the exhaust and block off half the intake and will try again.

 

[JckDanls 07]

that's good news... hope you'll still have enough air flow for the smoker....

 

[fish killer]

[quote I have to make a damper for the exhaust and block off half the intake and will try again.
[/quote]
I wouldn't recommend putting a damper on your exhaust. I'm not sure of the diameter that you have, I have 3 inch. You don't want to trap smoke , it needs to always moving. Try to control inflow of cold air, and increase heat . I have read a lot of posts of people who complain of bitter taste due to improper air flow. Your smoke generator will constantly be producing smoke. It needs good outflow.if you want to try and avoid buying a bigger heating element you might try linining the bottom of the chamber with fire brick. To serve as a heat sink. My other option if it were me would be to look into a hotter element. Whatever you decide, good luck , you will figure it out.

 

[bamafan]

Today is the trial run on the electric smoke house. Going in now. Polish and andouille.

IMG_0789.JPG

• bamafan
• Nov 16, 2013

 

[woodcutter]

Have fun today! You have a nice smoker and the sausage looks good.