Smoke Generator

[1967robg]

I want to up my cold smoking game. I've been smoking for all most 20 years and just started doing my own bacon about 75lbs ago. I have a homemade offset, pit boss pellet, some vault xl and a couple kettle grills. This past weekend I built a cold smoke generator similar to the smokemeister. It works, but man this thing smokes like a coal fired train! I've seen and read about the mailbox mod. If I add 20 feet of pipe will it clean up the smoke?

 

[bauchjw]

Giving a bump since I’m not the best to answer fab questions. But, that is awesome! My opinion is that a long pipe would help. I had a smoke Generator a while back that was smoking a lot like yours, the guys here helped me out and I rigged up a 10ft pipe to clean up the smoke. It’s worked great ever since then!

 

[OldSmoke]

Nice piece of work. What are you burning in it?

 

[1967robg]

Nice piece of work. What are you burning in it?

I start with a little lump charcoal and a torch then wood chunks.

 

[motocrash]

From the look of the smoke, it's not getting enough oxygen. Does it clear up after it's been burning a while?

 

[1967robg]

From the look of the smoke, it's not getting enough oxygen. Does it clear up after it's been burning a while?

Not until it get to the very bottom of the pot. The bottom swings open to light and to let ash out. It also is the damper. I welded two pieces of expanded metal vertically inside for air flow as well. I can take pictures after work if interested.

 

[OldSmoke]

I’d like to see the details of your build. Thanks. You must have a plasma cutter.

Have you tried just using wood chunks? Might be slower burning.

 

[1967robg]

I’d like to see the details of your build. Thanks. You must have a plasma cutter.

Have you tried just using wood chunks? Might be slower burning.

I used a little lump to get it started then added chunks, then I tried lighting with lump and added a mix of chunks and lump in an effort to clean up the smoke.
The burn pot is a 12 inch length of schedule 10 pipe. The ends are 1/4 inch plate. Output tube is 1 1/4 inch pipe. The expanded metal is 11 or 12 gage I think . I cut the end caps with my plasma cutter, the pipe was cut with a grinder and turned square in a lathe. Drilled the hole for the out put with a hole saw.

 

[1967robg]

I used a little lump to get it started then added chunks, then I tried lighting with lump and added a mix of chunks and lump in an effort to clean up the smoke.
The burn pot is a 12 inch length of schedule 10 pipe. The ends are 1/4 inch plate. Output tube is 1 1/4 inch pipe. The expanded metal is 11 or 12 gage I think . I cut the end caps with my plasma cutter, the pipe was cut with a grinder and turned square in a lathe. Drilled the hole for the out put with a hole saw.

All was stuff I had laying around.

 

[OldSmoke]

It’s a nice build. The ash looks like it is burning hot enough. Does closing the bottom plate reduce the amount of smoke?

Once you install it, the draft from the smoker may cause it to draw even harder. Have you thought about a restrictor in the 1 1/4 smoking tube? It would take some trial and error. On mine, I am down to about 3/4”. Easy to make on your lathe. Too restrictive or too long and you might get creosote.

 

[1967robg]

It’s a nice build. The ash looks like it is burning hot enough. Does closing the bottom plate reduce the amount of smoke?

Once you install it, the draft from the smoker may cause it to draw even harder. Have you thought about a restrictor in the 1 1/4 smoking tube? It would take some trial and error. On mine, I am down to about 3/4”. Easy to make on your lathe. Too restrictive or too long and you might get creosote.

I don't throw anything away. I have all kinds of stuff around. I'm a tinker. I'm going to try some things. If I choke the bottom plate it really chugs. I will keep posting my results. Maybe it can help someone else while I learn.

 

[1MoreFord]

Instead of wood chunks have you thought about using pellets or chips or dust?

 

[1967robg]

Instead of wood chunks have you thought about using pellets or chips or dust?

I'm going to try some chips next

 

[Fueling Around]

How long does a load of chunks burn?
I thought about motocrash comment on not enough oxygen being the key but thought about my other smokers.
I would get the nasty white smoke from burning chunks in my Big Chief. The pan lays on the heating element and charred the chunks too fast. Big Chief has too much air as the biggest fault.
My pellet grill (pooper) generates clouds of white smoke with a new load of pellets in the burn pot. Pellet poopers do not lack oxygen.

 

[1967robg]

How long does a load of chunks burn?
I thought about motocrash comment on not enough oxygen being the key but thought about my other smokers.
I would get the nasty white smoke from burning chunks in my Big Chief. The pan lays on the heating element and charred the chunks too fast. Big Chief has too much air as the biggest fault.
My pellet grill (pooper) generates clouds of white smoke with a new load of pellets in the burn pot. Pellet poopers do not lack oxygen.

4 to 4 1/2 hours. I'm going to come up with some kind of condenser over the weekend.

 

[OldSmoke]

It sounds like; if you add more air to your pot to get a clean burn, you get too much smoke. Damp it down, and the smoke isn't good quality.

Could you add an adjustable butterfly valve (like a carburetor throttle plate) in the 1 1/4 pipe? That way you can adjust the amount of smoke entering the smoker regardless of how the pot is burning.

 

[1967robg]

It sounds like; if you add more air to your pot to get a clean burn, you get too much smoke. Damp it down, and the smoke isn't good quality.

Could you add an adjustable butterfly valve (like a carburetor throttle plate) in the 1 1/4 pipe? That way you can adjust the amount of smoke entering the smoker regardless of how the pot is burning.

I could add a butterfly valve. So when I got home I lit the generator and put some hickory chunks in it. Looking through my pile I found this drilled(all 4 sides) square tube approximately 3 feet long. It's about 30°f here. A lot of smoke is pouring out of those holes. I propped it up in my offset, biggest smoker I have, into the firebox. Took a while but thin smoke started coming out of the stack(I did heat the top of the stack to get a draft going.) Ran down to the store ad bought some cheap a$$ cheese and through it on around 5. We'll see how it goes. You can see the creosote-sickle hanging from the tube in the attached pictures.