Smoker mod using mailbox mod and tubing

[GaryHibbert]

So a while back I was in the site and raised the question of wanting to clean my smoke going to my MES30. As luck would have it a fellow site member “Mr. T – Tom “responded. Recently he gave me some good info on cheese smoking so I was glad he responded. We then discussed upgrading to a more efficient cold smoke box.

I have a friend at work that is good building things so I was also talking to him about it, and he built a bigger box. The build took a couple weeks as it was at work and was being done as time allowed.

New Cold Smoke Box below – Painting to be done when it warms up outside.

Smoke box front.jpg

• lovethemeats
• Apr 10, 2017

I ran 4 tests total

Rob, MI
[/td][/tr][/table]

Great post Rob!! Good comparison of the 4 types of fuel.
I'm also wondering how you powdered the pellets.
POINT
Gary

 

[lovethemeats]

I use a small food processor on the pellets. Don't know how it stays running. I beat the unit up. But it keeps pulverizing the pellets. First I crush them down as much as I can. Then feed it into the unit in small batches. I sift it thru a fine mesh screen and then just keep putting it back in till it is at a powder state. The process it kind of long. But in the end I think its worth it.
The burn rate for powder is super long. When I did my test. It ran 24hrs in my AMNPS. The smoke produced is light. Great for doing cheese and such. I thought of using it for when I try doing bacon this winter. The other types also serve their purpose. All have a beneficial effect to the burn rate/time. I was glad I took the time to do it. Biggest factor involved was my air intake. I had to increase the size to get a good draft and keep the AMNPS going. Thanks for the point.

 

[johnmeyer]

You can buy sawdust from Todd instead of the pellets. That way you don't have to do any grinding or sifting, and you get wood that hasn't had any binder added.

Having said that, I think someone did a test that indicated the sawdust didn't produce as good a result as the crushed pellets, but having not done that test myself, I continue to be somewhat skeptical. One thing for sure: converting the pellets to dust is not a small or trivial task.

 

[lovethemeats]

You can buy sawdust from Todd instead of the pellets. That way you don't have to do any grinding or sifting, and you get wood that hasn't had any binder added.

Having said that, I think someone did a test that indicated the sawdust didn't produce as good a result as the crushed pellets, but having not done that test myself, I continue to be somewhat skeptical. One thing for sure: converting the pellets to dust is not a small or trivial task.

No its not a small task taking it down to dust. Thanks for the info on buying it. That is great news for me John. Again. Thank you.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Lmao @ smokers in the house.

Haha.. The people with those 10 foot + pipe vents from smoke to smoker, all think it's more pure. It's like a person smoking a cigarette though if you ask me.. You can smell them if they stand and breath by you 5 minutes after they smoked the cigarette. .. More show than go I would think. Trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

Edit: I would probably put a big tube on my mailbox mod though, if a panel of tasters agreed it was better flavor after the long trip. Seems like more junk to have to clean out though, negating the benefits.

 

[johnmeyer]

Haha.. The people with those 10 foot + pipe vents from smoke to smoker, all think it's more pure. <snip>
Edit: I would probably put a big tube on my mailbox mod though, if a panel of tasters agreed it was better flavor after the long trip. Seems like more junk to have to clean out though, negating the benefits.

I too have posted my skepticism about 20+ feet of pipe between the smoke source and the smoker. If it was such a good thing, you'd see it on competition builds. I found that with just two elbows between my mod and the smoker, I get a huge amount of smoke deposition inside the can and on the first elbow. I then have a filter stuffed in between the two elbows. After that filter, the second elbow doesn't have much gunk at all. As a result, I have not once been tempted to add more tubing.

[edit]Here is a pic of the "filter" I use:

Filter%20Before_zps9sgo9s5k.jpg

• johnmeyer
• Apr 2, 2017

and here is what it looks like after the smoke:

Filter%20After_zpsvbhnflav.jpg

• johnmeyer
• Apr 2, 2017

 

[Rings Я Us]

Should be heavier particles clinging to that type of device yep. filter.


Those longer ducts are supposed to cause heavy wood byproducts to condense and stay in the ducting and allow lighter particles to travel out. An angle or gradient journey is also supposedly going to cause heaviest byproducts to be trapped..
Edit....
Need to use a hot fire for smoke and pipe that over to the smoker.

 

[lovethemeats]

Here's something I got something going on. I'm doing a pork butt and I'm running a blend of whole and crushed pellets. The burn so far on my AMNPS is 12hrs 20min. And still couple hours still to go. You can see how much smoke is coming off it. The whole I have on the top. They are maple. I have crushed apple under it. Some sawdust is in the crushed. A little mod sometimes goes a long way. The AMNPS is sitting in my cold smoke box.

 

[lovethemeats]

The tubing I use is for cooling the smoke. I too run smoke scrubbers.
I want maximum cooling going into my MES when cold smoking. All that tubing works for me. Smoke coming in is not hot. Summer i run fan on it. Winter time it stays cold by itself. My unit sits in a room that gets above 100 during the day in the summer. Ever try cold smoking then? Even packing ice in the unit helps. Add in more heat and ice melts fast. What don't work for some work for others.

 

[chopsaw]

Are you referring to the duct work as tubing ? , or do you really have tubing for the smoke supply ?

 

[Rings Я Us]

Look at my scrubber


Before ...lol

 

[dr k]

Stairs work well for rising smoke with the mailbox mod and 8' alum. flex pipe Patio umbrellas for shade.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Dang! :p