Upright stainless cooler smoker build

[dmsurvey]

New to this forum. Friend gave me a stainless steel upright double door cooler. It was a "second" and manufacturer was going to discard it. It's all there except for the wiring and cooling unit, and I want to make it into a hot and cold smoker. I am looking to smoke jerky and various meats (hot), and cheese (cold). Another friend has a block smokehouse and builds a wood fire in the floor to smoke hot and cold. It works great, but challenging to keep temp around 90 for cheese. He suggests I remove the insulation, cut out the bottom, and build a fire in the bottom, similar to his. I'm also getting suggestions to put a propane burner in the bottom and use wood chips on a cast iron pan... I know I'll have make some modifications like adding some adjustable air vents on the bottom side, and a flu through the top, likely with an adjustable damper, remove the rubber gaskets on the doors, etc.. I see a lot of the builds on here use burners with chips, but am concerned I won't get enough smoke; I may smoke 100 or so pounds of cheese at a time. I would guess temps are easier to regulate and maintain with a propane burner. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JckDanls 07]

first of all.. welcome to the forums... second, would you please update your location in your profile as that will help others with advice like smoking your cheese... to begin with most if not all of us smoke cheese with heat... we use a "cold smoker"... one of our site sponsors offers a cold smoke generator and it is by far the best cold smoker out there.... If we knew your location it would help us determine if you would need a little heat (about 70`) to do your cheese... as you can imagine that kind of heat will not create smoke from wood chips.. hence the cold smoke generator... Todd at A-MAZ-N products (link found to the right) has the BEST customer service to be found... look over his products and give him a shout... I am not affiliated with his business in any way shape or form... just truly a great product for cold smoking...

If you use the handy dandy search feature at the top of the page and search "cold smoking" you will find the answer to most of your questions.... good luck with your venture

 

[dmsurvey]

Thanks. Profile updated and posted in the roll call topic.
Yes, we use heat to smoke cheese too, just at a significantly lower temp as you mention.
I will check out the links and continue to look through and browse others' posts.
I didn't see any about "open wood fire" in the bottom vs. "wood chips".

 

[JckDanls 07]

If you want just a little bit of heat (no more than 70`) during the winter months.. just put a high wattage lite bulb in the smoker.. see what kind of heat that will get you up to and then use the cold smoker... he offers all different flavors of wood pellets (which also will put out a little bit of heat) and sawdust as well.... as far as cooking hot in your smoker.. I would strongly suggest propane and still use the A-MAZ-N pellet smoker for your smoke source.. It will produce smoke for up to 10 hrs on a single load... versus having to add chunks of wood to your skillet which will last no longer than and hour at a time.... so that means no opening the doors every 30-60 minutes and loosing all your heat.. which can add up to 20 minutes of cook time every time you open the doors... "If your looking.. you aint cooking"

Nice area your in....

 

[dmsurvey]

I have read about insulation now to the point I'm not sure what to think... The insulation in this unit (stainless inside and out) is "foamed-in-place CFC and HCFC-free polyurethane insulation". I cut a small block and experimented with it in a gas oven (in a well ventilated area). Started at 200 degrees, then went up in 25 degree increments at 15 minute intervals, up to 300 degrees. I noticed no change in the foam and no observed odors. I will say that I often tend to err on the safe side, but removing it all sounds like a major undertaking. I want to use this for hot and cold smoking (cheese). If it was just for cheese I don't think I'd even be asking. Thanks in advance.