Zeolyte Filters???

[NahsteeDawg]

Anyone hear about these new filters that are used in auto exhaust pipes that are supposed to filter out cancer causing carcinogens? think this will be good for the smoking community?

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!
Never heard of them. Feel free to send me one and I'll put it in my mailbox mod elbow joint and test it out :)

 

[SonnyE]

No.
Sounds like more intervention by somebody chasing a buck.
Like the guy who invented the Saw Stop, then tried to get Congress to pass a bill requiring his invention be required on Table saws.
Stay out of my backyard.

 

[chopsaw]

I'm gonna second the no .

 

[johnmeyer]

I have no clue which components in smoke would be considered more unhealthy than others. Even if you could identify something in the smoke that was bad, I don't know how a filter could be selective and remove only that one component.

I am well aware of the risks of inhaling smoke (e.g., cigarettes), but have never seen anything about eating smoke. Most of what I've read about any possible (although IMHO unlikely) unhealthy aspects of what is discussed in these forums has to do with some of the products you get when cooking cured meat, and what you get when you get a nice char on a piece of meat.

However, there most definitely are all sorts of things in smoke that can make your food taste bad, chief among them being creosote. Getting smoke that tastes good involves a lot of science, but even more art (i.e., skill). From what I've read (I am no expert), you want to provide plenty of oxygen to your smoking source, and you want to condense out the creosote. Unlike most other components in the smoke which I don't think can be selectively removed, creosote can be reduced through condensing the smoke on a cold surface. Some people use long runs of conduit between their smoke generator and the place where the food resides. I chose instead to use a filter.

So, since you asked about a filter, here is my cheap filter. It is simply a stainless steel scrubbing pad, and it works really well. I clean it between use:

61IES5EDv3L._AC_UL320_SR312,320_.jpg

• johnmeyer
• Feb 28, 2017

This is what it looks like after one two-hour smoke:

Filter%20After_zpsvbhnflav.jpg

• johnmeyer
• Apr 2, 2017

And this is what it looks like after it has been cleaned and is ready to be stuffed into the lid of my AMNPS "mailbox mod" (mine is a popcorn tin):

Before_zpstwkn26zm.jpg

• johnmeyer
• Apr 2, 2017

Actually, I insert it halfway between the smoke generator and the MES, the coldest place in the whole arrangement.

 

[chopsaw]

John I liked your filter when I first saw. It . Just saying no to this because if it scrubs exhaust I would think more is involved than just a ss mesh . Chemicals? Fiberglass ? Who knows .

 

[johnmeyer]

I just realized that you are probably talking about Zeolite, not Zeolyte. If so, that is pretty common stuff. I used to use it decades ago when I was keeping tropical fish. It does a great job, among other things, of absorbing ammonia, which is created when fish waste breaks down. Ammonia is quite toxic to the fish and therefore has to be broken down artificially (in larger bodies of water there are natural things that break it down).

Once you spell it with an "i" instead of "y" you can Google it and determine if the things it absorbs are likely to be in BBQ smoke and, if so, whether they would be worth removing:

Zeolite Wikipedia Article

 

[SonnyE]

I just realized that you are probably talking about Zeolite, not Zeolyte. If so, that is pretty common stuff. I used to use it decades ago when I was keeping tropical fish. It does a great job, among other things, of absorbing ammonia, which is created when fish waste breaks down. Ammonia is quite toxic to the fish and therefore has to be broken down artificially (in larger bodies of water there are natural things that break it down).

Once you spell it with an "i" instead of "y" you can Google it and determine if the things it absorbs are likely to be in BBQ smoke and, if so, whether they would be worth removing:

Zeolite Wikipedia Article

John,
This fish I smoke are way beyond making ammonia.
They just don't have the guts for it anymore.