Cold Smoker

[merlot brougham]

I've started in on a new hobby of making my own sausages and curing my own meats.  I decided I wanted to have the ability to cold smoke some of these products but didn't want to lay out the dough necessary to purchase one.  And although the cardboard box idea is great in it's simplicity I wanted to actually craft something halfway decent.  I'm almost done.  I just ordered the hot plate, a skillet for the chips and a computer fan with adjustable speed and AC adapter to complete it.  Here's what I've got so far:


Old Weber kettle grill, steel trash can.  I feel like I'm probably going to have to buy another section of duct and couple it to the existing duct to help get the temperature of the smoke down.  We'll see...


Computer fan will be mounted on the inlet from the smoke generator (kettle grill) to aid in getting a steady smoke draw and for pellicle formation.


The hot plate and skillet filled with wood chips will sit on this grate.

After I get the rest of the bits and pieces and try it out I will post pictures and report on the success.  Then it will be waiting game for the ambient temperatures to drop....

[bitter]

Nice! My old neighbors had an awesome setup at their place. The had an old indoor wood stove connected to a large wooden smoke-box (Larger than a fridge) via about 10' piping. We used to make homemade jerky all the time.

[James1214]

Merlot, kitchen McGuyver I love you. this brought a tear to my eye.

[khoomeizhi]

awesome. keep doing.

[MadJohnShaft]

Wow. You totally have to put that on that Maker website. Bravo. That is just amazing. I bet you don't need the fan - I noticed on my smoker that the rising heat creates an aggressive updraft even when the firebox door is closed.

You will put a temperature probe in the meat chamber with a switch on the power to the hot plate? Amazon product reviews for those products have a lot of useful info.


I bailed on sausage making - it's too hot in Chicagoland and my basement humidity and temperature swings wildly ;(

[Lumpy]

Nice!

[I,Galactus]

Applauded for ingenuity and badassery.   Keep us posted!

[RAGER]

chef rager approves.  continue.  fuck the UL

[Lumpy]

So you hang meat from the crossbars in the garbage can?

[ez]

Are the inner walls of the garbage can safe for smoking in that they're not chemically treated with something that might react with the smoke or residual heat?

Otherwise, sweet contraption bro.

[MadJohnShaft]

Stainless steel?

[James1214]

in a can like that its most likely galvanized steel, the zinc coating has to hit 4-5000 degrees for it to oxidize and offgas to be an issue.... and given ths is a cold smoker and not a forge. it aint gonna hit that, probably more like the 200 degree range at absolute most. also even if the zinc galvanizing did somehow "contaminate" the food zinc is really only dangerous when inhaled in gaseous form, in other applications zinc oxide (the resultant substance after the zinc has been heated to the "burning" point, or exposed to air for long enough) is in sunscreen, calamine lotion, breakfast cereal, paint (it along with titanium oxide replaced lead in house paint) and other benign applications.

[RAGER]

i would hope that your cold smoker wouldn't get anywhere near 200 degrees cuz there goes your cold smoking.  Temp should be low enough to do cheeses and veggies without cooking them.

[James1214]

agreed, i accidentally hit a 2 instead of a 1, typing on this laptop keyboard is a bitch with my gigantic hands.

[merlot brougham]

James, you are the effing man.  Thanks for causing me to not explain all that.  Indeed, it is galvanized.  The duct work, flanges and cross bars are aluminum and again, pose no danger at these temperatures. 

In general, you want to keep things out of the "bacterial danger zone" when cold smoking.  It isn't of major concern with things like cured sausages, cured pork bellies and the like.  Cold smoking is NOT cooking though, it is just a flavor augmentation.  Now, keeping things cool is of major importance if you want to smoke fish, fresh sausage, cheese and veggies.  So that is the major importance of the long duct and computer fan, cooling things down as much as possible.  Of course the draw is important with the fan since there is no real fire in the smoke producer, just a low smolder in the skillet.  And again, the fan aids in pellicle formation which helps in smoking meat but is critical for smoking fish.

The hot plate will not be switched on and off MJS, it will be set to produce smoke and that's it.  The thermometer will monitor smoker temp and I will adjust tubing length and fan speed to adjust temp. 

And yeah Lumpy, hang from the crossbars with meat hooks, or sausage links draped over it, or a basket hanging from it for other things.  I've heard really good things about smoking salt too.  Then you can use the salt for flavoring or a quick cure.  Endless possibilities.  And the best part is I can still use the kettle grill as a hot smoker.

Thanks for all the interest and kudos y'all, I really appreciate it. 

[merlot brougham]

Shafty, obviously temp and humidity is a major issue here too regarding curing meats.  Possibly more so, in that it is hotter for more of the year here.  A little ingenuity and a pretty small budget and you can build a pretty badass curing chamber.  Here's a good tutorial on curing at home and if you don't have someplace suitable in your house, what to build.

http://mattikaarts.com/blog/charcuterie/meat-curing-at-home-the-setup/

I was thinking that with all my lab connections I'd be able to track down an affordable temp and humidity controlled incubator, retired from lab use.  That turned out to be a bit of a fantasy, in the budget range I have.  Anyway, building this is my next project.  Hope to have it complete over this winter, finding the right fridge being the key.

[bitter]

Oh man, I totally forgot to mention that my Dad's side of the family smoke bricks of Velveeta cheese around Christmas. Most people would argue American and Velveeta cheeses by nature are mild, but when smoked becomes very strong tasting with a rubbery rind.

[MadJohnShaft]

I bet you could smoke a headless human baby in there

[Lumpy]

There's room for the head. You get a lot of oohs and ahhs, when you bring it out with the head still on.

[khoomeizhi]

smoked salt can be awesome --- so can smoked whole peppercorns.

[mortlock]

cold logger

[Pissy]

I just saw this thread.

Merlot, have you considered coiling the duct up into an ice bath?  It would introduce a maintenance aspect (re-icing) but if I'm not mistaken cold smoking takes a relatively short amount of time, so no real big deal.

I realize this is 5 months ago.
Good work dude.

[MadJohnShaft]

Plus the baby is ready to eat.

[khoomeizhi]

yeah, seems like now's a good time to ask if there are pics of it in action and/or meaty products as well. are there?

[Chovie D]

just seeing this now...fucking eh...hats off!