Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby BriCan » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:27 am

Headbutchersouthwest wrote:I'm using dry dust too , I normally pile the dust in a heap on my sawdust tray then use a blow torch to light it , but within approx 3 hours its burnt up . I've shut the exhaust flue to 80% closed to limit air flow but it still burns too quick .


First of all ... how much is a heap??
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby BriCan » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:46 am

Headbutchersouthwest wrote:I've finally got my commercial sized smokers cold smoke box to stay smouldering for approx 12-16 hours using a larger A-MAZE type tray but custom made and is approx 30cm x 40cm x 5cm deep so that it holds more dust so I can smoke for longer,


Why would you like to cold smoke longer than 12 - 16 hours when the norm is eight hours :?:


but my problem now is producing enough smoke to fill the meat chamber so that the smoke takes to the meat in the 12-16 hour smoke time!


You need a bigger smoke box .. by the way how big is your commercial sized smoker :?:

At the moment if I hang approx 10 whole loins of pork cured as bacon in the chamber it would take 24-36hours to penetrate the meat for a deep smoke flavour & also go a nice golden coulor on the outside , so I'm now stuck for producing more smoke for shorter times 14-16 hours . :(


My giddy aunt ... yuh cannot hope to produce "good" cold smoked bacon in them times :(
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby BriCan » Sat Jan 17, 2015 7:10 am

Headbutchersouthwest wrote:.
I'm just trying to emulate what I've seen but it's just not working for me perhaps I'm missing something ..?


I am really nobody at all, ... I just tend to do this for a living ... as said before ... need some specifics .. photo's would help

to do a half decent smoke you need to do it long and slow .......

start the smoking at seven in the morning and if you build it right it will last until three in the afternoon (8 hours) let rest until seven the next morning (16 hours) -- then start again ---- smoking at seven in the morning until three in the afternoon, ... now let rest overnight and the following day .... then do the smoking process again two more times ...

When you have done this hang the bacon in a cool place/room (between 7 and 8 C.) for seven days

Below is the smokehouse that I was using up until recently


Image
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby BriCan » Sat Jan 17, 2015 7:16 am

saucisson wrote:Despite my scientific background I have to admit that smoking is an art :D


Well said :D

Getting the balance between smoked and acrid can be difficult as can getting a nice colour. If I had to produce a consistent product day in and out I would probably top myself :)


Following the simple instructions I wrote as well as following vagreys thin blue smoke is all you need ..... besides topping is only done on carrots :wink: :mrgreen:
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby BriCan » Sat Jan 17, 2015 7:36 am

This is what happens when the afore instructions are followed ... this shot is just after bacon was taken out of the smoker

Image


and this shot is after seven days drying/maturing

Image


This is a dry cured maple bacon that I do ... the smoke flavour is delicate and not overpowering and has penetrated ... a hint of maple and not sweet as one would associate with maple syrup (I am using maple sugar) and the spices that the bellies was dusted with in the beginning shine trough ... HTH
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby Headbutchersouthwest » Sat Jan 17, 2015 7:58 am

Thankyou everyone for all of the replies ..!

BriCan I will try your 8hour method out & see what the results are with photos or even a video!

My smoker is a Beelonia F5 (approx 5ft high x 3ft wide x 3ft deep) with outside smoke box for cold smoking, we had initial problems With air flow but we have now got over this problem!
I'm using a bigger version of the A-mazin dust tray (custom built) & using approx 700g beech dust mixed with 700g oak corse dust, at the beginning of the maze of dust I put a hand full of smoke pellets which I lite with a blow torch & this helps the dust to start smouldering . After an hour the dust is smouldering nicely & there is a gently stream of smoke in the smoker , the exhaust flue is approx 85% closed . The dust burns well for over 6-8 hours.
My question now is ..! Am I producing enough smoke in this time but I will need to take a short video to show this .

Again I'm just confused from watching all of the videos on YouTube of people producing loads of smoke in there smaller cold smokers using either the Smoke Daddy bullet type smoke generator or something similar ..! With great results in 8-10 hours or slightly longer . :roll:

I'm just trying to find a happy medium & to produce a good cold smoke product in house & not have to send products out to others to smoke for me

That Bacon looks great BriCan
Headbutchersouthwest
Registered Member
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:21 am
Location: South west

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby wheels » Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:53 pm

In my experience, albeit limited, masses of smoke produces a bitter tasting product.

You may 'get away' with it with a big exhaust flu/vent - the smoke wants to leave as quickly as it arrives.

However, IMO, like most things, the quick way isn't always the best - you've only got to look at Brican's superb products, produced slowly, to see this.

Phil
User avatar
wheels
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 12890
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:29 pm
Location: Leicestershire, UK

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby BriCan » Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:14 am

wheels wrote:In my experience, albeit limited, masses of smoke produces a bitter tasting product.


Not necessary the "masses' :?: .. what I have found is that if there is dense white smoke then there will be problems

You may 'get away' with it with a big exhaust flu/vent - the smoke wants to leave as quickly as it arrives.

Having a big exhaust vent will in fact make as you say the smoke leave the chamber quickly .. one needs to slow it down (which is why on off set smoke boxes ((outside the chamber)) are low and on one side and the exit is high and on the opposite side) ... if one puts a baffle about 6 to 8 inches below the exit and at least 2 to 3 times the area of the exit this will keep the smoke in the chamber longer

We must always remember that to do smoking it should be of the thin blue type ... the stuff you can hardly see with the naked eye
But what do I know
User avatar
BriCan
Registered Member
 
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:07 am
Location: West Coast of Canada

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby wheels » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:53 pm

Yes, the point I was trying to make (albeit badly) is that the smoke doesn't wan't to linger - stale smoke = bitter product.

Phil
User avatar
wheels
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 12890
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:29 pm
Location: Leicestershire, UK

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby Headbutchersouthwest » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:41 pm

BriCan

Would you have any shots of your smoke generator ?
Is hanging the meat high in the smoker a must or would laying the meat on stainless shelves make a difference ?

I'm just waiting for my next lot of bacon to cure before I take some shots and a short video to post on here to show my setup
Headbutchersouthwest
Registered Member
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:21 am
Location: South west

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby Headbutchersouthwest » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:12 pm

Photos and videos have been taken , I'm suffering from wifi problems at the moment so uploading to YouTube is taking forever...! :roll:

My bacon is currently 70% threw smoking process with just another 8-10hour session due weds morning!
I'm sure BriCans method is killer and going to work but I'm also sure im not producing enough smoke but we will see results tomorrow afternoon.

I'm also thinking whether moving the smoke tray into the bottom on my smoker would make a difference?
At the moment the smoke has to travel up & along a pipe approx 75cm & into the smoker , but if I place the smoke tray at the bottom of my smoker then the smoke will just travel upwards and out the flue above !
There is a vented partition in the bottom of the smoker which the smoke will travel thru and then around the trip tray to the main smoke chamber , I'm sure any heat from the smoke tray will not affect the meat as its only dust smouldering ?
Any thoughts on this ?
Headbutchersouthwest
Registered Member
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:21 am
Location: South west

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby NCPaul » Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:11 am

I think if the smoker is working properly, you won't see much smoke. I think of smoking as combustion of an organic fuel. Consider two extremes, first the combustion is perfect and wood is converted to water vapor and carbon dioxide. Unless it was very cold, nothing would be visible. At the other extreme, the combustion is poor (incomplete) and the wood is converted to water vapor and thousands of other organic compounds that occur before the wood reached carbon dioxide. These would include carbon monoxide (one step away) all the way up to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH compounds). The later are solids that would give the combustion a dark grey or black appearance and deposit as particulates. An example that is common would be the generally excellent combustion of fuel in cars (very little vapor seen except on cold days) versus an open pan of fuel burning which gives off thick clouds of dark smoke. A flame indicates rapid and incomplete combustion while a glowing ember indicates slow and more perfect combustion. I know that when I tried to smoke foods on my grill with wood chunks, that they would sometimes catch fire, instead of smolder, and I would see a cloud of smoke. This was never good for my food. Two approaches can be used to slow the combustion down and make it more perfect. Restrict the heat below which a flame can be supported or restrict the oxygen a flame would need.
Fashionably late will be stylishly hungry.
NCPaul
Site Admin
 
Posts: 2918
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:58 am
Location: North Carolina

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby Headbutchersouthwest » Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:56 am

http://youtu.be/Wl5TEHB4iMg

Video of my cold smoke generator tray
Headbutchersouthwest
Registered Member
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:21 am
Location: South west

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby yotmon » Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:13 am

Your vid is marked up as 'private' on youtube, so unfortunately can't be viewed.
"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." - Sir Winston Churchill
User avatar
yotmon
Registered Member
 
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:07 pm
Location: North west England

Re: Dry sawdust or dampen the sawdust..?

Postby Headbutchersouthwest » Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:24 pm

Headbutchersouthwest
Registered Member
 
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:21 am
Location: South west

PreviousNext

Return to Smoking and Barbecuing

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests

cron