Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with pictures)

Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with pictures)

Postby frog » Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:56 pm

Hi,


For anyone who's interested in cold smoking here's how I went about it.
After various experiments with plastic storage crates etc.I finally cobbled together 2 bedside cabinets and used cheap cooling racks as the racks inside resting on wooden batons. The base has a bit of tin plate cut to size as a fire precaution. I sealed any gaps with mastic sealant and then painted the outside with yacht vanish to make it waterproof.

Image

Generating the smoke has been an issue. I've tried various methods including the mesh tray with the tea light but the results have been a bit hit and miss.

So I've gone down the soldering iron route, however these either burnt out or tripped the electric. Until finally I came up with the idea of a timer set to 15 mins on and 15 mins off.

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The best soldering iron by far is a 20 watt job from Wickes (Other soldering irons are available.) and I found some mesh containers meant for keeping pens and pencils tidy, for a quid a throw!
This set up works a treat and will smoulder happily for 3 hours per fill. For those who are interested I'm using shavings of oak made with an electric plane on it's deepest setting. (I googled "furniture makers" and found a guy who was happy to swap some home cured bacon for some old planks.)

Here's some kippers at the end of a 10 hour smoke.(I used thin plastic cable ties to suspend them.)

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The door is a push fit with a hole and a champagne cork for the lead. The lead is lightly clamped to the inside of the chest.

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By sealing the extension lead in a bin liner, I've even had this running in the pouring rain.

I hope this gives someone some ideas and has been helpful.

Frog
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby Dingo » Mon Feb 17, 2014 12:34 am

Awesome...i love home built smokers....great job
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby frog » Mon Feb 17, 2014 5:42 pm

Thanks for the feedback Dingo. Appreciated.
Frog
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby wheels » Mon Feb 17, 2014 6:57 pm

Welcome, they all look great Frog. That bacon's good and thick. Mmm...

Many of us now use one of these:

http://www.macsbbq.com/cold-smokers/pro ... -generator

It gives a lot longer unattended smoke.

Phil
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby frog » Tue Feb 18, 2014 4:55 pm

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your comments, love your website BTW. I can see me checking out that on a regular basis. I make my own bacon and sausages and want to have a crack at cheeses and salami once I can get a suitable temp / humidity control set up.
I was using a pro smoker but seem to have hit a wall keeping it going, and with the amount of smoke generated, hence the soldering iron. You're right it is a bit high maintenance but it does the job and is reliable.

Regards

Mark
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby wheels » Tue Feb 18, 2014 6:10 pm

Thanks for the comments.

If you're having a problem with your CSG, it may be worth having a word with Mac, he's been very helpful when people have had problems in the past.

That said, that soldering iron looks 'the business'; mine was nowhere near as good.

Phil
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby Rothermere » Tue May 06, 2014 1:30 pm

That looks great. Are you managing to keep temperatures down with the size and the soldering iron? Do you think it will be a problem over summer, or will you be a nocturnal smoker :)
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Re: Cheap and effective Cold Smoker set up (V 2 with picture

Postby frog » Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:37 pm

Hi Rothermere,

Thanks for the comments and sorry for the delay getting back to you. I must have missed a notification somewhere along the way.

The soldering iron doesn't present too much of a problem temperature wise because as you correctly surmise, I tend to smoke in the winter months and over night. Ideally the ambient temperature needs to be < 5 degrees C to keep me happy.

Regards

Frog
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