New cold smoke generator designed in the UK

[welsh wizard]

Freeze away, no problem. You will have cooked it in the salt brine / dry rub before smoking.

cheers WW

[coastie]

Thanks WW
coastie

[Nick]

I've just ordered one of these smokers. I've been running a home-made cold smoke generator for a couple of years but got a bit bored with having to refill the blasted thing every 4 hours, and I love the design of this. Mine lights badly and is noisy (aquarium pump). If this one does what it claims to it'll make my life a hell of a lot easier.

Quick question: how dry does the wood/dust have to be before it'll burn effectively? And are there other methods of getting dust from wood? I've only ever smoked with chips before so am not familiar with dust production I can't find anyone locally who sells the stuff (Lancashire). Bloke's saw will apparently produce dust but I'm not sure how much drying I'll need to do first. There's identifiable wood in the firewood pile but it's not all dry.

I really want to oak-smoke some bacon and salmon. I've been smoking with beech recently and while the results are OK, they don't have that fantastic depth of flavour that I got with the oak bark chips.

[Kuma]

I'd say it has to be very dry Nick. The commercial dust I use is kiln dried, but must rehydrate slightly from living in the shed. I think you will just have to try, but would suggest artificially drying some logs to start with if they have been stored outside.

[saucisson]

Richierich sent me some of his shavings to try out to see if they could be processed to suit the ProQ smoker. They appeared well seasoned but after grinding in a coffee grinder to a fine powder I found I had to bake them in the oven before they would burn properly. Once they had been "processed" they were fine.

Dave

[culinairezaken]

i always dry my wooddust in the oven, 150 celsius for half an hour.
works very well!

[saucisson]

That's good to know, I forgot exactly how long I had dried Rich's for as I just chucked it in alongside something I was cooking.

Dave

[Paul Kribs]

I tried the cold smoker last week. Put a plain 1 kg chicken in, a couple of garlics and a lump of Edam (yes, rubbery soap).
Haven't tried the garlics yet, but they give the spice cupboard a lovely smokey aroma.
I roasted the chicken and pulled the meat and made a creamy mushroom and veggie sauce and added the meat. Put in a baking tray and covered the lot with a cheesy champ.. Superb smokey undertone to the whole thing.
Best was the rubbery soap. I couldn't stop slicing slithers off it. It was completely transformed to smokey rubbery soap seriously, very nice indeed and will get done again.
Must say I was impressed with the 10 and a quarter hours of smoke I got from 1 filling of dust. A nicely designed little thing indeed and credit where credit is due.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[saucisson]

Best was the rubbery soap. I couldn't stop slicing slithers off it. It was completely transformed to smokey rubbery soap seriously, very nice indeed and will get done again.

Regards, Paul Kribs

Bizarre though it may seem, you have encouraged me to try some

I did a smoked camembert for a cold buffet at my wife's work and I now have orders for 18 for Christmas. Sainsbury's are doing Coeur de Lion for 89p off and I did get some rather odd looks when I went through the checkout with a trolley load.

Dave

[wheels]

I like both Brie and Camembert smoked.

A good Cheddar's my faavourite, as is Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. I keep meaning to try Stilton; has anyone done it?

Phil

[royt]

I have smoked Stilton,Double Gloucester & a mild Chedder and I have come the conclusion use only fruit wooddust like apple,plum or cherry. I used oak as I was smoking some haddock salmon and bacon at the time and in my opinion it made the cheese a little bitter for my palate although it is edible

[Richierich]

Having one or two issues with the CSG, keeps going out. I have ground up my own wood shavings in the coffee grinder to a smaller size, large dust, similar in appearance to the bag supplied with the CSG. Had them in the oven for half an hour at 150C to dry.

Last afternoon I lit the unit to try out the new smoker cabinet I have built (more of that in another post I fear), only got a burn down the first side, is it likely in the damp conditions of a misty/rainy afternoon that he wood would absorb any moisture reducing the chance of a full burn? I am not weighing the amount I put in just filling the CSG, could I be some how adding too much and making too dense of a dust pile, will weigh out 100g today and try again.

How much air does this thing need round it to keep lit, only I think I may have a redesign on my hands, pictures and problems in another post in a wee while.

[probbq]

Rich, did it burn all the way with the dust that the unit came with?

[Richierich]

Didn't leave it for long enough, it burnt round to the second corner in 5 hours.

[Richierich]

Gonna have to buy some, the sawdust I had is no good. First bag I discovered bits of concrete and rubber in, the latest batch smells quite acrid, possibly not untreated as they claimed. Still cost me nothing...

Let's see how quick Macsbbq can be, gonna have to freeze the fish anyway. Do you sell the dust??