Smoker too big?

[JollyJohn]

Got the new "smoke house" on top the tandoor, filled with sausage and salmon, and the ProQ smoke generator going for about 4 hours now. The smoke is very light, have a job to imagine it will even colour the fish, is the smoker too big? Internal dims.: 525 x 450 x 950mm. The generator looks to be about halfway burnt. I intend doing a double run of the ProQ.

John.

[JollyJohn]

Some pics here:

http://www.barkerbayliss.co.uk/Smokehouse.htm

[JollyJohn]

The ProQ went out a couple times, so I've re-lit it and taken the corks out of the vent holes at the top of the smoker. The air flow seems to have made a big difference, the ProQ is burning well, and lots more smoke.

Damn! The b****y thing keep going out.
John.

[wheels]

It looks like there's plenty of ventilation at the bottom. I think as a start, I'd try drying some wood dust in a low oven before use.

However, I've had a 20kg (ish) bag of it outside just covered with a plastic bag for a year and it burns like a good 'un. My smoker does have a really good air-flow, but I've just used Ian's Eco-smoker unit and that has very little, but was no problem. Sorry, that's no help, I was just thinking out loud.

Try the oven drying and see how it goes.

Phil

[JollyJohn]

I'm well p****d off! I must have re-lit the ProQ at least 8 times, even resorted to getting my plumbers torch from the van, and really getting it going, but it lasts about ten minutes. As you can see, there is loads of bottom ventilation, and, as well as all the gaps round the door and roof, there are 4 x 22mm holes at the top.

I know it's not the fault of the ProQ, but it must be the dust they supplied with it. When i bought it, I also bought a couple of bags of oak dust, I'll try drying some in a low oven overnight, and start again in the morning.

If that doesn't work, I'll fire up the MIG welder, and stick some pieces of box section together, see if I can make a venturi generator.

[wheels]

If it's such a problem, I'd give ProBBQ a call.

Unless any other member can offer some advice?

Phil

[DanMcG]

I've heard people microwaving their dust to dry it out before smoking. It might be worth a shot

[ped]

I suffer the same problem, I have oak and beech chips from 'Ashwood', the beech lights and burns great but the oak just refuses to give a continuous burn, I have put it down to the size of the chip being slightly too big so in future I will mix the beech and oak and see if that makes a difference. I don't suppose it could be that the oak has not seasoned yet?

[JollyJohn]

Well, I eventually got the ProQ to keep burning, dried the dust in the oven, and opened up the top vent a bit more. But, it's still a bit "gentle", so I spent a happy couple of hours in the workshop and made a venturi smoker.

http://www.barkerbayliss.co.uk/Smokehouse.htm

This really does produce some smoke!

John.

[tinca]

Firstly may i say thats a brillant smoker second the dust is a pain , i had some oak dust which i got online from somewhere , now its almost identical to the proq stuff , in size etc, but is a right pain to light and keep alight, the alternative is , first to dry it as much as poss, then form a tube, i used the mesh from a NUT bird feeder, fill it up and place a piece of charcoal on it , alight obversely that should keep it going. it wont be as effecient as the csg but should work my csg seems to work a treat but its got to have the right dust particle size and really dry , make sure you clean it thorouhly after use , clear out all the holes in the mesh, i got a brass wire suede brush for that 99p I use very little vent holes on mine, got one about the size of a old peeny in the base and two the same on top which are only open a fraction Must be annoying when youve gone to that trouble producing a lovely smoker like that, but yer get there, it will be worth it, another alternative is the bean can and soldering iron job somewhere on here, until youve sort the csg out, aldi were doing cheap soldering iron and im sure youve got a fart fodder tin around Good luck and let us know if you sort it Gaz

PS i want one will post a pic if i can and show you my smoker , wife calls it APOLLO

[wheels]

John

I'm impressed, but you'll have to vent that pretty well otherwise you'll find that it will make things bitter. The idea in traditional smoking is to have a trickle of smoke 'passing by'. Things can be done more quickly, but often the result isn't as good.

The dust seems to be a lottery - as I said, I've had no problems even with less than perfect storage, others are the same. But on the other hand, some people have found the same as you.

That said, my set up has a very large air vent to feed air to the large gas burner that I use for hot smoking.

I would still be tempted to let Ian at MacsBBQ (ProQ) know of your problems.

Phil

[JollyJohn]

Phil.

I've got the lid opened a tad, as well as the holes open. I ran the venturi with some sawdust I had with my old ABU smoker, it ran non stop for a couple of hours, it was about a quarter full. I've now filled it with the oak dust I bought with ProQ, and guess what, It keeps going out, well I have to keep tapping the tube to get it to fall into the combustion chamber. I think it would work best with chips, rather than dust.

I'll keep experimenting, all part of the fun really.

John.

[Ruralidle]

The only Probbq dust that I have had real problems with was the cherry wood and nothing seemed to work. What I generally do, especially when the daytime temperatures are over about 12C, is to run the smoker overnight. I put a load of dust into the plate-warming oven of our Aga for about 6 hours (75C) let it cool and then fill the CSG. As I say, everything bar the cherry wood works fine when I follow that routine and I frequently have over 11 hours burning time from one fill of the CSG. That seems to give things items with a light initial colour, like haddock and cheese, a noticeable natural smoked colour. Just thought about something else, when you have filled the CSG give it a sharp tap or two (keeping it level) on a hard surface. This encourages the very fine dust, that can sometimes block the holes on the bottom of the CSG, to fall out.

[tinca]

John

I'm impressed, but you'll have to vent that pretty well otherwise you'll find that it will make things bitter. The idea in traditional smoking is to have a trickle of smoke 'passing by'. Things can be done more quickly, but often the result isn't as good.

The dust seems to be a lottery - as I said, I've had no problems even with less than perfect storage, others are the same. But on the other hand, some people have found the same as you.

That said, my set up has a very large air vent to feed air to the large gas burner that I use for hot smoking.

I would still be tempted to let Ian at MacsBBQ (ProQ) know of your problems.

Phil

Im not questioning yer here Wheels, but the csg dosnt give off tons of smoke , and if the air flow is ny vertical then unless the meat is in the way , its not going to get much smoke around it, i reckon you need to slow it down abit , not stop it , just slow it , give it time around the meat, it maybe better in a smaller environment, but i smoked my salmon for quite awhile and it only had a mild smoke ot it, looking down into the chamber i could see how the smoke was coming straight up and out even with very little openings,abit like smoke coming off a ciggy, perhaps a baffle would help to mix it abit, also depends on how smokey you like i suppose, every smoke is different Ill shut my mouth i know nothing Gaz

[wheels]

Tinca

My reply was to John's post:

Well, I eventually got the ProQ to keep burning, dried the dust in the oven, and opened up the top vent a bit more. But, it's still a bit "gentle", so I spent a happy couple of hours in the workshop and made a venturi smoker.

http://www.barkerbayliss.co.uk/Smokehouse.htm

This really does produce some smoke!

John.

Ith is about a venturi smoker which produces far more smoke than the csg.

I agree with what you say about the csg. I have a tray of pebbles above my csg (or burner when hot smoking) to act as a baffle. It also acts as a device to spread the heat out when hot smoking.

When using the csg, I go for a fast throughput of smoke and subsequently tend to smoke things for longer than many others would.

Phil