Jogeephus wrote:
Hoggy, you said you wished you'd never started the project.
I don't know where you got that Jogeephus, I believe I stated in a post once " I really don't regret starting this project ", you must have missed the " don't ".
Actually, I am very happy with the smoker, isolating the smoker was a good idea, I have smoked A LOT since I started the project, and the BIG advantage is, that I NEVER EVER have to worry about outside influences like; sun, temperature, wind, snow and rain. If I want to smoke, I smoke, don't have to think " what is the weather ?".
I have smoked with outside temperatures ranging from 0 C to -19 C( it has not been warmer here yet....), and always I was able to keep the temperature in the smoker between 16 C and 22 C.
There are 2 things I need to do to make this the perfect smoker for me, one is an improvement(1), and the other one is an adjustment(2).
1.The smoker is very low, and as warm air goes up, I have a bigger concentration of smoke in the upper side of the smoker, and the first time I hang sausages in it, they did not colorize on the bottom, as much as on top. I will do a test with CLOSING all inlets, and bring air in with my small aquarium pump via the second air outlet on top. This little airflow should bring oxygen into the smoker for the ProQ, but also give a downwards direction to the smoke. It is not a real big deal as it is now, but I think having no restrictions is the best, especially as this is a small smoker.
2. Eventually, with higher temperatures the CSM has to go outside the smoker. This is not a problem, and I still have time to get the best solution for doing that. And I have to test what the temperature result is, with putting cooling elements in the smoker for when it will be warm. ( another good thing that the smoker isolated )
Now....I have to give TONS of credit to Ian from probbq for developing this nice little CSG. What a great feeling it is, to light this gadget up, put it in my smoker, while there is a snowstorm outside, AND THEN GO AWAY FOR THE REST OF THE DAY, knowing that everything will still be running OK when I come back. I even think that, I would never have started this project, without knowing that this little CSG existed.
Hoggy
" The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand. " ( Frank Hebert )