So, my g/f got me a day's cold smoking course with Turan at http://coldsmoking.co.uk/index.htm. Had an excellent day, learned all the basics of cold smoking in a really friendly, interactive environment, and came out the other end with a ProQ, a few bags of dust and a hankering to smoke just about everything in the fridge. I would highly recommend (and have highly recommended) Turan's course to anyone wanting to start out in cold smoking. Quite apart from anything else, the guy is a former firefighter and I learned far more about the science of combustion than I ever thought possible
Rather than start out sensibly, with a box I decided to build myself a smoking cabinet from scratch (I figured it would be therapeutic after a pretty stressful quarter at work). I bastardised whatever plans I could find online (including Turan's plans, which come as part of his cold-smoking course), spent too much on crappy quality B&Q timber, and got cracking over a few days off.
Wanted to keep it relatively simple, with a 50x50x150cm frame, divided into 50cm legs and a 100cm body, itself subdivided into the actual smoking chamber and a drawer for the smoker with a diffuser in-between.
I don't have the plans in a share-able format. To be honest, you wouldn't want them as I am pretty hopeless at anything DIY-ish and fully expect this to fall apart if it rains all summer like it did last year Nonetheless, some pictures of the build below.
Here is the frame.
With braces, fixed dowels for hanging bacon and the first of the tongue and groove panelling applied. [nb. I initially did the base and smoke diffuser in mdf, and then read up online about mdf and then swapped them out for ply instead... it was the comment on a carpentry forum 'mdf may be the next asbestos' that clinched it].
I fixed the dowels at the top permanently, so I could hang things from them. The other two layers of dowels were removable, so I could either place racks on them or move them to permit space for hanging sausage/bacon etc. Pretty primative set up just using panel pins. Seems to work fine.
Dowels in, tongue and groove all attached, felt roof on (which needs to come off again, because I didn't give it a proper angle for rain to drain, nor does it sufficiently overhang the front since the door has been attached, but a job for another day), basically just ready for the doors to be made and attached.
With the door attached (and an external only coat of preservative). Used a z-brace on the inside of the door and screwed the hinges to the brace. I may replace the screws I've used to attached the tongue and groove to the brace with bolts/rivets that sit flush as the screws are not holding the soft wood sufficiently 'braced' and I worry that with moisture the panelling will buckle a bit.
I used sash window hasps to latch the door closed. For two reasons: firstly the screw allows you to adjust the tightness of the door seal. I don't have a dedicated vent at the moment, so was hoping that my poor handiwork and subsequent wide tolerances would do the job. Secondly, my mate owns a sash window company and gave them to me for free.
The chamber for the ProQ has a separate horizontal door/flap so I don't have to disturb the smoking chamber when checking to see if the smoker is still smoldering. If I get into this, and upgrade my cold smoke generator to a smoke daddy, I am hoping that I will be able to seal this chamber and drill the SD into the side at this level. Since the picture was taken I have attached sash window hasps to either side of the flap. It helps control ventilation intake a bit (but not enough).
Did my first smoke this weekend. A side of salmon, some edam, emmental, hard boiled eggs and a bowl of salt. Went relatively well, although I have a problem with either my ventilation or the dust I tried to use in the first instance. Had to relight very, very frequently using some sweet chestnut and perhaps it wasn't dried out enough. When I used the (oak, I think) dust included with the ProQ, however, it worked a treat. I got about 5 hours smoke without filling the whole ProQ. The salmon (the first I have ever smoked) was awesome. More lightly smoked than our supermarket regular and a meatier texture. The cheese and eggs were also awesome.
I am very much looking forward to trying bacon, chicken breasts and duck breasts next.
Sorry for lack of technical detail, but hope this is useful (if only as moral support) for anyone as useless at DIY as me.
James