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McLay455
Joined: 23 Nov 2004 Posts: 89 Location: West of Scotland
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 7184 Location: South Kent
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Posted: Mon May 02, 05 10:08 am Post subject: Re: source of hardwood for smoking |
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McLay455 wrote: |
The Bradley pucks are expensive, so I started cutting up coppice branches into .5 in cheeses and use the (well soaked).
I use a chop-saw.. An hours work gets me all the sawdust/cheeses I need -- and you can use hazel/alder/sycamore/ash beech/oak/fruitwood. |
Hi Ivan, could you say a little more about this, please? (Or give a link if you've already spelt it out elsewhere!)
I presume you are removing the bark, but I wonder if you are having to turn the wood (to get a consistent diameter) before slicing it? How tolerant is the Bradley feeder of variation in the puck thickness? Or roundness? And what do you do to produce your "well soaked" pucks? (Like, how wet are they, soaked how long, ... ?) Someone here was invesigating 'pressing' pucks from sawdust, seemingly with little success.
Sorry about the basic questions, but the seemingly high cost of Bradley pucks is a major deterrent, although I think that your route of using the commercial smoke generator hooked up to a homemade chamber seems a very sensible way to go... |
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McLay455
Joined: 23 Nov 2004 Posts: 89 Location: West of Scotland
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smoking man
Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 1
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 45389 Location: Essex
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nora
Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 1539 Location: West Yorkshire
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Treacodactyl Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 25795 Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 7184 Location: South Kent
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 05 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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TD - as I read that other thread, you reported *hot* smoked mackerel...
Have you cracked *cold* smoking?
I've been having fun experimenting with hot (well, as cool as I can get) smoking. Salmon, pork and duck breasts all worked well.
I want to have a go at proper cold smoking, but before I collect too much junk and start 'construction' I've had a couple of little plays at firebox ideas.
A *cold* smoker essentially consists of a firebox (to generate the smoke), a food-smoking chamber, and some separation between the two (for cooling), while making sure it 'draws' well enough...
You want slow airflow in the chamber, but relatively fast airflow in the firebox to keep the sawdust alight - so the chamber must be rather bigger in volume than the firebox. However, I can confirm that its really damn difficult to keep a *small* fire smouldering nicely.
The ways round this look to be by using external heat to smoulder the wood to smoke. The Bradley uses electricity. I think TD tried tealights. I think a fondue set spirit burner seems a good bet - with the prospect of controllability.
For hot smoking, I've had success with damp sawdust directly on a tiny charcoal fire in a stainless collander. But I recognise the need for much more control (and a bit more cooling) for cold smoking. |
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 7184 Location: South Kent
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Bugs
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 10744
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Treacodactyl Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 25795 Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
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nora
Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 1539 Location: West Yorkshire
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dave d
Joined: 03 Jul 2005 Posts: 52 Location: somerset
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 7184 Location: South Kent
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 05 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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dave d wrote: |
surley if you use meths for a burner then it,s a hot smoker i have a small smoker in my garage any offers plus postage will be considerd |
"There's no smoke without fire!"
The thing about *cold* smoking is that the smoke is *so* cool that it doesn't *cook* the meat/fish/cheese/garlic/whatever at all.
But you only get smoke when the sawdust/chippings burn, or at least smoulder - which means their temp has to be ooooh 250C or more. But you want the smoke at only 40C - preferably even less. So, for a domestic smoker, it has to be cooled - usually by separating firebox and chamber.
I've enjoyed *hot* smoking - where the stuff is smoked *and* cooked. I reckon most of the time the temperature is around 60C, with occasional excursions above 100C providing the 'cooking', as things flare up occasionally. And that is perfectly OK for hot smoking.
Its damn tricky to keep a fire just smouldering, even if you are in constant attendance. To maintain a steady smoulder, while cooling the smoke (which reduces the chimney's 'draw') for the 12 hours or more that cold smoking requires, is a very long way from being easy...
Whaddya got in the garage, Dave? |
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jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28097 Location: escaped from Swindon
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