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Simple cold smoker
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McLay455



Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 89
Location: West of Scotland
PostPosted: Mon May 02, 05 8:23 am    Post subject: source of hardwood for smoking Reply with quote
    

I have a Bradley smoke generator and a home-made whisky barrel cold smoker.
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 and collect the sawdust for the other smoker.
An hours work gets me all the sawdust/cheeses I need -- and you can use hazel/alder/sycamore/ash beech/oak/fruitwood.

Best source of oak I have found is a cooperage where they repair
barrels

dougal



Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
PostPosted: Mon May 02, 05 10:08 am    Post subject: Re: source of hardwood for smoking Reply with quote
    

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...

McLay455



Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 89
Location: West of Scotland
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 05 6:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I don't remove the bark,and select poles about 2.25 inch in dia.
The Bradley is fairly tolerant about the size as long as they are
not too thin (they jam) you set thechop saw at half an inch and it works.
I soak them in water for 10 mins and drain them for a minute or so.

I tried to make the pucks,with no success.
I mix pucks and cheeses cut from poles and get good results

smoking man



Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 05 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Oak shavings are readily available from joiners shops or if your Kent come in and see me as i build oak framed buildings and have oak shavings everywhere.

Shaving traded scrumpy or what have you !?

Smoking man

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 05 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

smoking man wrote:
Oak shavings are readily available from joiners shops or if your Kent come in and see me as i build oak framed buildings and have oak shavings everywhere.


Very interesting SM, anything we can see?

nora



Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Posts: 1539
Location: West Yorkshire
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hello, did anyone manage to make a simple cold smoker in the end? We fancy having a go at doing some salmon as we just had some wild alaskan from Tescos and liked it but its very expensive to buy.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 4:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

nora wrote:
Hello, did anyone manage to make a simple cold smoker in the end? We fancy having a go at doing some salmon as we just had some wild alaskan from Tescos and liked it but its very expensive to buy.


I made a small one and details are here: https://forum.downsizer.net/about4254.html

It's a bit too small for salmon but fine for a trout or a chunk of cheese. I've used it several times now and the cheese comes out very well. I'm not sure what to use for a larger go, perhaps a very large veg oil drum?

dougal



Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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.

dougal



Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

PS - I got my oak sawdust from "smoking man" (thanks again), who has a very nifty arrangement.
The pipe from his (10 litre?) firebox to his oildrum chamber has a waterjacket! He keeps this below the level of his (above ground level) fishtank (its not exactly a pond!). Once all the pipes are full, the cooling operates by the thermosyphon principle, syphoning happily over the edge of the tank...
It seems to work. On the 18C day I visited, he had 20C in the smoke chamber - that IS cold smoking!

Bugs



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dougal wrote:
On the 18C day I visited, he had 20C in the smoke chamber


That was two months ago (wasn't it?) - how do you remember all this stuff Dougal

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 8:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

dougal wrote:
TD - as I read that other thread, you reported *hot* smoked mackerel...

Have you cracked *cold* smoking?


More warm smoked I think. The cheese now sits at the top and doesn't get that hot. It's certainly worthwhile and I will have a go at something better when I have time.

For the woodchips I just chop at an oak log for a while and collect to chips.

Today I say another clay bread oven and a clay smelting furnace, so many things to try.

nora



Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Posts: 1539
Location: West Yorkshire
PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 05 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks TD and Dougal, thats us sorted for something to do next weekend-i've got some bricks and shall get some tins this week. Good photo of what it should look like, at least I know what were aiming for.

dave d



Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 52
Location: somerset
PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 05 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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

dougal



Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 05 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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?

jema
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28097
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 05 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The more I play with my filing cabinet smoker, the more I appreciate the need for a separare fire box...

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