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2 Egg Cold Smoking Method; a ?

BBQfan1
BBQfan1 Posts: 562
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I have 6 pieces (3 full slabs) of pork belly curing for bacon which should be ready to smoke next Monday or Tuesday. I'd like to start smoking them at a temp of about 90 or 100°F and then slowly increase the temp and smoke to 140-160°F. To do this, I was going to put 3 of the pieces at a time in the XL (2 on grid, 1 on Xtender) and then have a small fire in the Large beside it with a length of dryer hose connecting the two. I know someone has posted a 2-Egg hookup before (Darryl?), but I seem to remember that running from one chimney to the 'receiving Egg''s exhaust vent. I'm thinking of going chimney to chimney with the hose held in place by adjustable clamps. Questions:
Anyone have experience with this set up? Will a chimney-to-chimney set up work? If vent on both Eggs are open the airflow should go from hot Egg in-flow to receiving Egg exhaust flow, just like the way an offset cooker draws, shouldn't it? Lastly, what type and size of fire is necessary in the 'hot Egg' to create the temps in 'receiving Egg' that I am seeking? And also, does the length of connecting hose play a (major) part in either heat/smoke flow and do you feel there is an 'optimum' length? Lotsa questions, I know. Hopefully someone out there has walked this path before and can help me out a bit....
Qfan

Comments

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    BBQfan1,
    ive never done the 2 egg setup, however ive done low temp cooks with one egg. 140 can be maintained for quite awhile and with the addition of some ice filled soda bottles i think you could maintain the lower temps. how long do you plan to smoke them.

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Borders
    Borders Posts: 665
    BBQfan1, In my quests to do cold smokes I tried this method a couple of times and it is nearly impossible to do what you want to do. Probably not impossible, but nearly. Aside from just being plain difficult to attach everything correctly, it's hard to keep a fire going when your second egg is so cool. Since the fire is in the small egg, air flow starts out ok, and then the smoke gets backed up in the big egg, because it really doesn't rise out of the top well.[p]If I were you, I'd try this. Start a small fire in the XL. HolySmokes likes to use a large coffee can with both ends cut out as a chimney to contain the fire. I've tried this and like it. Make sure the fire is going and add smoking wood, then put COOL plate setter, grill and meat in the Egg. This way your smoking is starting out at ambient temps. Open your bottom vent quite a bit and barely crack your daisy. Here, I use Mickey T's #1 temperature ring to really restrict air flow, but you can use a daisy.[p]play with the bottom vent, and only keep it open enough to keep the fire going. [p]Monitor the GRID temp. If it gets to high, open everything up and let it cool, maybe start a new fire if necessary.[p]I recently did some chipotles like this in 80 degree weather, and wanted my grid temp below 140. I was able to do this for 8-10 hours with this method. I would open up my large egg whenever I didn't see or smell smoke, and either add chunks or stir up the coffee can. This cooled thing down and kept me smoking. [p]I believe that with really cool ambient temps, I could go much longer at low temps. [p]I've though about and played with this concept alot, and hope that either this helps, or you have a better idea that you will share later. Scott

  • Yo Mike, If I remember correctly, wasn't that Dr. Chicken who used the flexible duct pipe in the manner you described?
    Perhaps there is a picture of that set up in the archives.[p]Speakiing of Dr. Chicken, I haven't seen a post by him on any of the BBQ forums in ages. I wonder what ever happened to him.[p]Lager,[p]Juggy

  • YB
    YB Posts: 3,861
    newegg1.jpg
    <p />BBQfan1,
    This is off of Chuck's profile.
    Larry

  • BBQfan1,
    Heat rises, so it's not gonna work very well. I suppose you could build a very small fire, and put a large pan full of cool water or maybe water and ice on the plate setter beneath the meat. Other than that, ??

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    BBQfan1,[p]another thought might be to take the fire ring out make the fire from som previously burnt lump and get a large pizza stone down as close to the fire as possible with just enough space to keep some airflow. i think getting that stone down low would let you have a larger more managable fire down there and still keep the upper temps low. without the stone, i can keep the temps down around 145, so im thinking that with the stone you could probably drop that temp down atleast 30 degrees and still be maintaining the same fire
    [ul][li]two egg setup[/ul]
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • BBQfan1
    BBQfan1 Posts: 562
    Borders,
    I see what you and some folks are talking about re: hot air rising, getting 'trapped' etc, but I also am thinking of a cooker like a cookshack, where the hot smoke actually circulates up and around through the cook chamber before exiting out a lower vent (if I remember that correctly).
    So with this projected Egg setup, if both chimneys are well sealed, would it not hold to reason that the hot smoke/air from Large would go up through the coiled pipe, into the XL and then seek/be drawn to the lower exhaust, passing over the meat in the process? Maybe you are saying that it is very difficult to get that tight seal and that's where the game is lost, but I just think that if there is a hot intake and, at the other end, a cool exhaust, physics and such will create a draw/draft from the Large, through to the XL, over the food and out the lower vent without a backup of stale smoke stuck on the meat. I may be an optimist, but I wonder where the flaw in that set up is? I'd rather be corrected than screw-up 30 lbs of meat, so feel free to correct me. I'm Canadian, so type slowly, eh? LOL
    Qfan

  • Borders
    Borders Posts: 665
    BBQfan1, Not having tried that, I don't know if it is flawed or not. If you are worried about the 30 pounds of meat, try a dry run before hand.[p]

  • BBQfan1
    BBQfan1 Posts: 562
    Borders:
    LOL... well, I SUPPOSE we could actually try a dry run before subjecting 30 lbs of 10-day cured meat to this method. Seems like playing things a little 'safe' to me, but I think you are, of course, correct. As Nature Boy will attest, I'm not the best note-keeper and stickler for detail, but you are definitely correct in this instance. I'll get the 'hardware' together and give this method a test run before week's end. No sense hitchin' the horse to a flat-tire wagon, eh? Will post the results...
    Qfan

  • one egg cold smoking setup
    after curing the salmon/washing/drying i cold smoked the salmon for 45 min at approx 200F & diverted the smoke to an oven tray that was covered with aluminum foil - works great for making Lox

    34578%3B6323232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2327%3D8%3A3%3D677%3DXROQDF%3E23239469%3A%3B%3B34ot1lsi[/p]
    [p]34578%3B6323232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2327%3D8%3A3%3D677%3DXROQDF%3E23235%3B547%3C35%3Aot1lsi

  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    yo...Juggy D Beerman or any other person who knows how to contact Dave Spence aka Dr Chicken - I ask you to please email me as Pat and I really would like to get in touch with he and Carolyn!...Thanks!
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • Kinger
    Kinger Posts: 147
    BBQfan1,
    I have never tried cold smoking anything but had a hair brained idea. If you have a guru try putting it on the secondary "cold" egg. But only if reversing the polarity of the fan power cable makes the fan spin backwards. That would give you the draw that you need on the cold side. I suppose that you could just put the guru on the "hot" egg but there might not be enough air pressure to force the air out the bottom of the "cold" egg. [p]JNK

  • Yo Ron, I have no idea on how to get in touch with Dave. The last e-mail address I have for him is no longer valid. If you hear anything on Dave, let me know.[p]Lager,[p]Juggy
  • Juggy D Beerman,
    Shoot me an e-mail.[p]Mike