Cold smoking on Large BGE?

JeffCowley

Hey y'all,

I'm interested in cold smoking on my large BGE.  I'd like to do salmon, jerky and various cheeses.  I'm only able to get my BGE down to about 200 degrees.  How do y'all get it cooler than that?  I'm interested and open to all suggestions.  Thanks!

fruitguy

A-Maze-N smoker
http://www.amazenproducts.com/Default.asp

JeffCowley

You just drop one of those in, instead of the usual lump charcoal?  Damn, that seems easy enough.

fruitguy

that is the easy part.  then comes the myriad of ways to brine and different woods for smoke and lets not forget the amount of time spent in the smoke.

It is a fun journey

pantsypants

yeah its simple ,
and you will never buy store made bacon or salmon .
its so easy and so delicious

DMW

+1 on adding the A-Maze-N Smoker. One of the most cost effective way to expand your BGE, or a cardboard box for that matter.

NautiRogue

I haven't tried the A-Maze-N smoker, but through some trial and error, I was able to do salmon on my BGE at 155 degrees.  I had posted about it here:  http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1162344/smoked-salmon-and-low-temp-cooking#latest.

SenecaTheYounger

Use the Egg as your fire chamber, and connect the top vent to a cardboard box (for your smoke chamber) via a metal foil dryer vent.  Feed the dryer vent into the side bottom of the cardboard box.  You can put the food on racks in the box, and then four-fold the top shut.

I have seen others who had two eggs, and they used one for the fire, and connected it from the top vent to the other through the lower vent.

I have only one egg (well, one at my home, and one at camp).  So I vent out the top to the cardboard box.  You do not need to elevate the box above the egg.  The draft will be enough to travel out the top vent, over nad down along the ground, and into the smoke chamber.

Minimal investment, and it allows you to generate more smoke and normal BGE temps (250-275), which nonetheless cools to cold-smoke temperatures by the time it hits the smoke chamber.

Edit;  This allows you to open the fire chamber (egg) in process, and add chunks or chips of wood, and to adjust the fire if needed.)

Ktim

Go to youtube and type in Pitmasterx, on that website pick the beef jerky video.Very helpful.

SGH

@SenecaTheYounger‌
Brother I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who uses a paste board box. I wanted to mention it but I worried that folks would think that I was nuts. My neighbors cant fathom that I'm really cooking inside of a card board box that is pouring smoke. I feel they all think that I'm cooking dope or worse. Glad to see that I'm not alone in my thinking.

Charlesmaneri

+1 on tha Amaz-N-Smoker

SenecaTheYounger

@SGH

I prefer to do it offset like that because I can open the fire bok and add wood at any moment.  no need to buy any pellets or dust.  I get quite a bit of smoke as well.

horseflesh

When using the BGE as an offset smoke source, how should I build the fire? Not sure how hot it should be, or the ratio of lump to wood.

nolaegghead

The offset method of an egg with a 4" metal duct gives you almost ambient temps.  The a-maz-n smoker generates quite a bit of heat, but much less than a lump fire.  I like the smoke flavor better from the egg rather than the pellets.  I have a smoke box I made with MDF that has a 5000 BTU window unit in it.  I can smoke at around 62F in 90F ambient conditions with that setup.  Cheese and fish benefit from the lower temps.  Fish will change texture over 90-95F.

SGH

@nolaegghead‌ said " fish will change texture over 90-95F

Agree 100 percent. And it will change for the worse.

SteveWPBFL

Look up billybon, he makes a cold smoke cap system for BGE. He made cold smoked salmon tacos at the Sunshine Eggfest that were out of this world!