Trying a new cold smoke set-up

minniemoh

Got s slab of Ruhlman's cure belly going with apple and cherry. I like to add a nice crust of fresh black pepper while it dries in the fridge.  I thought maybe I would get nice blue smoke from this set up but apparently not. The temp in the mini wants to run at 500+. Must be getting a lot of draw with the long tube and up through the other egg. The temp in the large is running at 55 degrees and steady. 



Been on for 3 1/2 hours. Any suggestions on how long I should go? I had 4-6 hrs in mind. It's starting to look pretty good. 

nolaegghead

That time is fine.  Hard to over smoke cold.  The draw will create enough suction on your mini for it to run hot.  That gives you better smoke, don't worry about it.  Enough heat dissipates through the duct to keep the smoke cold.

bgebrent

nolaegghead said:

That time is fine.  Hard to over smoke cold.  The draw will create enough suction on your mini for it to run hot.  That gives you better smoke, don't worry about it.  Enough heat dissipates through the duct to keep the smoke cold.

I concur with the hippie.  Your time is plenty long to get the smoke.  Post your results brother.

YukonRon

I used the High Tech approach using a tin can, smoking wood, soldering iron, and a tray of ice. Worked pretty darned good too. Did it on the webber.

blind99

Using a small egg in that arrangement I can keep the heat pretty low. About a handful of lump and some wood chunks and it'll make smoke for hours.  I use the platesetter to deflect the heat, also, because I've melted the tubing at the junction of the tubing and egg if the fire gets too hot. 4 hours was plenty for me. 

Darby_Crenshaw

A smaller diameter vent will slip into the lower vent of the large BGE and into the chimney of a small BGE, fwiw

no duct tape reqd

no sure the dimensions of the mini

note to those with one egg: the smoke chamber doesn't need to be an egg. It can be a cardboard box or any other type of semi-enclosed space 

Spring Chicken

Great job!  I think you will enjoy smoking this way.  

I also saw a great future in having a device that I could call on when I needed to cold smoke something.  So, like you, I made my own version.  I even posted a video of it on YouTube.  But since then I made a better, more detailed, version of the video.  I never posted it on YouTube.  

When I saw your post, I thought I might post it today so that others might see that it is not all that difficult to build and use.  

Here's the link to the newer version:  <a href="https://youtu.be/SjEDWKSZ51o" title="Link: https://youtu.be/SjEDWKSZ51o">Smoker Contraption</a>

I have a feeling your post will inspire others to take advantage of the idea.

Spring "Smoke Got In My Eyes, And Hair, And Clothes, And Shoes, And I Loved It" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Darby_Crenshaw

All due respect, because I know folks love their gadgets... But some of us impatient frugal old yankee types defer to being even more direct.

Here's my three inch diameter foil duct. Stored on a wire garden stake, but you could use a coat hanger. Stores very small and tucked away
 

Now, no duct tape, galvy reducers, or anything required. Total time was less than a minute to:

screw it (rotate and push) into the upper chimnry of a small BGE. 



The other end gets laid back on itself a bit and shoved/slid in to lower vent where it will then pop open again with the end a few inches in. Then slide the vent door shut


DONE

i usually start the fire in the small with the vent on it but not yet in the large egg. When the smoke/draft is humming, i just gradually lengthen it until it reaches the large's lower vent

you can even control temp of the cold smoke

the coil has a tendency to want to shrink back. So just set the small bge farther away the cooler you want it (to stretch it out and give it time to radiate heat away)

you will find a lot of water in the tube after six/eight hours of smoking, due to condensation

the foil duct can be found at any big box store.  i think mine was half the length (and cost) of this THREE-INCH DIAMETER duct at Homely Despot

Spring Chicken

Yankee or not, you are a two-legged thinking machine.  Cool...

Spring "I Think, Therefore I Yam" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Darby_Crenshaw

i should clarify too that up here, "yankee" translates to "cheap bast*rd", and has almost no connotation with regard to north vs. south. 


yankee thinking in NH, VT, and ME, and even Massachusetts (except the big bright cities!) is more about "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

so, cheapness and utility, and self-reliance i guess.

all that translates to: "cheap pr!ck goes to a hardware store and buys a cheap foil hose and jams it into each egg". 

fishlessman

Darby_Crenshaw said:

i should clarify too that up here, "yankee" translates to "cheap bast*rd", and has almost no connotation with regard to north vs. south. 


yankee thinking in NH, VT, and ME, and even Massachusetts (except the big bright cities!) is more about "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

so, cheapness and utility, and self-reliance i guess.

all that translates to: "cheap pr!ck goes to a hardware store and buys a cheap foil hose and jams it into each egg". 

after getting a quote on a standing seam roof i may go blue tarp

nolaegghead

Why go 50 year when you can go 90 day with a few bucks and a Harbor Freight coupon?  Right?

fishlessman

nolaegghead said:

Why go 50 year when you can go 90 day with a few bucks and a Harbor Freight coupon?  Right?

figuring 90 days per tarp i would break even in 66.47 years

Darby_Crenshaw

my hundred years roof is cheaper than 100 years worth of blue tarps.

but if you ain't gonna live another hundred years, go with the tarps i guess 

fishlessman

Darby_Crenshaw said:

my hundred years roof is cheaper than 100 years worth of blue tarps.

but if you ain't gonna live another hundred years, go with the tarps i guess 

im going to make that old shower room a living space someday, do you know is there a mass code on insulation r values for that, im going to put it just under the metal on top of the roof, this place will supply it as a r18.5 or r37. i dont want the insulation inside to make it easier to vent in the summer

Darby_Crenshaw

there are minimum r values.  your stud depth probably achieves it, but your roof rafters probably don't (as cathedral ceiling).

probably better to use spray foam insulation

fishlessman

this place will put it outside the house in thick 4x8 sheets tongue and groove, it will give me bigger eves as well

minniemoh

Update: I took the bacon off after 5 hrs in the smoke. The smell was VERY tart and seemed that I may have over-smoked. I put it in the fridge on a rack to air out a bit. The next morning I fried some and it tasted OK. I didn't really find it to taste very smokey but it still had the very tart scent/taste to it. Seems like it's all cherry and no smoke.

The tart smell faded a bit so today, I put it back in with some hickory pellets in the A-Maze-N smoker. I'm going to see if the blended smoke of the second go-round helps with the flavor and the tartness. If it's already over-smoked, then it will really taste like sh*t. I guess we'll see. 

I also have another belly going with a hot smoke at 180 degrees with apple/cherry. I had the perfect thin blue wispy smoke going on this one for the first two hours. It should make for a good comparison.

Focker

Things should mellow in time.  It's pretty hard to oversmoke belly.  I'm sure it could be done, eventually.  But you'll be fine.  

The spiral cold smokers put out a wonderful whisp, just the right amount.  

Keep us posted on your findings. 

HendersonTRKing

Could you run a dryer vent out of the top of a LBGE and into a _______ ???  what to cold smoke something like salmon or belly or cheese??

Have had this on my mind for a while and really want to try it.  (Single egg owner, fmr yankee, not particularly cheap, but also not quite so ready to buy a 2nd egg)

Darby_Crenshaw

Yes. I mentioned this further up the page

Cold smoke is cold

run it into a cardboard box if you want

minniemoh

Well, it's all sliced and packaged now. The second run at cold smoke with the A-Maze-N and some hickory pellets really brought the cold smoked slabs around. We fried up some on Friday evening for bacon cheeseburgers and it was much better than after the first round. The hickory smoke really tamed down the cherry tartness from the first smoke. On Saturday morning, I put 1/2 of the slab back in with more hickory pellets for another 2 hrs just for fun. I haven't tasted any of it since it went in the package but I think it will be delicious. 

As far as the hot-smoked with apple and cherry, it turned out great. I had some really good smoke on this batch and I think it was my best one yet. I have fried so much hot-smoked bacon in the past few months that I almost forgot how to fry the cold smoked stuff. Seems like they fry up quite a bit differently. 

Here's a couple of pics of the cold smoked after it was all done. The quality of the belly was outstanding.

I think this takes my total bacon poundage to about 90 lbs since Thanksgiving. (That's raw belly weight of course). I have given most of it away as my wife has recently turned into the "bacon police" and raises a stink when I cook it too much. 

blind99

looks fantastic, glad to see you salvaged the operation!  mine is still sitting in the fridge after smoking a week ago and needs to be sliced and vac packed.  some day i'll get around to it.

the good thing about making too much bacon is that there are always people willing to take it off your hands.