Cold smoker question

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Adubree86

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I built a Venturi smoker with a fish pump and am having trouble getting the smoke to draw through the smoker. Since the smoke is cold there is no heat to raise the smoke through the cab. Short of a fan on top the exhaust to draw smoke how do you guys get the smoke to draw?
 
I have a smoke daddy... you might want to try to mimmic that.
 
Never seen a venturi smoker so all I can offer is... Are your vents open for proper air flow?

I use the A-Maze-N Pellet smoker. Just set it in the smoker, light one end with a torch, and close it up. I have gotten up to 10.5 hours of cold smoke from a single fill, before refilling and allowing to burn in the other direction. Easy Peasy...

It follows the normal air flow of the smoker, bottom vent open, top vent open. The warm smoke naturally rises exiting the chimney and is refreshed with fresh air from below.

Wish I could be of better assistance.....

AMNPS5X8-2T.jpg
 
IamMadMan said:
I use the A-Maze-N Pellet smoker. Just set it in the smoker, light one end with a torch, and close it up. I have gotten up to 10.5 hours of cold smoke from a single fill, before refilling and allowing to burn in the other direction. Easy Peasy...

It follows the normal air flow of the smoker, bottom vent open, top vent open. The warm smoke naturally rises exiting the chimney and is refreshed with fresh air from below.


AMNPS5X8-2T.jpg
Click to expand...

sorry to hijack...

This looks really interesting. I'm wondering if I could use it to do cheese in my webber. The issue I think I would have with the Traegar is I don't have a bottom vent, so without actually running it, I don't get air flow.

maybe the 6x6 smaller unit might be right up my ally
 
PNW Smoker said:
sorry to hijack...

This looks really interesting. I'm wondering if I could use it to do cheese in my webber. The issue I think I would have with the Traegar is I don't have a bottom vent, so without actually running it, I don't get air flow.

maybe the 6x6 smaller unit might be right up my ally
Click to expand...

Yes it works in a Weber, just set it on the charcoal rack in lieu of using charcoal, line the cheese near the outer edges of the cooking grate for more even application of smoke.
 
awesome. i've been trying to figure out how to capture the smoke from my Traegar and put it into a cold chamber (without buying their attachment). I think this looks much more promising and its a reasonable price
 
OP, you are correct. You need air flow, or else you're just going to create stagnant smoke and bad flavors. Without a fan, you'll need to have some small amount of heat source to create the "hot air rises" effect to pull cooler air in the bottom as the warm air escapes the top vents, pulling the smoke along for the ride. Many people use various size lightbulbs (depending on heat needed based on cabinet size, outside air temp, and desired cabinet temp) in their cabinets to create enough heat to draw. Just need to make sure not to overheat and cook your food.
 
I built the same thing, and my first attempt didn't work well due to the size of the air pump. I ended up buying an 80 gallon air pump and it works great. The other thing to do is make sure the insert goes in past the t connection by a a half inch to an inch. This will help draw air from the box and not the back end of the pipe.
 
Sounds like you need an intake hole at the bottom of the burn chamber. My homemade venturi also has fish pump line flush with the smoke output tube if you look inside the burn chamber.
 
Pellet smoker works like a charm. Been known to use a cardboard box.
 
I got it leveled out after about 20 mins. The smoke got a bit hotter and started flowing better out the top of the smoker. Could be better though.
 
PNW Smoker said:
sorry to hijack...

This looks really interesting. I'm wondering if I could use it to do cheese in my webber. The issue I think I would have with the Traegar is I don't have a bottom vent, so without actually running it, I don't get air flow.

maybe the 6x6 smaller unit might be right up my ally
Click to expand...

I use the large A-maz-ing tube smoker in my Yoder 640 to cold smoke.
Just light it, put it in the cook chamber above the firepot, and run the fan with out starting the auger. Works great, I get about 3 hours of good smoke from a tube full of pellets.
 
qman said:
I use the large A-maz-ing tube smoker in my Yoder 640 to cold smoke.
Just light it, put it in the cook chamber above the firepot, and run the fan with out starting the auger. Works great, I get about 3 hours of good smoke from a tube full of pellets.
Click to expand...

The Traegar doesn't give me that control. It's either on or off.

I've got a kettle though, and that will do :)
 
Re Webers, I've smoked some excellent cheese in a small bullet smoker that I bought when I was even more clueless than I am now. Piece of junk but a great cold smoking chamber with the AMNPS. A Weber should be as good or better. If it gets a little warm in the chamber some cheeses have a tendency to sag through the grate. And of course the grates are no good for smoking nuts. To solve this I bought some round tray sort of things on Amazon; there is a metal rim but the tray itself is mesh. (Search Amazon for "pizza screen" and you should find it. When I copy the link in here it displays as a big, ugly Amazon advertisement.)

I cold smoked my first batches of bacon in the little bullet, too. Since then I have used the AMNPS quite successfully to cold smoke hanging bacon in my 24" Camp Chef gasser box. I am an AMNPS fan boy!

Re Traeger, I am new to Traegers but looking at mine I think it would work fine if I emptied the pellet hopper and the auger tube of pellets. Then there would be a nice combustion air path through the auger tube. For me this wouldn't be worth the effort but that's because I have alternative smoking chambers -- the bullet and the box. The Traeger would be difficult to hang bacon in, too.
 
Just fired up my AMNPS yesterday! Smoked 6 nice blocks of assorted cheeses. Put about 6 hours of smoke on them and got a real nice color and smell. Had the maze in the main chamber of the Bandera and the FB lid cracked. Came out great!
 
Just fired up my AMNPS yesterday! Smoked 6 nice blocks of assorted cheeses. Put about 6 hours of smoke on them and got a real nice color and smell. Had the maze in the main chamber of the Bandera and the FB lid cracked. Came out great!
Click to expand...

I figure my first time I'll have multiple blocks and bull a block at various intervals. that way I'll know what sort of time to shoot for when doing larger batches.

I know each cheese will be different but is six hours the sort of time I should shoot for? I was thinking 2 hours, 4 hours, 6, 8. Is it more of a half hour makes a difference sort of deal and bracket it around the six hour mark?

Re Traeger, I am new to Traegers but looking at mine I think it would work fine if I emptied the pellet hopper and the auger tube of pellets. Then there would be a nice combustion air path through the auger tube. For me this wouldn't be worth the effort but that's because I have alternative smoking chambers -- the bullet and the box. The Traeger would be difficult to hang bacon in, too.
Click to expand...

well I didn't even think about running it empty. That would work I suppose, but yeah, you are right, a bit of effort.. I think I'll stick with the Weber :)

thanks and sorry for hijacking this conversation :D
 
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