New Frankenstein cold smoker

[toys4dlr]

Well, been a little bored since covid crap shut my restaurant down. So, I decided to build an electric cold smoker for snack stick, jerky sausage and what not. I already had the Bella cold smoker attachment and a A419 johnson controls. I was looking on an auction site I have bought used equipment previously and saw an aluminum proofing cabinet. I won it for 65 bucks. I first tried an electric hot plate, like I saw on a good eats episode. But it cycles off and on too frequently and would not get over 125 degrees. I searched a little longer and stumbled on a replacement 1500 watt element for a master built smoker and installed that. Couple holes, a vent, some gasket around the door, then mount everything and it is alive. Spent this weekend putting it to the test, five lbs spicy snack sticks, 5 lbs of hatch green chili and cheddar sausage, 5 lbs sweet chili sauce sausage and some Sriracha jerky just for fun. I have to clean up the wires, but she did what I wanted. I don't have to use the element, so I can cold smoke cheese and such. But, I can control it up to about 190 degrees, which is hot enough to finish sausage. Thanks for looking

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[creek bottom]

Cool setup! Everything looks great!

 

[Cat797]

Awesome!

 

[Mikhail]

Fun.

 

[CivilTrojan]

Nice setup and cook, everything looks delicious! How do you like the bella cold smoke generator? How much ventilation do you need? I have a master built electric smoker and have considered adding one of these for cold smokes and instead of using the wood chips for hot smokes. But I’m also considering replacing it with a WSM, as I want more smoke flavor and easier clean up.

 

[Chett. L]

Wow! What a science. Thanks for posting!

 

[airedale]

If I had that nice cabinet I would simply put an A-MAZE-N maze in the bottom. That's what I do in my Camp Chef 24" tin box and it works great. Technically the CC is an LP gas smoker but it hasn’t seen a flame in years. The maze gives me roughly 10-11 hours of smoke per filling. I just bought a second maze so I can run two together or have a filled one ready when the first one runs out.

 

[celrodtx]

I just finished a similar setup with a proofing cabinet. I pop rivetted two brackets in the bottom to hold two 18 inch smoke tubes at the bottom. It is a perfect cold smoker.

 

[toys4dlr]

Nice setup and cook, everything looks delicious! How do you like the bella cold smoke generator? How much ventilation do you need? I have a master built electric smoker and have considered adding one of these for cold smokes and instead of using the wood chips for hot smokes. But I’m also considering replacing it with a WSM, as I want more smoke flavor and easier clean up.

I like the bella, it runs better on pellets mixed with some wood chips. I have had a little moisture issue puffing the pellets. I used to run the bella inside my shirley and I tried in my fec100 and fec240 all without a fire. Solely cold smoking. The bella will get hot, so taking it out of the fire box can be fun if you need to add or adjust the pellets. Most of the time I was cold smoking snack stick, then i took them to my dehydrator. That is why i built this cold smoker. Easy access to the bella, i can control much lower temps for basically as long as i want and i can finish them all in the smoker. As far as vents, I put a daisy wheel type on the side of the smoker. I drilled two holes with the biggest step drill I had, which was 1.25 inch. Works well.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[toys4dlr]

If I had that nice cabinet I would simply put an A-MAZE-N maze in the bottom. That's what I do in my Camp Chef 24" tin box and it works great. Technically the CC is an LP gas smoker but it hasn’t seen a flame in years. The maze gives me roughly 10-11 hours of smoke per filling. I just bought a second maze so I can run two together or have a filled one ready when the first one runs out.

But then all you have is a cold smoker. I can cold smoke or choose to hot smoke at low temps. The sausage was done 2 hours at 120, 2 more at 140 and bumped to 175 to finish the sausage off when it hit internal 160. I can smoke dehydrating the jerky. It just gives me options. Heat or no heat. Lol

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[food4thot]

Very nice. I appreciate your tinkering sense :thumb:

 

[NoOne]

That is very cool!

 

[jzadski]

Great set up you made there. Those are the best kind

 

[tom b]

Cool rig and the sausage look excellent

 

[jham0077]

I need a proofing cabinet something awful. That is exactly what I'm looking for. Your ability to cold and hot smoke in the same cabinet is great. All that looks great, Frankenstien, snack sticks, and sausage.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Very nice. Congrats and enjoy

 

[Shiz-Nit]

That's cool