Cold Smoker

[CheeWilly]

I have a cold smoker setup on my bradley that works very well for smoking cheese.  I would highly recommend a bradley.  Here is a picture of my setup.

[Al Lewis]

Well I finally took sailor's advice and ordered a smoke pistol.  Should be fun smoking a mutschli.  Also delicious!!

[Slemps]

Hi All,

Had to throw in my opinion here as I own a Bradley.

I think you did the right thing, Bradley pucks are expensive and it is a drag not being able to use your own wood.

Also, when I smoke cheese, I find the Bradley puts out too much smoke. I use something that gives a much more subtle, gentle smoke flavour. It generates virtually no heat at all but is burning real wood.

I use a Pro Q Cold Smoke Generator. You may not be able to get these easily in the US but there is another company that makes a similar product in the US called A-Maze-N (as good, if not better).

You should check these out, I use mine inside my Bradley cabinet for cold smoking all sorts (mainly salmon). With any kind of cold smoking, you get a much better flavour via a little smoke for a long time than lot of smoke for a short time.

For comparison, if I was to smoke my salmon with the Bradley, more than 2 hours of smoke would be too much and leave it bitter and uneven. With the Pro Q, I go for about 12 hours and the flavour is subtle and balanced.

Hope this helps.
Sam.

[stratocasterdave]

Hi Al,

Good luck with the Smoke Pistol.  I had bad luck with mine.  Actually I had one fail and they gave me a second.  But it could have been me.  It's tricky to light and keep going in my opinion. 

I second Slemps on the A-Maze-n smoker.

If you like gadgets, below is another one.  I have use this cold smoke generator consistently in a commercial environment and I love it!

http://smokedaddyinc.com/smokers.htm

Dave

[Sailor Con Queso]

Dave,

Which one do you use? What's your commercial application? Do you have to use their pellets?

[Slemps]

Dave,

That looks really interesting. Do you know if it can take sawdust? What do you use?

How big was the smoker you used it in?

Do you think the largest one would produce enough smoke for a 6 x 5 x 6 foot smokehouse?

Sam.

[stratocasterdave]

Dave,

That looks really interesting. Do you know if it can take sawdust? What do you use?

How big was the smoker you used it in?

Do you think the largest one would produce enough smoke for a 6 x 5 x 6 foot smokehouse?

Sam.

Sam, Never tried sawdust.  Pellets work. What I found works best is a mix of stuff.  Lump charcoal and chunks of wood mixed.  It's pretty failsafe.

The largest one will produce enough for the house you have.

Al, there's a special technique to the Smoke Pistol.If you get it going it will work great.

Dave

[dthelmers]

I've been using a cheap electric hotplate in my propane hot smoker with a cast iron skillet for the wood. I've used chips, chunks sawdust, but the best for a lot of smoke is shavings from a power planer. Smoking can really add a lot to a mediocre cheese.
Dave in CT

[Slemps]

Sam, Never tried sawdust.  Pellets work. What I found works best is a mix of stuff.  Lump charcoal and chunks of wood mixed.  It's pretty failsafe.

The largest one will produce enough for the house you have.

Al, there's a special technique to the Smoke Pistol.If you get it going it will work great.

Dave

Excellent, thanks Dave.

[stratocasterdave]

Dave,

Which one do you use? What's your commercial application? Do you have to use their pellets?

I use the largest one they make.  It's a little over sized for my needs. 

I make sausages and other typical butts/briskets.  I just put in my own stuff.  The owner sells some but advises people to use thier own if they want.  I use chunks of hickory and even some oak sticks (from a tree nearby).  I through in a little charcoal lumps if I want to ease thesmoke back a bit.

Its intersting, the beauty of the set up is that you can smoke at any temp you want.  My set up is electric and is PID controlled.  I don't really know why but for cheese it seems like around 80F works the best for me.

Dave

[Slemps]

So what kind of time do you actually get out of it for a full burn?

I'm just about to setup with a chimenea and large metal hose for my smokehouse. Aiming to burn sawdust in it. If this thing works as it looks, it could save me a load of work and a lot of space.

This device has it's appeal though. I saw some reviews stating that the smoke wasn't thin and blue but white indicating a burn that's too complete (produce the bitter flavours and deposits). However others say this is down to an incorrect setup.

Decisions decisions.

[stratocasterdave]

So what kind of time do you actually get out of it for a full burn?

I'm just about to setup with a chimenea and large metal hose for my smokehouse. Aiming to burn sawdust in it. If this thing works as it looks, it could save me a load of work and a lot of space.

This device has it's appeal though. I saw some reviews stating that the smoke wasn't thin and blue but white indicating a burn that's too complete (produce the bitter flavours and deposits). However others say this is down to an incorrect setup.

Decisions decisions.

You can lift the top and add more wood as needed.  One full container gets me around 6 hours or more.  I just add more material if I need to go longer.

As far as "bitternes" I have yet to see it.   The TBS thing is achievable with controlling your wood and charcoal.

Not sure if sawdust would work with this.  Call the guy.  He may have a solution for that.

[Slemps]

Sorry Dave, missed your reply.

Thanks for that.
S.