My mates downunder have recommended a visit to this site, telling me its a great place to be if your are into kettles, which I am, sooooo, my introduction will be a rather long one, showing how I converted Hogsy's Jumboe Joe into a cold smoker.
Mods, if this is too long or is in the wrong section, moving it is no problems
How it started,,,
I have just started getting serious about making Bacon with Nitrites, so I felt it time to venture into Cold Smoking.
Sooooo, time to build a Cold Smoker out of bits and pieces I had laying around and test run it today smoking two pieces or home cured belly Bacon.
Materials I used-
2x Large Cardboard Boxes (I used two Hot Rocks Cartons)
1x Shoe Box
Masking Tape
PVA Glue
1x clagged out computer
2 meters 75mm x 25mm timber
A few meters of 10mm Booker Rod
2 core wire
3 meters of 200mm Air con ducting.
1x 200mm dia piece of metal ducting
Silver tinned Sarking Tape
Butchers Hooks
And of course, a smoke generator. I used my newly acquired Jumbo Joe (thanks Hogsy!!) and it did the job just great.
I have decided that its position in my arsenal of bbqs is “The Smoke Generator”
My first step was to trial components before building the final setup. Originally, I was going to use a Performer as my Generator. I tried connecting the ducting to the lid over the Lid Damper which failed because, as soon as built a fire in the kettle, the lid would heat up then melt the sticky backing off the tape. It just wouldn’t hold.
Then I came up with the idea of the 200mm dia piece of metal ducting as a downward weight but because the Performers lid is very domed shape, I couldn’t hold it there however, the Jumbo Joe has a flat lid on top so the ducting easily sat there all by itself.
So, firstly , I started a small fire in the JJ with some Blackbutt on top, got it smoking nicely and fitted the ducting.
And, I was happy to see this.
However, I knew that I was going to need something mechanical to help assist the flow of smoke so, I destroyed an old Computer to get to the fans within.
And just to confirm that all was good, I did a dummy fit up with the fan (which worked out to be 12volt and how goods that!!! :wink: ) fitted to a shoe box, fitted to the ducting. It was perfect!!!!
And actually assisted the JJ in keeping maintain a healthy burning snake.
Heres the two cartons I used, that were glued and tapped together, meaning I had a partitioned two zone setup. If zone one gets a bit hot, move the meat to zone two. You could even smoke two different types of meat in their own areas.
Oh, talking about heat control, having the long 3 meter flex/duct is great as well. You can move the smoking Chamber towards/away from the heat whatever happens on the day.
Right, I had a plan to run with.
Getting the fan in order.
And then attaching it to the shoe box
The shoe box was then glued on to the lower side of the smoking chamber
Right, I needed something made up for hanging the meat. So here’s my 75 x 25 ready to be notched out for the support bars. Notice the hole underneath the timber on the centre partition, to allow the smoke to move.
This is the main intake. On the other side of that vent is the shoe box mounted fan.
And here’s looking through the hole in the centre partition. Note the intake is at the bottom of the smoker. When the smoke enters, it will travel upwards past the meat, through the hole that’s high in the centre partition,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and then the smoke will travel down, past the meat in chamber two, and out of the exit hole that’s cut low. Notice the flap/damper I left to hold back the smoke if needed.
The hanging rails and hooks ready to go.
Then it was time to fix on the ductwork
Now for the maiden run, to see if its all working good before I throw in a few slabs of Cured Maple Bacon
And here is some Maple belly that I have had on the dry cure for 8 days
After 36 hrs forming its pellicle in the fridge.
And boy, am I excited as I am ready to have a crack at cold smoking Bacon.
I used a two row Snake for this. I also palced a continuos row of Apple wood (thanks again Hogsy) on top. I later added a bit of Blackbutt as well as some hickory shavings as the Apple wasn’t giving off the amount of smoke I needed.
The milk crates are there to hold the boxes close.
And success. A steady flow of smoke passing through both Chambers and out the back door.
For the entire time (which lasted for 8 hours) my temps stayed were I wanted them to. 75F was the lowest I saw, spiking to high 80,s at times. Oh, the smoker probe was wedged in the hole in the partition.
At times, to keep the temps in the range, I had to prop up the duct off the kettle lid and allow the fan to bypass some of the heat, sucking in cool air. I am coming up on 8 hrs here and notice how I have got the Performer set up with a small Snake ready for my hot smoking
A shot of the Snake which did not give me any trouble
My Bacon is starting to get a nice colour
And right before being put into a 200F kettle to finish being smoked with Blackbutt until an internal temp of 135F.
Cold Smoked Bacon. Bloody fantastic. Fantastic colour and smell too
After 2.5hrs of hot smoking, its finished.
And I tried a little bit cut off fresh. Boy o boy is it good. You can really taste the Maple in it
Done. A long process but rewarding at the same time. Done like this, the rind stays soft and rubbery so I dare say its going to be a pleasure to slice. Hot smoking has always seen the Pork skin pull back, shrink and harden.
I sliced up the Bacon this afternoon and am very happy with the results
I really like the idea of the long cold smoke followed by a short hot smoke. I reckon you get better smoke penetration into the meat.
I fried a bit up and the flavor was fantastic, with a nice sweet hint of Maple to finish.
Just goes to show you that you don't have to go out and spend thousands to get results
.
In the coming weeks, I will get a chance to try her again when I get stuck into these suckers.
Loin, using the Maple recipe, combination Cure.
Pork neck (Boston Butt) , combination Cure.
Not bad for a few hours work and at Nil cost. 10/10 and should last me a while if kept out of the weather
.
Shayne
Topic: Shayne’s Ghetto Style Weber Cold Smoker (Read 7684 times)