To Cold Smoke In a CS50

No comments? The fish is beautiful. Sometimes you folks tunnel vision really irks me. You spend big money on a beautiful machine and use it for 1% of what it's worth. You analyze (my spelling) 2 cuts of meat like it was god-like and refuse to recognize other efforts.

Narrow, shallow, boring.

Andi,

This is something I've been trying to do since I recieved my unit. Low temperature operation has been a problem so I'm interested in your experience with it.

I have two questions.

Were you able to get smoke at that low a temp setting?

Did you monitor the temp in any way? Was it within acceptable range?

Details please!!!

PS - No doubt you haven't gotten any responses because the weather's good and everyone's out back smokin

Yes, I'm sorry I was so bitchy. It is hotter here than I have ever felt it in 49 years. I am miserable! On top of that, the bugs don't usually like hot weather, but today they are out in full force. There are even strange bugs that I've never seen before. Reminds me of the wildfire last year when all the wierd bugs came outta the fire. Can't get away from them or the heat.

And I'm smoking on top of that! I turned the 50 until it clicked ON, even tho it wasn't to the word ON. It fluctuated for awhile from 85 to 127! Then settled on 90 as I adjusted it. Today it never went passed the word ON to stay that low. It also won't burn, so I started the smoke with a propane torch. I don't have a Polder but I do have a fully calibrated Fluke with a probe. My probe won't go all the way into the unit, but stick about 4 inches down into the hole. That's where I put it to monitor the temp. And that is all I am doing. It IS a constant monitor thing. I can see that I can't "set it and forget it" if I want a nice slow hard-smoke. But! It's working! And I already have the fish sold! It looks beautiful!

I don't know what else to tell you, other than monitor constantly and sometimes just jiggling the knob will up or down it a few degrees. Yesterday it was 85 degrees between ON and 100. Today, it hasn't even gone as far as ON. Just wait for the "click"!

How in the hell do you folks stand the heat? Today has got to be some kind of temp record. Should have built an outdoor smoke fire and hung the dang fish over that!

quote:

Originally posted by Andi:
[qb]How in the hell do you folks stand the heat? Today has got to be some kind of temp record. Should have built an outdoor smoke fire and hung the dang fish over that! [/qb]

I put my ribs in the smoker, jump in the pool, start drinking an "adult" beverage. When time to mop or something, I get out of the pool, check the smoker (that's an excuse to get out of the pool and get more beverage). That's how us Okie's handle the heat.

And even though my laptop has an aircard so I can communicate via a wireless connection, I don't take it into the pool. Maybe that's why few responses....OR maybe they're just busy for the weekend.

It's a Great post and it's a good start for people wanting to Cold Smoke in a CS, but maybe it's just not a summer thing here in the lower 48.

Hey gang,
Thought I'd mention that Cookshack makes a "cold smoke" kit for their larger units, but I'm not sure if one is offerred for the model 50. When we purchased our model 150, we also ordered the cold smoke kit. It consists of a baffle that replaces the lowest cooking rack, and a small firebox.

The few times that I have used it, I only needed the firebox, however, the baffle would be handy for warmer weather. The concept I wasn't ready for was NOT using the smoker's electric heating element. You actually use a burning piece of charcoal.

I wonder you could place a burning chunk of charcoal in the the wood box of your model 50 or smokette. Place some wood chunks or chips on the chunk of charcoal. Don't use the electric heating element at all. This is basically how the cold smoke kit works. Andi, you have mentioned in a post that you torch the wood chunks to get them burning so you are half way there.

It may be wise to consult with Cookshack before attempting my suggestion. There may be a reason that you wouldn't want to do it, like damaging the electric heating element.

Perhaps the cold smoke firebox can be purchased without the baffle plate?

Hi Andy-

I use the cold smoking kit for the CS in my Smokette. It was made for the model 50.

It allows the wood to smoke- while keeping the area above the smoke baffle, and the food in it being smoked cooler.

You saw my old post about cold-smoking salmon.

I'm visiting in New Jersey, and it has been colder here then it will get in Tampa in December. I miss the heat..

Day Three of the Heatwave. It is 8:A and already 80 degrees. I can't take this! I can't even go inside to cool off! It's 90 in the house! I WISH there were pools in Alaska, but 7 months outta the year, they'd be ice skating rinks. I've taken to cold towels wrapped around my head and very adult beverages with quarts of water chasers!

And the fish is still in the smoker. 18 hours now. It is coming along nicely and starting to harden up. There have been two problems so far and neither are the fault of the smoker. One: I hung the fish and after 12 hours some of the fish came off the hangers. Now, Chum has very tough skin; it's the skin of choice for tanning. We were hard put to get the hangers punched thru. Neither Russ nor I can figure out why this happened, but I think humidity may have softened the fish. It was stiff as a board when I hung it from the cure. SO! Next time, I'm gonna pour the smoke to her FIRST and then turn off the smoker, open the door, and let the fish dry again for a few hours. Probably will place a fan in front of it. I think this terrible heat may have something to do with it. I had put a fan on the fish for about 10 hours before smoking.Anyway, all the fish is now racked.

Second: Keeping smoke on it couldn't be done at these low temps. Had to turn her up to get smoke and that defeats my purpose. On one of the fillets, white fat formed on the surface because of heating too fast. This is unacceptable for commercial purposes. We actually like the stuff for home use. The idea of a piece of charcoal in there is GENIUS! I will try that, except...do I want a charcoal flavor? NO! So, any ideas on that one?

I really think this heat is screwing with my project. Thank goodness I am not playing with a Money Fish! But, I have to say...it's delicious! Love the sampling!

I'll do another test run after this batch and if all goes well, good. If I continue to have these little problems, I'll go back to the ole box-on-top-of-the-smoker trick.