Home made cold smoker

bewsher500

Well-Known Member
I have been meaning to make one of these for a while.
not a fan of hot smoked food and having tried one of the swedish tin jobs it works fine but I prefer cold smoked food especially fish

the challenge is cooling the smoke enough so the fish doesnt cook conventionally.
For this I snaffled some nice aluminium downpipe and rain catcher.

Knocked up a quick wooden food box from some scrap I had lying around, quick hole sawn out to accomodate the pipe.
for the smoke generating end I initailly tried candles under a foil shelf with the sawdust on top but it is not hot enough and the dust was too fine to maintain a smolder.

back to the drawing board and I decided to use a gas burner and put the sawdust directly on the box base. Works a charm
But......the smoke didnt really come through the pipe at any rate.
The solution was an old computer cooling fan screw over the food end of the pipe to draw it through.
It now smokes like a 15 year old essex girl!

I need to raise it on something like permanent feet and create a lid for both ends but it is functional.

Fish has been salted rinsed and dried before smoking

this sawdust is from a yellow hard wood called Opepe.
I also have some Yellow Balua and some common or garden Oak.

Today I will mostly be smoking a 2lb rainbow Trout....any my neighbours if they leave that window open!

IMAG0559.jpg
 
Wel I started it last night but stopped after an hour or so.
I then started it again this morning but ran out of sawdust!
think my burner was turned up a bit high.

I would like to have smoked it fully for 6+ hours but as this is destined for a pate not slices I dont care.
they say a full salmon takes 12-15 hours
 
Take a look on the sausagemaking.org forum there is loads on there and some excellent tips and recipes.
 
I found this thread as I was searching online for computer fans and smokers, I'm looking in to using a few of them in a larger box to ensure an even flow of smoke throughout. Also looking for a heating element so that I can keep the temperature in the low 20's (C) to help with the weight loss.

I've done a fair few salmon now and I've been using a Pro Q smoke generator (alternative is A-Maze-N) which is brilliant and really easy. Basically it's just a wire frame that holds sawdust. You light one end and it burns (smolders) for 9 hours. I use it in my kettle BBQ (unlit of course!) and light it at night, take the fish out in the morning to let it rest and it's good that evening.

The company that sells it also sells various sawdust flavours, you can use any sawdust but it should be the same consistency or it won't burn properly. I've only used theirs as it only works out as about 79 pence per 9 hour smoke.

Check it out, the results are very good. I've since bought a Bradley with cold smoke adapter but to be honest, the pro Q does a better job for cold smoked salmon as it produces far less smoke for a longer time (and more cheaply!).

Obviously if you're going to try a salmon side you need to cure it properly first.
 
I have been meaning to make one of these for a while.
not a fan of hot smoked food and having tried one of the swedish tin jobs it works fine but I prefer cold smoked food especially fish

the challenge is cooling the smoke enough so the fish doesnt cook conventionally.
For this I snaffled some nice aluminium downpipe and rain catcher.

Knocked up a quick wooden food box from some scrap I had lying around, quick hole sawn out to accomodate the pipe.
for the smoke generating end I initailly tried candles under a foil shelf with the sawdust on top but it is not hot enough and the dust was too fine to maintain a smolder.

back to the drawing board and I decided to use a gas burner and put the sawdust directly on the box base. Works a charm
But......the smoke didnt really come through the pipe at any rate.
The solution was an old computer cooling fan screw over the food end of the pipe to draw it through.
It now smokes like a 15 year old essex girl!

I need to raise it on something like permanent feet and create a lid for both ends but it is functional.

Fish has been salted rinsed and dried before smoking

this sawdust is from a yellow hard wood called Opepe.
I also have some Yellow Balua and some common or garden Oak.

Today I will mostly be smoking a 2lb rainbow Trout....any my neighbours if they leave that window open!

IMAG0559.jpg

I do like that. Very clever it is too. Do you apply heat directly to the aluminium and if so will that not give off any fumes?
 
I do like that. Very clever it is too. Do you apply heat directly to the aluminium and if so will that not give off any fumes?
yes, initially I tried to put a shelf inside the box but it didnt burn hot enough
the burner is directly underneath, doesnt appear to smell, I suppose most cooking containers are aluminium now anyway.

I could do with enclosing the burner a bit and removing a bit more heat from the smoke as even with 5 feet of cold aluminium tube it was still hot enough to give a "hot smoked" effect to the bottom tip of the trout.
 
Get yourself a piece of aluminium air con/flue ducting about 5 ft long and attach that to the smoke outlet one end then to your smoker box the other. the tubing is ribbed so you can adjust the effective length of the tube so you only end up with cold smoke.
 
Does the trampoline help with the smoking or is it just to keep fit.

Like the simplicity! Do you have a similar pattern for making a biltong drier?
 
Does the trampoline help with the smoking or is it just to keep fit.

Like the simplicity! Do you have a similar pattern for making a biltong drier?

as a matter of fact I do!
40W light bulb for temperature and computer fan for air circulation
 
bewsher500 m8, you did cure/brine the fish first didn't you?
yep. I used a rock salt solution. less chemical than just plain salt.
I leave it in about 24 hours until flesh is firm.
pat dry then leave out in a cool dry place for 3-6 hours to dry out a bit.

too wet and it just looks horrible!
 
This is my version of a cold smoker. Built it over a long weekend last year as a bit of a project. About £40 tied up in it. Works a treat. I have smoked a couple of Salmon and a venison loin in it. Going to have a go at some home made bacon on the next month or so....

026-1.jpg
 
that looks good,did anyone watch the fabulous bakerboys on channel 4 last night they made one from a gas stove with a 5 litre veg oil drum and a plastic dust bin two 16mm holes in the bin took the lid off the oil drum and put wood chip in the bottom sat the drum on the stove and then had a pole through the bin and smoked sausages from it real easy and quick,atb wayne
 
I don't lose any smoke out the sides. The bin is just a garden incinerator from B&Q which I bought just because it had a convenient chimney, the pipe is just a length of extractor duct for a tumble dryer, also B&Q.

I have two big terracota flower pot inside the bin. One is upturned on the bottom and another sitting on top. I light a little fire with sticks in the upper pot and when it is going nicely and starting to turn to embers, I put the saw dust on and stick the lid on. The smoke draws across and fills the box in secnds, works really well. The smoke goes into a shallow box at the bottom of the big box which has lots of holes in it to spread the smoke evenly around.
 
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