Adventureman82 Posted November 24, 2019 Report Share Posted November 24, 2019 1: is it ok to have a small flame in my cold smoker as I am using it. I have a couple small pieces of lit charcoal in there with mini splits of wood. 2: should I have a smoke ring on meats that have been smoked with the cold smoker? Made brisket and hot smoked bacon and haven't seen a good red smoke ring with the attachment. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 You are doing nothing wrong, The smoke ring being caused by smoke is a myth. Here is a very good article explaining things. https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/mythbusting-smoke-ring-no-smoke-necessary 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonj Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 Very interesting article Mac. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 Good to know thanks Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 MEATHEAD!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrus Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 Heck...all this time I thought it was the Hungarian Paprika. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 On 11/25/2019 at 3:54 AM, Adventureman82 said: 1: is it ok to have a small flame in my cold smoker as I am using it. I have a couple small pieces of lit charcoal in there with mini splits of wood. No there should not be a flame ongoing.. it should be smoldering.. I'd use only one small lit piece of charcoal at the cross pipe area and blow air with a blower or hair dryer until it gets things going to where a flame shoots out the other side of the smoker than let it die and smolder.. I think the best and most clean smoke is with the pump in it's lower settings.. best to slowly fill the grill. I've found that putting the meat in as cold as possible and not opening it until after you have reached the plateau creates the best dark red purple smoke rings.. I'd bet that the smoke generator air pump should be dialed way back for less airflow.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventureman82 Posted March 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2020 another cold smoker question: Would an electric heating element with wood pellets work in the cold smoker attachment and still have the same great blue smoke effect? I am mulling over how exactly it would work. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted March 15, 2020 Report Share Posted March 15, 2020 14 minutes ago, Adventureman82 said: another cold smoker question: Would an electric heating element with wood pellets work in the cold smoker attachment and still have the same great blue smoke effect? I am mulling over how exactly it would work. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated. You want the wood to smolder and burn off it's gas slowly without it turning to vapor.. if it gets too hot, gas will turn to vapor and give you that grey acrid, bitter smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PVPAUL Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 Dennis, Starting to break in my cold smoker some more so I appreciate your tip on using the blower at it’s lowest setting. I was making Salmon candy last week and was trying to smoke at the coolest temp possible while still have coal lit. I was able to smoke starting at about 150F up to 185 (over the course of 4 hours) and the top vent was only slightly off of the gasket, hence very very low air flow. It seemed like I had more smoke coming out of my cold smoker then out of the 21”KK. I had the blower at about 1/2 so I will turn it down in the future once I know the pellets are lit. Question, does anybody try to plug the side vents on the cold smoker once pellets are lit to force more smoke into the KK? Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 Paul I’m not sure what you are asking about here.Do you have a fire going inside the KK with the cold smoker active? I don’t, and have minimal internal temperature variation over 4 hours. I’m either completely cold, or find I can get plenty of smoke flavour with wood and charcoal with internal fire lit.When you say top vent cracked, is this about 1/8 turn or less?I don’t plug the side vents on the smoker as I’m not confident that the small coals will remain lit and I’ll need to re ignite occasionally, and I also think these coals draw O2 from these side vents. The fan through the pipe just helps draw this O2 across the embers and force the smoke into the KK cooking chamber.One tip is, having the wire grate on the cold smoker internal pipe facing upwards has created a cleaner smoke for me.I hope this helps otherwise, please explain further.Keep sharing as we all learn with added observations. Can’t say I’ve perfected the cold smoker and will start experimenting with different wood chips/ pellets to see how this effects the results.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 No, I think if you plug those hole the fire will go out. There will be lots of smoke inside the KK. Make sure you get good pellets, ones that don't have a bunch of additives. It will make a world of difference in keeping your smoker running. I use Lumber Jack Pellets, others will probably chime in and tell you what they find to be good pellets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 Second on the Lumber Jack pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PVPAUL Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 All, thanks for your replies. Basher I really didn’t have that much variation. What happened is I needed to depart home for about 3 hours. I probably only had the upper vent turned about 2” from the gasket......I was trying not to over shoot my target of 185 and I was OK with it being less as long as coals were still going which they obviously were. After running my errands I came back to a smoker that was only just above 150F (which I was happy with) I then spent the next hour opening the gasket a little more at at time until I got to about 185F. My point is that because I was barely off of the gasket there was very little airflow And with the pump on a medium setting I was thinking I may be creating / pumping more smoke out the vent holes then was was going into the KK as there didn’t seem to be much smoke coming out of the vent. I will take Dennis advise of putting pump on it’s lowest setting moving forward. As for this cook I was using Bear Mountain Alder as I could not locate Lumberjack Alder. I have also recently purchased some bags of Lumberjack Pellets. I noticed these pellets burn rather fast when compared to other brands of pellets I had on hand (Not Lumberjack as I’m new to these). I always clean out the old pellets after each cook so I’m not dealing with ash or moist / wet pellets. I then fill the chamber partially to the level of the vent holes. I have a torch that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the vent holes so I can light them very good. Once I feel the pellets are well lit I then dump additional pellets in the chamber. I may try the idea of the vent pipe screen up for a cleaner smoke. As always I appreciate everyone’s input. Best, Paul 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qundoy Posted March 17, 2020 Report Share Posted March 17, 2020 I'm using Traeger pellets. After a few hours the burn was weak and dying, I used a 12" metal skewer as a "swizzle stick" to give it a stir for better airflow. Poked thru both vent holes and also down thru the top. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Sometimes during a cold smoke, I'll lightly tap on the side of the smoker with tongs to make sure that things are settling and staying lit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventureman82 Posted March 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 Has anyone had issues with the potimeter on the air pump failing? Mine only has two setting now, full blast and off. I was looking at replacing it instead of buying a whole new air pump. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted March 21, 2020 Report Share Posted March 21, 2020 Sorry, no help here with the repair, but you could go to the pet store and look in the aquarium section and see if you can find one of the adjustable valves and put that in-line on the outlet hose to adjust your flow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted March 22, 2020 Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 I'm pretty sure screen up only sucks more ash and gets clogged up more quickly. There can't be any difference in the vacuum created by the air pump up or down. I believe you when you say the smoke was better but I'm guessing that it's because the inside of the pipe was partially closed from ash sticking to the sticky gunk that forms from the smoke.. BTW the long T tool for removing the rear hinge cover is great for cleaning out the smoker's feed tube.. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted March 22, 2020 Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, DennisLinkletter said: BTW the long T tool for removing the rear hinge cover is great for cleaning out the smoker's feed tube.. Great tip, Dennis! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
