Cold Smoke Generator for the MES

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I got an AMAZN smoke generator and it doesn't do so good in the MES. The MES web site mentions the issue and recommends pulling the chip loading tube out and oull the chip tray out a little. The only way I got it to smoke completely is crack the door open. That's ok for cold smoking, but not so good if you are thinking of using it to replace loading chips.
I first tried the tin can and soldering iron. The iron burned out after 3 sessions.
I plan to cruz this site for more ideas.
Do you keep the exhaust wide open ????  You shouldn't have to  open the door if you do that, unless the racks are full or trays and/or foil is covering the racks...   Dave
 
Yep. Wide open.
I think I am going to go with the mail box idea. I need to smoke 4 big salmon filets this weekend. The pix will come next week. I still need to upload the pix from doing jerky out of eye of round.
Smoke on!
 
Here is my take on the external smoke generator. After multiple other iterations I found that I did not need a soldering iron, did not need a venturi, and did not need direct air injection. I also did not need to cut anything, drill anything, weld, or even bend. I can now build an external generator from off the shelf parts and the tools I need are a hammer and nail, used to poke holes in the bottom of the chamber. 

This design drafts fine on its own and produces low temperature smoke. The biggest problem that I have had was with trying to smoke at very low temperatures. If the weather is such that condensation happens in the smoker and you have not done something to increase the airflow, you will get a nasty acrid smoke. At higher smoker temperatures (heat from the smoker's burner) like 200 degrees, it drafts especially well. 

The example shown here is a smallish unit. It works with bigger burn chambers and burns for hours. 

There are a few tricks. I use only small split wood. I pack the chamber as tightly as possible because if you pack it loosely it is more likely to go out. As you are loading the chamber, shake and tap it on the floor to ensure that it is well packed. Light it with a propane torch and take time to make sure that it is burning well all across the bottom. Using this method and green summer wood, I am getting complete burns, often without even charcoal left. Pull the assembly and shake it mid burn if you happen to pass the smoker mid burn.

In the picture I have a basket holding the burn chamber on but I don't do this anymore. I do make sure that I have a stock pot under the chamber in case it falls.

You can actually fill the chamber and the pipe above it with chips to extend the burn time. The chips only burn where the air drafts in. 

Brian [email protected] 

Materials- Martini Shaker $2 from thrift stores. EMT pipe union from home improvement store $4 (?). Exhaust pipe elbow from auto parts store $5 (?) In this picture I have a martini shaker top jammed into the smoker and the elbow happens to fit perfectly into that. If I were starting from scratch I would start by buying the elbow and pipe union, then go looking for martini shakers. An even simpler design is to skip the pipe union and do what you need to do to attach the shaker to the elbow. If you do it that way you can load the chamber by dropping wood through the pipe and shaking it into place but I do like being able to take this one apart.

There is a computer fan in the picture... I have used this to suck air (smoke) out of the top of the smoker to avoid the low draft condensation problem detailed above. Any computer fan and 12V power supply will do the job and although there is a speed control on the one pictured here, it is not needed. Just set the fan on top of the smoker and slide it over the whole until it pulls to your satisfaction. I have also hung one of these fans inside the smoker to circulate the smoke but I am not sure that there is really any benefit to that. Fan- $2 from a computer recycler Power supply $2 from a computer recycler.
 
lets revive a zombie thread.

I started building one this weekend off of the pictures that Brian sent me over a year ago. I have modified it a little and will post pictures up later. I see that you have a "basket" holding the lower section of the shaker on. have you ran into problems with it falling off at temp? or was it just a precaution?
 
Sorry I'm just catching up.... Does an ANMPS generate too much hear to just use one and be done with it?
 
It takes quite a bit of heat to char wood. You can test for yourself with an empty smoker and experiment with sawdust or whatever. You could also try some kind of more efficient tray, aluminum that set right on the heating element maybe. 

I didn't really try hard because I build a lot of hacks anyway. 

Brian Bray 541-521-1213
 
Another thing to consider- you could use a different heat source inside of the box. For example, a bunson burner under a tin can. 
 
I have since eliminated the basket by drilling some holes and securing the fittings with small screws. The stainless is not easy to drill but it can be done. 
 
Nathan- I have a broken MES for you and the mailbox mod shown in this thread looks like a great mod, especially with a computer fan to help the draft at the top.

-Uncle Brian
 
I have not tried it. But I have a MES cold smoke kit I use for hot and cold smoking works pretty good. I am going to get a pellet tray from Todd for smoking cheese and bacon
 
So I did some concept proofing and building in the garage last night and came put together a very basic and very crude smoke generator. I used a shaker from goodwill $5, a $9.00 elbow from Home depot as well as an assortment of piping from home depot. my total bill was $19.00 and that included a brand new clean paint bucket. I also picked up a couple little kids fans for 1.19 each.

what I was wanting to do was make sure that I could get it to work easily and create a good amount of smoke before adapting it into a larger smoker (thus the bucket) while at the same time see if there are any bugs I will have to work out before I spend more money.

it worked phenomenally. I played around a bit with the kids fans as far as placement but once I got them where I wanted they created a great  a nice pull of the smoke out of the tube and was just enough to push it up and out of the bucket while still not pushing so much out that it lost the ability to be enveloped in smoke.

what I did figure out is that I will need to modify the shaker some. The screen on mine was integrated into the lid.  I am going to have to cut that out. so that I can reload the chamber easier. once it was going it became near impossible to separate the 2. I had messaged back and forth with Brian about that and when I went out to check it the two parts were locked solid. It took a decent whack with the hammer to separate it and if I had hot coals in it when this happened it would have been a mess and a fire danger. I also had an idea to just weld on some bars to use as handles on the top portion and the lower portion of the can so that I could twist them apart but after talking with Brian about it I think I will just load it through the top in the future with that screen cut out.

here are a couple pictures of the set up. super cheap and produced an awesome amount of smoke.

 
(for some reason it wont let me rotate the image)

 
So much work. I just bought an A-MAZE-N 12" tube pellet smoker on ebay for $30.  Have used it for months and have stopped adding wood thru the side chute cuz it generates smoke for hours. COLD SMOKE....load tube about 1/2 full and fill the water pan with ice. Don't let the cheese or the smoker get much over 95 degrees.  If it does just open the door - get more ice - let it cool - or just call it good  remove the cheese.  Do not cold smoke on a hot day. 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk....H0.TRS0&_nkw=a-maze-n+pellet+smoker&_sacat=0
 
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Those are cool and all (and I will probably buy one)... but what's the fun in using something off the shelf? The backyard engineer in me says there has to be a more complicated, garage manufactured way of doing things that will end up with a better (hopefully) way of doing things that can be replicated without having to order anything online or that can be built by parts you have laying around the shop/garage/yard....
 
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