Cold Smoking Modification

[mr t 59874]

Questions for the safety gurus. As my wife has an old four-drawer filing cabinet in her office, I asked her to view and read the thread on Hawks brilliant use of his filing cabinet.  Afterwards she surprised me with a couple questions that I could not answer.

Her first question: At what temperature does the residual oil on the drawer runners and paint begin to emit toxic fumes? Knowing that during the summer her office gets warmer than what Hawks cabinet would get when smoking, I was concerned also.

Second question: Is it safe to keep items like doughnuts, cookies, tea, and coffee supplies in one of the drawers?

I did advise her not to place her coffee mug containing 160° coffee on top of the cabinet without using a trivet until her questions are answered.

I suggested removing the contents and putting a good coat of creosote on the interior for her. She responded with some sailor talk and insulting sign language.

Hawk, you have your unit located in a very nice location. 

Have fun smoking.

T

 

[dls1]

 
Questions for the safety gurus. As my wife has an old four-drawer filing cabinet in her office, I asked her to view and read the thread on Hawks brilliant use of his filing cabinet.  Afterwards she surprised me with a couple questions that I could not answer.

Her first question: At what temperature does the residual oil on the drawer runners and paint begin to emit toxic fumes? Knowing that during the summer her office gets warmer than what Hawks cabinet would get when smoking, I was concerned also.

Second question: Is it safe to keep items like doughnuts, cookies, tea, and coffee supplies in one of the drawers?

I did advise her not to place her coffee mug containing 160° coffee on top of the cabinet without using a trivet until her questions are answered.

I suggested removing the contents and putting a good coat of creosote on the interior for her. She responded with some sailor talk and insulting sign language.

Hawk, you have your unit located in a very nice location. 

Have fun smoking.

T

T,

I'm definitely not a safety guru, but I think the safest thing you could do would be to go to a Goodwill store or something similar and get your own second hand filing cabinet. Next, instead of applying a good coat of creosote, I would recommend using some cold patch. You should be good to go, and there would still be harmony in the house.

 

[johnmeyer]

 
Her first question: At what temperature does the residual oil on the drawer runners and paint begin to emit toxic fumes? Knowing that during the summer her office gets warmer than what Hawks cabinet would get when smoking, I was concerned also.

I already pointed out the same thing in my last post: he needs to get that thing up to a very high temperature to burn off lots of stuff, and needs to do a VERY long smoke to build up a lot of gunk on the interior.

However, the petroleum products are not my main concern. I've inhaled a lot of burned petroleum products (haven't we all ...), and while they're not very good for you, I don't think they are even close to being as poisonous as lead paint. That is my bigger concern. Also, the petroleum is easy to deal with. What I'd to is take the ball-bearing slides out and soak them in paint thinner. I'd then blow them out with compressed air and then set them in the sun over the course of a few days (or put them in your BBQ and bake them). Finally, I'd re-lubricate them with vegetable oil. After doing all this, I'd then do an all-day "burn in" of the cabinet at the highest possible temperature.

I am also even more concerned about it tipping over now that I've seen the final build. It looks very tippy. My concern is especially high because it is shown directly next to the main electric meter and circuit box for the house. It is not a good location. While there is a nice corner fence to "catch" it when it falls over, the weight of the smoker would probably damage something on the way down and would certainly break the glass on the meter. I've seen a few of those break; it doesn't take much effort to fracture them.

Finally, one reason I went with a popcorn can for my external smoking enclosure is that it is made of food-grade materials. I realize this is tough to come by when building a bigger smoking box, but it should be a factor in making the decision about what to use.

 

[hawkce541]

Actually it's very stable, ( I've tried to rock it), the smoker on top isn't as heavy as it looks, and the filing cabinet is heavier than IT looks.  As far as the chemicals inside the cabinet.......there's not going to be any heat there........that's why it's a COLD smoker.  I've already run 3 full trays of pellets through it for a minimum of 30 collective hours of smoke. 

 

[hawkce541]

By the way T,

I got a blender for $5 from a guy on "Let go".  It works great for chopping up the pellets into dust.  Thin blue smoke for days.  Thanks for the tip.

Hawk

 

[mr t 59874]

 
By the way T,

I got a blender for $5 from a guy on "Let go".  It works great for chopping up the pellets into dust.  Thin blue smoke for days.  Thanks for the tip.

Hawk

You should get good use out of it. You can now make chopped pellets, a sawdust type material, and the fine powder for those long slow smokes.

T 

 

[dabigbozman]

You should get good use out of it. You can now make chopped pellets, a sawdust type material, and the fine powder for those long slow smokes.

T 

This is the fist I've heard of chopping pellets? I cand find a thread on it either, what's the thought behind chopped them?

 

[mr t 59874]

This is the fist I've heard of chopping pellets? I cand find a thread on it either, what's the thought behind chopped them?

Thank you for asking. Different forms of pellets will have different burn rates and produce different amounts of heat or BTU’s, the same as the cuts of wood. To help you understand using a larger picture, imagine the heat required to burn a half dozen huge logs, the same amount of fireplace logs, sticks for a stick burner, kindling for a cook stove, and twigs to start a campfire. The smaller the fuel the less heat produced along with the amount of smoke, even though the color may be the same from each cut. By using different forms of fuel that produce different amounts of smoke, regardless the smoke generator being used, you can determine what smoke matches the product you are smoking.

Hopefully, this answered your question.

T

 

[dabigbozman]

Thank you for asking. Different forms of pellets will have different burn rates and produce different amounts of heat or BTU’s, the same as the cuts of wood. To help you understand using a larger picture, imagine the heat required to burn a half dozen huge logs, the same amount of fireplace logs, sticks for a stick burner, kindling for a cook stove, and twigs to start a campfire. The smaller the fuel the less heat produced along with the amount of smoke, even though the color may be the same from each cut. By using different forms of fuel that produce different amounts of smoke, regardless the smoke generator being used, you can determine what smoke matches the product you are smoking.

Hopefully, this answered your question.

T

Thanks for the detailed answer professor T [emoji]129299[/emoji]

 

[doughboysigep]

where can I find a reduced from 3" tubing to a 2" opening (opening on my MES). haven't had any luck finding something.  was going to cut and compressed tubing if need be.

 

[mr t 59874]

 
where can I find a reduced from 3" tubing to a 2" opening (opening on my MES). haven't had any luck finding something.  was going to cut and compressed tubing if need be.

Checkout 3" x 2" Schedule 40 or 80 PVC Reducing Coupling. Operating temp is 140° far above cold smoking temps.

T
[h1]  [/h1]

 

[johnmeyer]

What MES do you have? The chip loader on mine is a standard 3" opening, not 2".

 

[doughboysigep]

I think my older unit might have a 3" opening (didn't measure yet), but my newer generation (digital readout integrate on front above door) is 2 inch.

 

[doughboysigep]

So I finally got my mailbox attachment done for my MES. Put it together when my 1st batch of cheese was in the smoker. It was at/around/below 0 and still had to put frozen bottle in to keep it barely under 90. Second batch with mailbox worked beautifully (never above 40).
Cheese was noticeably different color - orangish w/o mailbox; slightly off white w/ mailbox. I assume flavor will be the same (?).

 

[doughboysigep]

1st & 2nd batch