Newbie Canadian eh.

[fungus]

Hi all.

Im new to curing and smoking. I have much experience brewing, wine and beer and have been a hobby-chef forever. I am in Ottawa Ontario.

I am in the market for a smoker. I would like to be able to cold smoke as well as hot smoke. Any tips welcome. Looking, nervously at Bradley and teh A-maz-n smoker.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Welcome FunGus. Cool handle.

I have a Masterbuilt Duo (called Pro here, north of the border). Works well for both cold (with a-maze-n) and hot smoking. Not so great keeping temps under 200 when is warm outside. I believe it I saw it on sale at Home D for $150. I recommend it if you are looking for a low cost unit.

 

[gary s]

  Good afternoon and welcome to the forum, from a cooling down East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about                  everything

            Gary

 

[disco]

Welcome from a fellow Canadian, FunGus.

I own a Bradley and have done a lot of good smokes in it. The upsides are the set and forget. The downsides are it doesn't get to high temperatures and the pucks are a little expensive. I have supplemented it with a homemade WSM (cheap and way easy to build) and an A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker.

You can cold smoke in the Bradley but even just the low heat from the smoke generator can be too hot for delicate cold smokes like cheese. You can get around this by freezing water in a plastic bottle, put the frozen bottle in a pan and put that in the Bradley. If you have an AMZNPS, it can be used for cold smokes too.

I look forward to your posts.

Disco

 

[fungus]

Took that advice. Caught the sale the master pro dual at Home Depot. Ill pick up the a-maz-n smoker soon.

Is there a good source of wood that I should check? Home depot had no chunk wood. 

I have a buddy who cut down his cherry tree a couple years back, is that wood usable or does it need to be from a specific species of cherry?

I'm having fun already :)

Gus

 

[themule69]

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David

 

[atomicsmoke]

I found hickory chunks at Rona or Lowe's not sure which one. Home depot also sells some chunks online only. (Free shipping).

I stocked up on my trip across the border few months ago. Check kijiji too...I saw a bunch of wood suppliers there.

Your buddy's cherry wood would work as long as it's seasoned.