Hello!
So I'm getting into curing and smoking and made myself a smoking cabinet. Was going to build it from scratch but then got lucky in my local home improvement store and spotted this pine chest and modified it a little... Anyway, it's hard to get the AMNPS here in the uk, and even harder to get reasonably priced pellets, so I have a Pro-Q smoker there in the bottom that burns dust, gives a good 10 hours and it seems pretty good.
My question is this:
The cabinet is not air tight, it's made by pushing slats together and the door catches with a magnet. Regardless of that I still had it in my head that it needs some sort of chimney so I drilled out a hole in the roof about 2 inches in diameter. I'm just wondering if this is really necessary because the smoker only gives out a slender stream of smoke, and i wonder now if I'm losing too much out of the top. Is a hole in the top even a suitable chimney or should I attach some sort of pole to make it more... well, chimney-like?
I am considering blocking the hole altogether (or probably with an old BBQ style air vent adjuster) but any advice as to whether the natural seepage of the box could be enough to ensure the smoke is 'fresh' would be appreciated? (Does smoke even become stale?)
Thanks!
So I'm getting into curing and smoking and made myself a smoking cabinet. Was going to build it from scratch but then got lucky in my local home improvement store and spotted this pine chest and modified it a little... Anyway, it's hard to get the AMNPS here in the uk, and even harder to get reasonably priced pellets, so I have a Pro-Q smoker there in the bottom that burns dust, gives a good 10 hours and it seems pretty good.
My question is this:
The cabinet is not air tight, it's made by pushing slats together and the door catches with a magnet. Regardless of that I still had it in my head that it needs some sort of chimney so I drilled out a hole in the roof about 2 inches in diameter. I'm just wondering if this is really necessary because the smoker only gives out a slender stream of smoke, and i wonder now if I'm losing too much out of the top. Is a hole in the top even a suitable chimney or should I attach some sort of pole to make it more... well, chimney-like?
I am considering blocking the hole altogether (or probably with an old BBQ style air vent adjuster) but any advice as to whether the natural seepage of the box could be enough to ensure the smoke is 'fresh' would be appreciated? (Does smoke even become stale?)
Thanks!