Cold smoking in hot weather

[PolishDeli]

Lox is on my short list of things to try making; but weather prevents cold smoking throughout most of the year. Outside temp is often hotter than the min temp setting on my smoker.

I’m thinking the right thing to build would be something along the lines of a refrigerator-based curing chamber, but with a mailbox-mod type of smoking attachment?

I use a Masterbuilt MES 130B, if anyone has suggestions for rigging up a cooling system...

 

[GaryHibbert]

When I cold smoke in my MES 30 during the hot times (not many of them in Alberta lately, LOL) I use my AMNPS in the mailbox mod. I also freeze water in plastic drink containers and place them around the interior of the MES. That keeps the temp down.
Gary

 

[PolishDeli]

Thanks Gary,
Tossing in a bag of ice crossed my mind, but your idea seems better for managing humidity.

 

[indaswamp]

I saw a guy that took a 120qt. ice chest and ran a 3" aluminum pipe through it long ways at a slight angle. The higher end of the pipe lined up with the intake on his MES. He fills the ice chest up with ice to lower the temp of the intake air. He just keeps adding ice.....

 

[indaswamp]

BTW, you will more than likely need a fan to cold smoke in hot weather if the flew temp. is below ambient temp. because you will not have a pressure difference to create draft.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Saw an episode of DDD where a restaurant smoked fish. They had a 6 foot wide box, might have been a double refer, was years ago, with a small, 5000BTU, air conditioner mounted on one end. I thought that was creative...JJ

 

[PolishDeli]

3" aluminum pipe...That's a pretty slick idea. Simple too. Probably using a AMNPS inside the unit?
I have the cold smoker attachment hooked up to my MES, so I wouldn’t really be able to try this.
I’d have a hell of a time splainin’ that to the wife “…but the cold smoker attachment you bought for me is preventing me from cold smoking.”

 

[Steve in AL]

New (goofy?) idea to continue this rather old thread:
I have available in (under, actually) the back yard, a 100' long "earth tube": 4" pvc pipe buried 4 ft below the surface, that I used several years ago for a solar power system battery box cooling project. I have since changed out the lead-acid batteries for lithium-ion, and no longer need the earth tube for air-cooling the battery box.
So, for summertime cold smoking, what about blowing air with a small fan, through the earth tube (it runs about 70* year-round at that depth) and into the smokehouse along with the output of a smoke generator, to keep the smoking temperatures under control even when the outside air temps are too high, typically 85-95* here in Alabama in the heat of summer?