# Old Mini Fridge, BBQ Stand, PC Tower plus AMNPS egual COLD SMOKING



## pawpaw16 (May 31, 2015)

What I have done is to use a PC Tower, with all internal parts removed. Built a metal shelf above the AMNPS (A-maze-N Smoker) leaving an opening at the back. The shelf does not go all the way back. At this point, used one the 12VDC fan from computer and mounted it so as to pull the smoke from the AMNPS up to the is shelf area. The shelf area has one to two frozen water jugs, made from empty Orange juice or gallon tea jugs. The fan forces the smoke around the frozen water and up into a 2-1/2 inch PVC pipe. From the PVC pipe it then up and into the bottom of an old 3.2 cubic inch mini fridge that the compressor no longer worked. (made a hole in the bottom of the fridge for the PVC pipe to enter.)

Mounted the 2nd 12VDC fan on top the opening. This fan will draw the smoke from the PVC pipe into the fridge.

On the back side of the fridge where the compressor normally would be, I remove it and all cooling coils, wiring and thermostat controls. In its place is a 12VDC battery (I used a deer feeder battery), Solar Panel, 110VAC to 12VDC converter, and the wiring for each fan.  Here is my thoughts on these three setups:

1. Use Solar panel when sun is out to operate the fan/s.

2. Use 12VDC battery when sun is not out to operate the fan/s.

3. Use 110VAC converter when the sun is not out and the battery is dead to operate the fan/s.

The fridge is mounted on an old BBQ stand and the PC tower is mounted to the legs of the BBQ stand.

After all of this, ran a test on the fan in the PC tower, it worked, then a test on the fan inside the fridge and it worked as well. Then tried both fans, a lot of smoke. Made a final test with no fans, there was more than enough smoke to do Cold Smoking - a thin blue line of smoke came from the exhaust tube on top of fridge. Now I don't have to rely on any power source, can you believe it?????

Just a note: from all of the test the smoke was definitely *cold smoke*.

Here are some pictures:













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Now working on a Kegerator that my son-in-law doesn't use anymore due to bad tubing.  The compressor stills works and can get down to below freezing temps. Plan on venting the AMNPS down the beer tower where the faucet is mounted as well. Plan on pushing the smoke through a tube and while at the same time the smoke from inside can be vented back up the beer tower. This would be like a two way street and there is plenty of room for both smokes to go down and come back up. Therefore no holes are needed to be drilled. Just will be needing to add racks and shelves to it and mount a temperature probe into it as well. Then will be ready to start really *COLD SMOKING* again. I guess one could this call it a *"Smokin-Keg"*?













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Note: The faucet will be used for decorations only.


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## lght (Jun 10, 2015)

Wow nice setup.  I like the idea, but I've never seen the need for "fans".  I've cold smoked in several smokers, old fridges, etc and never needed a fan.  Once setup and running after the smoking area gets completely filled with smoke anything in the container will be completely surrounded with smoke.  As long as it's big enough to not smother the AMNPS and you have a baffle for the smoke to escape do you really don't need to move the smoke around?


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## pawpaw16 (Jun 10, 2015)

LGHT said:


> Wow nice setup.  I like the idea, but I've never seen the need for "fans".  I've cold smoked in several smokers, old fridges, etc and never needed a fan.  Once setup and running after the smoking area gets completely filled with smoke anything in the container will be completely surrounded with smoke.  As long as it's big enough to not smother the AMNPS and you have a baffle for the smoke to escape do you really don't need to move the smoke around?


Once I had installed and wired in the two PC fans, I did a test with just one fan turned on, the one in the PC.  It moved the smoke well and not as fast as one might think.  Then I tried just the PC fan in the mini-fridge and basically had the same results.

Now turned on both of the PC fans, this time, there was plenty of smoke churning all around inside the mini-fridge and exiting the exhaust port. I got chocked up from all of the smoke that was in there when I opened the door to see how things were going. Lesson learned, I now open door slowly and keep the head further away.

I then turned all fans off, removed the AMNPS from the PC, and opened the mini-fridge door to get all smoke out. Then put the AMNPS back in and started over, this time with no fans running. I could believe the results, the smoke inside the mini-fridge was perfect and even had a thin line blue smoke coming out the exhaust port. I am pleased with these results, but sadden that I spent so much time wiring and installing those fans. Oh well, live and learn. 

Hope this can be of help to others.


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## lght (Jun 11, 2015)

PawPaw16 said:


> Once I had installed and wired in the two PC fans, I did a test with just one fan turned on, the one in the PC.  It moved the smoke well and not as fast as one might think.  Then I tried just the PC fan in the mini-fridge and basically had the same results.
> 
> Now turned on both of the PC fans, this time, there was plenty of smoke churning all around inside the mini-fridge and exiting the exhaust port. I got chocked up from all of the smoke that was in there when I opened the door to see how things were going. Lesson learned, I now open door slowly and keep the head further away.
> 
> ...


Ok so you didn't need the fans after all?  You said "I could believe the results", did you mean to say couldn't?  Just want to make sure I'm getting it correctly since I never used fans, I wasn't sure if I was missing anything or not.


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## pawpaw16 (Jun 12, 2015)

"I *could not* believe the results", is the correct statement. I do apologize for not re-reading my post.

I thought I needed those fans to move the air/smoke from where the wood pellets or wood chips smoking through ducts to the cook chamber.

Seen some pictures where they used dryer vent duct between the two compartments. Here is just one link using a fan and dryer vent duct: *http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/coldsmoker.html*

Based on the outcome, I am going to remove those fans and just concentrate on the kegerator. It is cold inside that chamber for sure.

Thanks again for bring a mistake to my attention, there is no need to be confused where there is smoke involved.


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## lght (Jun 17, 2015)

Ahhh ok I get it now.  Yeah It's weird to see fans since smoke will search for air and just move naturally.  As far as the temps what temp is it?  I have read optimal temps for cold smoking is 60-70 degrees which works for me since the heat of the pellets always seems to land my smoker at around 65 degrees anyway.


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## pawpaw16 (Jun 17, 2015)

This smoker's top temperature has been running around 77 degrees, and that is ok even when smoking cheese.  I did see a higher temperature when any or both fans are running due to drawing in more outside air.  I am not running the fans any more, I just let the air move from the lower unit up around the frozen jug of water and then into bottom of mini fridge where I have place another jug of frozen water that the aire has move up and around as well.  The temperature is now around 63 degrees at that point.

But I am concentrating more on the kegerator now since it is finally cleaned out.  The baby gets below 32 degrees inside, going to use a mailbox and some means of venting it into the kegerator.

Sounds like you smoker is working great. Do you have a picture you could post?


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