Wade

I have not tried the combination but have produced smoke rings both ways separately. If you try and it is successful then that would be good to know.

You may find that making a disposable "tray" from tinfoil is easier as it is less effort to throw it away after the cook than to try to clean burned-on fat from a reusable tray. I like to make cleaning up as stress free as possible 🍹

You do not need smoke to get the smoke ring as it is actually caused by a reaction between a protein in the meat called myoglobin, nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). Nitric oxide and carbon monoxide are gases produced when nitrogen and carbon combine with oxygen in the combustion process. Whilst you will not have CO or NO in your sealed sous vide pouch you can still achieve a smoke ring by using rubs that are naturally high in Nitrate (e.g. includes celery powder) or by adding a little Nitrite Cure. The temperature though is important as the reaction takes place at ~77 C (170 F) so you may need to have the Sous Vide a little hotter to begin with.

Great photos I see that you are only using them one block deep. If you are finding it difficult to get the smoker up to temperature add a second layer in the inner ring. This will give the smoker an extra heat boost at the beginning. Don't worry about wasting briquettes as when you finish the cook just close both the top and bottom vents and that will extinguish the briquettes. When cold, shake off any excess ash and re-use them for the next cook.

Hi Rawce If you are struggling to get the smoker up to temperature there are several things that could be affecting it. Check the quality of your fuel. If you are using only lump charcoal then add some good quality briquettes in with it. They burn hotter and will help raise the temperature. If you are only using briquettes then check their quality as not all briquettes are created equal. Remove the water from the water pan and partially fill with sand. Despite popular belief the water does little to help keep the meat moist in normal cooks. Also one of the products of burning the fuel is water vapour. The main role of the water pan is as a heat deflector and heat stabiliser. There is no harm in putting water in the bowl as it acts as a good thermal mass, however it takes a lot of energy to boil water and so will be constantly working to reduce the effective cooking temperature in the smoker. The moistness of the meat is more down to maintaining a stable cooking temperature, basting/mopping periodically, and foiling during the latter parts of the cook. Ensure that your top vents are fully open. Temperate is not only controlled by the bottom vents. These bullet smokers are designed to be used with the top vents fully open. Some think that by partially closing the top vent they are "keeping the heat in" but this isn't the case. By closing the top vents you are restricting the air flow through the smoker which, in turn, reduces the air flow over the coals - making them burn cooler. Cheers, Wade

Wow - You can certainly guarantee that it is fresh then . The closest I can get to that is buying direct from Billingsgate Market in London. Some of the supermarkets around here have sold whole salmon that looked quite fresh in the past however they are quite small and recently they have been looking a little "old". Are you mostly hot smoking your salmon or are you producing traditional cold smoked too. I sell a reasonable amount of traditional smoked salmon but my personal favourite is the lightly smoked salmon steaks.

Adding a separate thermostat control safeguard is a good idea. They are not expensive and there are several off-the-shelf. I do not know the type that @Ripple has in his photo but the ones I tend to use are from @Inkbird. The ITC-308 works well and is ~£30. For their WiFi enabled version is ~£45 Regarding the ring, yes it can glow as it heats and gets the cabinet up to temperature however this should not be for long until the internal thermostat control kicks in.

Hi Billy and welcome to the forum. It has been a few years since I have visited Austin but when I was there I tasted a lot of great BBQ. Do you do much BBQ at home (probably a silly question - 🙂). Let us know a little more about yourself and which areas of BBQ/smoking inspire you the most. Cheers Wade

Do not worry about it drying too quickly as the smoke generator will add moisture to the smoke chamber. It is not like air drying meats where slow drying over weeks is important - here you are looking to remove as much water as you can over a 24 hour period through passing warm smoke over the surfaces of the fish. From a food safety perspective a rapid dehydration is preferred. The thicker the fillet the longer the smoke required as it takes time for water at the centre of the fillet to pass out through the outside flesh. If the fillet is very thick you can assist this process by cutting off "disks" of skin, just exposing the flesh. This allows the water to escape from both sides of the fillet.

Yes, you need to use dust in these small maze cold smokers. You need to form a block of smoldering dust that burns slowly around the spiral. Good move to use the grinder. I mostly use pellets in my smokers and if I need some dust I just put a few of these into a spice grinder. 👍

The moisture content of the sawdust is important and it has a greater effect in cooler weather. As Martin says, a good way to reduce the moisture content is to microwave it for a couple of minutes. Also, when filling the maze, press the dust down with your finger to compact it before lighting.

The sweet spot for chicken is about 60 minutes and, like you, I find it starts to lose texture if you leave it in for much longer than that. I am not sure what ingredients you use in your currys but you may also find that some of your ingredients were also powerful meat tenderisers which would have made this loss of texture even more pronounced to the point where it goes mushy. Good examples of these sometimes used in currys are fresh ginger, pineapple and Papaya. Fresh ginger contains an enzyme called zingibain which is a powerful meat tenderiser. When using it in a standard curry cook, it is usually first fried along with onions etc. to release its flavour before the meat gets added - and this initial high heating destroys the enzyme activity and preserves the meat texture, This is very different in Sous Vide cooking though as zingibain is unfortunately at its maximum activity at ~60C and is still active between 70-80C. This would likely have a dramatic effect on the texture of your chicken after 180 minutes in the Sous Vide bath. Yes, with experience you will find out what works well and also does not work so well with Sous Vide. It is not always about the Sous Vide process though but is also about the ingredients that you use.

My advice would be to leave this one well alone. Looking at the YouTube videos and advertising literature this has no air control at the bottom and so will work in the same way as the old Brinkmann. It will have very little (if any) temperature control. You would be better putting your money towards a ProQ or Fornetto.

One of the most widely respected BBQ Pit/Smoker build calculators is the one by Feldon. The link below will take you to his online calculator which should provide you with the sizing details you need. http://www.feldoncentral.com/bbqcalculator.html

Sous Vide is a very good way to cook meats. Take care not to cook them too long though as some meats (especially fish and chicken) can lose their texture quite quickly. @Smokin Monkey used Sous Vide extensively for his Hog Roast business. He would sous vide the pork in sections overnight in his giant sous vide water baths and then when he arrived at the event they effectively only needed warming through and searing.

There is also a good guide to Sous Vide temperatures and timings at Chefsteps https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide

Only the over 50's ?? Damn, that rules me out then !! 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️

Looks good

Hi Aaron and welcome to the forum. The Everdure looks like an amazing piece of kit - with a price tag to match. What have you cooked on it so far?

Great photos - looks good. Made my mouth water looking at them

It is good to learn the temperature control on your specific smoker using an inexpensive forgiving meat like chicken. Pork shoulder and ribs are good too - though pork shoulder will take quite a lot longer to cook. Have you got yourself a twin probe digital thermometer, as this will be important as you progress. They are not expensive and will tell you the temperature information you need without having to lift the lid. "If you are looking you are not cooking". If cooking the chicken do not try to cook it too low and slow. I find that about 140 C is good for chicken, whereas you are looking for ~110-115 C for pork shoulder and ribs. What will you be using as fuel? Briquettes? Lumpwood?

Hi Mo. The bullet smoker is the way to go as it is very versatile and is easy to control. It won't completely replace the kettle BBQ as sometimes we need to grill too. You can use the bullet smoker as a grill but it is not designed for doing that. Have you looked at the types of bullet smokers available? What will your price range be? Most professional BBQ competition teams use bullet smokers for their cooks. You would not regret getting one 👍

I needed a new Themapen as I cracked the cover on one of mine over Christmas. I now have a couple of these on on order. Thanks for letting us know 👍

The type of sealer that you need will really depend on what you will be using it for - not just the food to be packed but also where it is going. There are two main types of vacuum packer - (1) Side suck and (2) chamber The side suck vacuum packer is the most common type that is used at home as it is inexpensive and small. Its main drawback is that to use it you need the more expensive textured vacuum bags. These are readily available though and if you are not expecting to do a lot of packing then these usually work out more cost effective. These are typically around £40-£80 At the lower end of the price range is something like the Andrew James Vacuum Sealer at around £38 - and at the higher end you have sealers like the Luvele Deluxe Pro at around £150. When looking for the right side suck packer check the maximum bag width (the wider the better), the time between seals (some machines require a 40 second wait to allow the sealing element to cool), the vacuum pressure that is achieved (though most will give you sufficient for home use), and just as important is its physical size (do you have room to store it when it isn't in use). The chamber vacuum packers are more for the professional packers, though there are some that are affordable for home use - these range from about £250 to £3-4K and higher. These are larger than the side suck machines but generally produce a higher vacuum, double seal the bags as standard and they also use the less expensive plain food vacuum bags. The most important thing to check with these is the size of the chamber as you must be able to get all of the food you are packing fully inside and close the lid. Realistically you should be expecting to pay £700 and up for one that will be sufficiently versatile. There are refurbished ones on the market from companies like Sous Vide Tools. The ones I use for my business are the Henkelman Boxer 42 XL - however these will set you back around £3,000 each. My advice would be to start with a side suck vacuum packer and the model would depend on how much you are expecting to pack. If it was me, I would go for something like the Luvele, as it is designed for use in a commercial kitchen, however if space in your kitchen is an issue then the smaller Andrew James style sealer will also do the job. I hope this helps - and I am sure that other members will be able to give you the benefit of their experiences with their own machines.

Looking good so far. When are you expecting it to have its first run?