Icefever

How long is a piece of string??? ..🤔....first off welcome to the forum Chris...it's a hard question to answer mate. With that price range you could go for a Proq Frontier, but also a Weber and a number of others. I think you need to say what you want?...a bullitt or kettle smoker to start with....how many will you be cooking for?? Ice.

Welcome John...looks like you'er off to a good start? a few of us do curing and sausages, I have some Kielbasa on my "todo list" tommorrow. Ice.

Just spend a little time surfing the net, try this link...https://thermapen.co.uk/18-bbq-barbecue-thermometers Take it easy you don't need a load of items to be a good BBQ'er.....patience is a virtue in this hobby.... Ice.

Some idiot will buy it......🤣🤣🤣. Ice.

Some voices say yes....others say no...but for me IMHO I would take it off.....I have a load of cherry that was cut the end of 2019....it's sat waiting to be used, but I will be taking the bark off... Ice.

Hi & welcome Simon, get out while you can...I started 4 maybe 5 years back and there's no hope for me now...save yourself..🤣🤣 Joking aside....it's a wonderful past time...and you get to eat...👍..so what kit have you got??? Ice.

Well done on buying one....as for lumpwood there's a thread on here that you may have read??? ...I buy from Bookers, don't go for the cheap stuff. Ice.

We had the same last night 😆 I used the mini kamado..my plancha is in the garage.......600f wow that's some heat....great for pizza....I often wonder how hot some of these smokers we use will go?? I've thought about banging a full chimney in the Weber just to see what temp it would hit 🤔 Ice.

Well done...looking good...👍. Ice.

Hi & welcome to the forum.. Ice.

David hi & welcome to the forum..plus one with Hoogl on the thermo....cook to an internal temp not time matey. Ice.

Welcome along...now you've started just enjoy. Ice.

To slice, or not to slice?? ok I won't say the rest...😆...I've been curing bacon for a couple of years, to start with I would cut the slab into small sections into a size that you can use without wasting any. From the start of this year, I've gone back to using the machine, the reason being is when a piece was taken from the freezer you have to wait until it's softened enough to use a knife. Most times I would miss it and by the time I got around to slicing it, it would be too soft to be able to cut decent slices. I find even straight from the fridge is not firm enough, that's why I now use the machine, count out 8 slices and vac-pack. One point to take on board thou is unsliced will last a little longer in the fridge in a block..but ours is never around that long to survive 🤣 Also I leave the bcon (air dry) in the fridge for 48 hours. Ice.

I've been having a play with the cabinet ...the gas stove is made to measure....Lady Luck is watching over me. Started off with the gas valve set at half way..with the top vent closed..that gave me a temp range of 72c/80c... With the gas turned down to 1/4, realy low & the top vent open the temp settled at a steady 55c. Looks like this homemade smoker is working out just fine....both cold & hot...cold smoking tomorrow doing another 4 haddock fillets. I have some thin tin sheets that I could cut and fit around the gas stove if I think it needs it...just to be on the safe side??....I did check the lower sides of the cabinet and all seemed ok. Ice.

Just like me...you have to cut the rack so that it fits the ProQ...😉 😆...I have thought about using the hooks in the lid and let the rack hang, but then when it comes to the wrap how would that work?? 🤔. Ice.

I'm making Kielbas in the next few days. 🤞 Ice.

Popped into Bookers yesterday and picked up a large pork shoulder, I make the odd sausage or two, but seem to stay with the basic recipes for UK type. I like the Polish type also so I'm going to make some over the next few days. Now it comes to the hot smoke...I could do them in the ProQ, but I intend to do enough in one go to last us for a while. The ProQ is not that big for a large load of hanging sausages...it's only so big...so I'm now thinking about running the cold smoker as a hot one??. As long as the fire is controlled it should be safe?? it wont need a full chimney like the ProQ , a small burn in a metal bucket on a coulpe of bricks, or use the small camping gas stove if it fits in along with the big smoker may well done a great job....not worried about trying it, the smoker is next to a tap....👍. I'm going to size the gas stove later and pop a temp probe at the top vent to see what range of temps there are....work in progress...watch this space..if you see a cloud of smoke you'll know it's gone tits up...🤣🤣. Ice.

Yes Adam....I find that on the odd occasion it can be a bugger to start the smoke, but that is more about the fuel. Dust (I find) has to be bone dry to work, now I've made the smoker larger I find it a little slow, that's why I knocked up the bigger smoker with an air pump. Your worried???? what do you think it's like for me?? 🤣🤣😎 Ice.

Home made sausages I hope ?? 😆 only kidding. Ice.

Looks great...we're down to our last small slab of pancetta. He does his Stesa and not Arrotolata....much easier. Ice.

10-Rog with @Smokin Monkey nice & easy.. Ice.

Wow that does look brilliant dude...enjoy..👍. Ice.

Sat sitting last Sat and I was surfing the net on cold smokers, thought about buying the ProQ one. Then when I see the size of it, it turns out slighty smaller than my home made ons...😲...so back to the drawing board. I remembered that I had the base unit to the wall unit that I'd used to make a cold smoker. The unit was not being used so I cut it back so that it was the same size, sitting the smoker on top I only had to cut out enough of the floor of it as the base only has two strip of wood on top...finnished up with a smoker big enough for at the mo... I set it up last weekend to smoke the latest slab of bacon, watching it for a while I wasn't too happy with the amount of smoke coming off the CSG. I thought it's too "lazy" I know the dust was dry it had been in the microwave for around 4 mins. I stuck with it but I thought I need more smoke....so this morning I've been in the garage knocking up a bigger smoke gen....... Behold the "IceSmoker"......Mk 1.... The Pump I had from my homebrew days....all the pipe fittings were in the junk box....the tin held the panettone that we had at Chrimbo....so all in all...brill....and did a test burn/run and it made all the smoke I think I'll need. Ice.

I've been curing our bacon for about 3 years now, I've seen the River cottage video, but @Wade got me started back at the begining using nitrates and I've never looked back. I've never once thought about any problems with bacteria...so far so good.👍 Ice.