Dan

Just wait no for the weather now so I can smoke some bacon!

Amazing thanks @Wade

Cheers guys @Wade - that’s good to know, do you mean four holes at the top for each side? I currently have eight holes in total, two a side for top and bottom. So I’m guessing eight holes at the top and four holes at the bottom?

I’m not really sure what happened on Friday night but I got really excited about making a cold smokehouse over the weekend. I’d been using a callow bullet smoker but donated it to my brother to begin his cold smoking journey - and I felt the 57 smokey mountain was a tad large for my little-but-often needs: So I’d seen a video on YouTube of a guy with a somewhat smaller wooden smokehouse and decided to buy a load of wood on Saturday and just see what happened. I’ve not really done much woodwork - a ‘bench’ I’ve made is now a shoe rack and general detritus shelf as it’s not entirely safe to be sat on; but I’m a bit like a dog with a bone when I have an idea. i ended up going with pine and was lucky to find a load in the reduced section in b&q (my local timber merchant closed early on a Saturday which is a shame because they are CHEAP). The wood was planed smooth so there was little to do on the backend. I didn’t follow any plans as I just wanted it to be simple. Four panels to make a tall box, with a tight fitting magnetic latch door and a couple of air holes. Simple. Panels I clamped to the edge of the table to assist with lining them up, then I used a bar clamp to get them snug. then I glued and clamped the cross sections to hold the panels together before screwing them in. before I assembled the panels all together, I positioned the magnetic latches so they would line up. i then bar clamped the whole thing together and screwed in the roof and floor panels. added a few internal cross sections so I could add shelving and cut some dowel to fit in snugly to hang meat . I also drilled two air intakes on the bottom on each side and two smoke exhausts at the top on each side, but I’m not sure if that is sufficient. I finished it with an outdoor danish oil and a coat of classic wax after a light sanding, although it’s not going to live outside.... And hey presto! It’s not going to feature on grand designs but it’s functional (I hope): So it should fit some salmon, cheese and bacon and is built to be just a tad larger than the callow smoker. Perfect for my needs and may even serve to hang/dry age. Tomorrow it’s going to get a seasoning and maybe a top handle....and then I’ve got two large bacon bellies that have been curing for a couple of weeks: Thanks for reading!

I do! Part of my video production business...

Hiya - I’m using restaurant lump, blue bag stuff from CPL I always use. I usually burn it for between 35-45 minutes in a weber chimney as it can take ages for that charcoal to light. Yes a separate probe thermometer. None of these I usually have any issue with when burning in my offset or my weber kettle which is why I’m a bit puzzled! On further testing the temperature drops very rapidly between the two grill layers. I’m measuring between 85 and 90c just above the water pan and then 65-73 at the top grill position. None of this holds consistently with a slow rise to temperature and then almost immediately dropping off with a loss of 1 degree every 2 minutes or so.

I’ve had some difficulty getting the temperature up on this. I bought it primarily as a cold smoker but decided to do some chicken wings the other night. with a full chimney of charcoal and a water pan half filled with boiling water I wasn’t able to get the temperature past 85c on my probe thermometer, with all vents open, meaning I couldn’t get my food up to temperature. The charcoal doesn’t seem to want to stay lit even with the vents open. I ordered some gasket tape from amazon to seal the gap around the door - but this seems to have made the problem worse, so I am guessing it’s a problem with air flow. I am able to get my grill temperature roaring on my Weber kettle, even at this time of year so I don’t think this has anything to do with ambient temperature. Is it worth modifying the smoker in anyway or sending back as not fit for purpose?

Cheers guys- I may move it into the garage when I get back tomorrow in which case to prevent freezing. Or just get in the fridge anyway

Nice one for this: cured a couple on Saturday and now in the new callow (arrived today) to cold smoke until 3am when I have to get up for an early shoot. One of them is rubbed in fennel and pepper and the othe is left as is. Using pear wood and there ina cheese as well. Question: can I leave these breast to hang outside in the callow for a few days now the weather has cooled? Just want them to dry out a bit more and I fear my fridge might get a bit smokey if hung in there...

Wow! Great, thorough review! I've been smoking pretty much everything on the weber 57 but was toying with the idea of a cheap ish bullet that I could cold smoke in as well.

Hello! Dan here from chelmsford. This is my first year in real BBQ and a whole new passion for me. Proud member of the weber #122 club. What a great weekend that was...