Elecrafter Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) Having bought the Bradley and being a general tightarse I was not going to pay out £120 for a tin box and a magic plug. So I started to build my own. Oh the Magic plug is a 2.5x2.1mm DC power plug with a 100k Ohm resistor across the terminals. Again all from my radio junk box! Stupidly I painted it as its only mild steel. Perhaps this was a not a good idea! I have heated the box up to dry the paint. I think it will just need a little time and some seasoning before its properly usable. Cost me £9 for the flexi pipe. The rest was lying around in the garage. Its not pretty, and needs a door catch to finish it, although a weight seems to have worked well. Certainly saving on the commercial offering! Ele. Edited September 23, 2020 by Elecrafter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icefever Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Well done dude...👍 Ice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elecrafter Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 (edited) Update..... Started at 07:30 this morning. Salmon hung and smoker started. Even with a bigger box, and a longer pipe I was getting 90 to 93F. After a couple of hours, and even with the door cracked open I was not happy. Expensive wood pucks, and high temperatures, well on the upper limit. So I dug out my square snail tray, planed down a stave from my old whiskey barrel and set it going. Much less smoke, but temp now 70F and steady. So I will keep an eye on that for a couple of hours to see what happens. 70F seems a lot better and nearer to cold smoke than what it was. The very thin edges of the Salmon are pink, like as in cooked, hope I haven't messed it up. I was looking at sawdust on Fleabay, £29 for 25kg. Then I read on a forum that even though they said 100% oak from their furniture business, they may have other wood and more to the point MDF or Chipboard in it which would be bad. So looking on Facebook I found a local company selling old whiskey barrels. £30 got me a barrel which weighed in at 55Kgs. So cheaper, AND whiskey soaked too. Shame there wasn't any liquid left in it! So I am trying that. I planed the outer surface off as it has been open to the air and weather. Got it down to clean wood, and soon filled the snail smoker. Just need to give it some time and see if that works. Using a Bluetooth Inkbird Ibbq2x dual probe thermometer £22 off Fleabay, and it shows the Bradley controls to be a bit off! The Bluetooth only just reaches the house from in the garage. Rain forecast today so got the smoker in the garage with doors open and a fan running to clear the smoke. Again not done that before, so I'll suck it and see. I'm just a bit cautious as there is £20 of Salmon in there. Keep you guys posted, and any tips are gratefully received. I'm learning, so need help! Cheers Ele. Edited September 24, 2020 by Elecrafter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elecrafter Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 Daft old bugger!!! I forgot to put the garlic and cheese in this morning. They are in now, and should get at least 4 to 6 hours cold smoke. Ele. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icefever Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 🤣....never mind...I'd like one of those barrels... Ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elecrafter Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 53 minutes ago, Icefever said: 🤣....never mind...I'd like one of those barrels... Ice. I just looked on Facebook with a mileage limit, found mine 12 miles away. There seem to be plenty of places selling them. Certainly worth a look. It was still sealed up with sacking and wooden bungs in it. Quite a decent barrel, and certainly worth the money. Its making my electric plane grunt! Ele. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icefever Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 5 minutes ago, Elecrafter said: I just looked on Facebook with a mileage limit, found mine 12 miles away. There seem to be plenty of places selling them. Certainly worth a look. It was still sealed up with sacking and wooden bungs in it. Quite a decent barrel, and certainly worth the money. Its making my electric plane grunt! Ele. Could you use it for storage??? say if you made a sherry or port?? Ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elecrafter Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 I don't see why not. Mine had a medium charring on the inside and was in very good condition. Smelt good, but is a little damp for burning in the smoker. | suppose it depends on what you find out there. This chap has an industrial unit out on a farm, and had 50+ that I could see in the pile mine came from. It just depends on what people have. Mostly they are cutting them in half for garden planters (what a waste!). You would need to find a half decent one if you were going to store anything in it. Also they are quite big 800mm tall and 600mm at the widest. That's a lot of sherry! Trouble is new barrels are not cheap either. Ele. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elecrafter Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 Yet another update! I'm Cold Smoking Salmon and I've been bugged by 90F+ temperatures (in the smoker), so I ditched the pucks, and used a snail smoker. Whilst it dropped the temperature in the top of the cabinet to 70F, it keeps going out every 15-20mins. So now its dark, I have reverted to the Bradly Pucks. However I had a brainwave and pointed the fan I was removing the smoke from the garage at the Aluminium pipe from the smoker box to the cabinet. Within a few minutes the 90F+ had dropped to 80F, and has now settled out at a respectable 75F, which is great. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. Whilst I still have the expense of the Pucks, I am hoping to make my own. I think the problem of the snail going out was simply the oak barrel stave is damp. Anyway its getting late and the Salmon has been smoking for 12 hours. I'll give it a couple more and call it a day. I will need time to shut it all down, lock up and get the Salmon in the fridge tonight. So it looks like I might have solved my little problem. Just for fun, I added a bit of Cheddar, Brie, and a couple of Garlic bulbs so all that lovely smoke wont be wasted. I'm keeping an eye on it every 30 mins now, as I don't have any lights out there at the moment, as the Choke in the Light fitting exploded last year and I haven't replaced it! Yet another job to be done! Ele. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 That sounds good. 70 F (21 C) is the perfect temperature for cold smoking salmon. 75 F (24 C) is at the top end. Make sure you have a good air flow through the smoke chamber too. The smoking process is all about removing the water from the fish and this is done by passing warm air (including smoke) over the fish to dehydrate it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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