First test run (and new name) of the Smoke-Vark cold smoke 'generator'.

[curious aardvark]

For the build and other information click here first.

Filled the beast up - took 15oz sawdust.


Lit with tea candle - it works for me and nothing else has.





For this smoke I decided to do some spices and salt - added sliced ginger later.



So the rest is just pics of burn and time.

1 hour


2 hours 40 minutes


8 hours 20 minutes


Still going at 10 hours 40 minutes



At which point - cos I was feeling like crap and hadn't had much sleep the last three days - I went to bed.

Following morning


I figure we're looking at around 14-16 hours total burn time. With a smoke output that should be adequate for a small smokehouse.

So YAY ! for me :-)

Now I know it doesn't look like a particularly even burn pattern. But you have to take into accout that this is not a precision engineered bit of kit and I am not an engineer .
Not one single measurement was taken during it's construction - I just envisioned what I wanted and made it.
The channels are uneven and sort of half oval shaped. So the bits that didn't burn are right on the edge and really just a very thin layer of sawdust.
What I'll do in future is simply mound it up in the centre of the channels and not have as much at the edges.

So all in all a complete success.
For cleaning I'll just bang out the debris and give it a quick going over with the paintbrush and it'll be good to go again :-)

I'm quite pleased with myself (hey nobody ever accused me of modesty )

[lynsey123]

Very cool CA.

[sweet_magnolia]

Very cool CA.

Ditto!

[Checkered Past]

Looks like it worked very well for ya... How did the spices turn out

[moselle]

Cool.
Did it give enough smoke flavor? Too much? Just right?

[ALX]

Thanks for sharing....Nice work .........

[Richtee]

OK, so fine.

[curious aardvark]

cheers for comments folks.

I need to fit it with side handles - cos the ends of the mesh are still bloody sharp and it's pretty awkward to pick up as it is without puncturing yourself. But other than that it does what I set out for it to do.

If you look around your local hardware or discount household goods stores you should be able to find the cheap cutlery basket things (i pay about $4.50). The rest definitely from buck stores. All I can say is have a go and make one.
Hell even if you only make stage one - that's a pretty useful 4 hour cold smoke gadget :-)

I did try just removing the mesh from the guard and just forming it into a tube, half filling with sawdust and lighting. But I didn't try lighting with the tealights, just a big or a small butane torch. And all that does is set fire to the sawdust and when the flames go out it's just not smouldering. Also I don't think I tried it with the finely ground sawdust - so it wouldn't have worked anyway.
But I can't see any reason why that shouldn't work it if lit correctly with the right sawdust.
I'll give it a go and report back :-)
Hmm, in fact if you made little legs for it you could probably knock up a 4-6 hour cold smoke thingy in about 10 minutes - right then....

One other thing to mention about the tealight lighting method. You can light the sawdust INDOORS and once lit take it out to the smoker - all my test runs were conducted in my workshop. Or just put a wind break round it while lighting. Once it's lit it doesn't go out and you can put it in the smoker. It really is a very simple and effective way of getting sawdust smouldering. -

Plus if you light it indoors it's proper airfreshener .
You know if smokers smoked wood chippings instead of tobacco - nobody would object to second hand smoke, and you could hire yourselves out to stand in peoples smoke houses - in bars you'd have people hanging around surreptitiously waving chunks of cheese in your direction.
It's got to be worth a try rich

[Richtee]

You know if smokers smoked wood chippings instead of tobacco - nobody would object to second hand smoke, and you could hire yourselves out to stand in peoples smoke houses - in bars you'd have people hanging around surreptitiously waving chunks of cheese in your direction.
It's got to be worth a try rich

Hmmm you might be onto something there...

[Fishawn]

Nice job Alex

[new smoke]

Very cool!

[wutang]

I have been going back through your posts of these builds and I am wanting to build something similar to place in the bottom of my UDS. Figuring it would be a convenient way to cold smoke bacon, cheese, spices etc. Since my UDS has a removeable bottom it would be easy to set up on the base and then place the drum body into position. Then load with meat.

What other changes/improvements would you make? Are there any other concerns/problems you have noted?

Thanks for any info.

[curious aardvark]

Pretty much the only thing I'd like to change on the big model is the shape of the channels. The deeper, square channel like I've got in the second one is much better for smoke volume and even burn. It would actually be quite easy to fix several of the cheese smoker type together I think.

One of the advantages of this type of jury rigged thingummijog - is that it's cheap enough to play silly buggers with and experiment :-)
I reckon a V shaped chanel would work quite well with the wire reinforced mesh type and they could be attached side by side with no danger of cross lighting.
That's probably how I'd enlarge the amaznsmoker, vshaped channels - worth a try tod :-)

I suspect v-shaped linked channels would be much easier to do than how I made the smokevark.
Definitely did not get anywhere near as punctured as with the bound to a stronger frame type.

I've got plenty of wire left (my £1 got me 100feet of it :-)
Might have a play if I run out of other projects.

One thing to bear in mind is that once the sawdust has nearly reached the end of the burn you can back fill with fresh sawdust, as long as you're careful not to smother the embers it'll just start burning back along it's original path.

As far as the cheese smoker goes. Just needs better legs. I'm thinking a thin piece of metal the same size as the wire cage, and wire legs joining to it to give a flat base rather than the surrealists sculpture I created :-)

But other than that - nope not change a thing they do exactly what I wanted them to do and do it extremely well.

But you do need very fine sawdust.

Oooh - that reminds me - I've got smoked cheese in my workshop fridge !
Completely forgotten about that

[wutang]

Thanks for the information. I am going to have to try and put something similar together.

[TJohnson]

I reckon a V shaped chanel would work quite well with the wire reinforced mesh type and they could be attached side by side with no danger of cross lighting.
That's probably how I'd enlarge the amaznsmoker, vshaped channels - worth a try tod :-)

I suspect v-shaped linked channels would be much easier to do than how I made the smokevark.
Definitely did not get anywhere near as punctured as with the bound to a stronger frame type.

CA,
I have a prototype of just about every configuration you can think of. My design has to be replicated in a Fab Shop, so it has to be simple and withstand abuse, like Rich burning the oil off on his with a "Turkey Fryer"!!

Your version is effective, but pushes the limits. If all the sawdust in a single row burned up, it would generate enough heat for the fire to jump to the adjacent rows. This is why the rows in my gadget are only 1" or so wide, and I tell customers to light both ends for more smoke. The Insurance Man and Attorney call this "Liability"!!!

Here's a pic of one of my 1st prototypes. It's actually window screen that I stapled together to rough out my AMNS. It worked, but burned up after a few uses.
http://

"V-Shaped" channels??????
HMMMMMM!
You Mean Like This?
http://


Both Thumbs Up To You My Friend for using your noodle on this one!!


Todd