Cold Smoke Set up for WSM22?


 
S

Shaun H

TVWBB Fan
I want to try my hand at bacon and jerky this Fall. I've never done a cold smoke, so would like a little advice.

What's the best way to set up? I'd imagine I do near full water pan, about a chimney full of unlit topped by a 1/3 chimney lit?

Will that get me in the ball park?

What's your go to set up?
 
Snake method. Barely light one end. 7-8 hour burn time around 150* or so. Just did it on my 18.5" for bacon last weekend.
 
Justin R said:
Snake method. Barely light one end. 7-8 hour burn time around 150* or so. Just did it on my 18.5" for bacon last weekend.
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Thanks. I had forgotten about that. Perfect.

One question, would I still need to use the water pan? Or is the snake method sufficient all in itself?
 
150F is well above the usual "cold smoke" temp. Water should help. You need to be MUCH lower. I cold smoke at 100-120F max.
 
Tom Golden said:
150F is well above the usual "cold smoke" temp. Water should help. You need to be MUCH lower. I cold smoke at 100-120F max.
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Is that for bacon too? I have seen articles talking about bacon even as high as 225 (at amazingribs.com).

I know jerky is about drying it out, so the lower the better, but does bacon need to cold smoke that low from your experience?
 
I use an A-maze-n Smoker and its the perfect tool for cold smoking IMO. http://www.amazenproducts.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=12

I have also lit a few coals and filled the water pan with ice and it worked OK. Just don't put you coals directly under the water pan. The pan will get condensation on the outside and drip off right smack dab in the middle of the pan and onto your coals.
 
I do bacon several times a year and always smoke between 175º and 200º. As to jerky I would never use water in the pan as you want to dry out the meat. And with my 22 I can maintain 160º for jerky with no problem using maybe a third full ring unlit and only adding a few lit coals off to one side. Putting the lit in the middle will result in a hotter fire as the fire will spread out rather than burn from just one side. Start shutting down vents when temp gets to 100º and then almost completely closed when it hits 150º. The only time I will put ice in the pan is if I am smoking cheese and am trying to keep temp below 100º.

Dan
 
Shaun H said:
Is that for bacon too? I have seen articles talking about bacon even as high as 225 (at amazingribs.com).

I know jerky is about drying it out, so the lower the better, but does bacon need to cold smoke that low from your experience?
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Last time I did back bacon I went 140F for a couple hours. Close to a true cold smoke and worked well. So higher temps are OK but when I cold smoke salmon or cheese I am in the <100F range. Not easy to do.

As for jerky, the easiest is to use a food dehydrator.
 
Cold smoking, by definition, is smoking under 85F degrees (or is it 80F ?). I use an A-maze-n 12" tube or the 5X8 pellet cold smokers. They don't generate enough heat to move the temps too much on cold nights out here in sunny AZ. I wait until cooler nights and I can run the 5X5 for 7-8 hours or the 12" tube will run 4-5 hours. I shoot for temps below 80" at the top grate in my 22" WSM. I do cheese as well. Can't "cold" smoke cheese at 160F for too long. These cold smokers are absolutely worth it. Get the 5X8 as you can always half fill it, or less, to adjust the smoke time. Much harder to do using the tubes...
 
I do jerky, bacon, kielbasa, summer sausage, etc @ 140-180*F with an empty water pan using the snake, "C", fuze or whatever you wanna call it.

I guess it's more "warm" smoke than "cold" smoke.
 
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If you want to make a genuine cold smoke, coals in the WSM are a no- go, as long as you live in normal outdoors temperature. Here's one of my smokes, a couple of years old, but I still do it like this:

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?12410-2012-cold-smoked-salmon&highlight=cold+smoke

Regarding "chain saw chips" and harmful oil on the chips- electric chain saws are dirt cheap. Buy one reserved for making smoke chips, and fill the oil tank with sunseed oil or something, and crank up the oil flow to make sure to get the chain lubricated. Works like a charm.
 
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Tony A said:
Cold smoking, by definition, is smoking under 85F degrees (or is it 80F ?). I use an A-maze-n 12" tube or the 5X8 pellet cold smokers. They don't generate enough heat to move the temps too much on cold nights out here in sunny AZ. I wait until cooler nights and I can run the 5X5 for 7-8 hours or the 12" tube will run 4-5 hours. I shoot for temps below 80" at the top grate in my 22" WSM. I do cheese as well. Can't "cold" smoke cheese at 160F for too long. These cold smokers are absolutely worth it. Get the 5X8 as you can always half fill it, or less, to adjust the smoke time. Much harder to do using the tubes...
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How much dust do you use in the 5x8? I see they sell them in 1lb packages. How much does a 7-8 hour cook require?
 
Here is just one of my WSM cold smoking setups.

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A Smoke Daddy Big Kahuna with a Quick release air fitting through the stock Weber door.

Here is a tutorial on smoking cheese on a ceramic that you can do on the bullet as well.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/smokedcheese/smokedcheese.htm

The AMTS works very good as well.

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