Mini Fridge Cold Smoking

[Eric Lee]

Hi has anyone ever taken a working mini refrigerator and made it into a cold smoker? for year round use. Maybe could use a offset cold smoke generator and tube it in or a small pellet maze burner placed on the bottom on a stainless tray.

 

[Dave from Denver]

This will work but you will have some issues with condensation, the burning of pretty much any fuel produces a fair amount of water vapor, which will condense on the cooling elements of your fridge (and on the meat inside) if the fridge is running while you put smoke into it.

This will gather creosote, tar, and other undesirable flavor elements. You can avoid this by running the smoke through a condenser before you pipe it into the fridge, or by using the fridge at ambient temps rather than running it while you smoke. Anything under 90F is workable for cold smoking meats and sausages, but for delicate items like cheese and fish you might need to wait for a MN winter and then do it.

 

[Eric Lee]

Thanks Denver Dave....will just do it seasonally. Too much work to set up for all year.

 

[Dave from Denver]

To be fair a condenser isn't hard to make, just pipe the hot smoke into a container and then out of that container on the other side. You can put the container in a bucket of ice or whatever, and empty out the condensate as necessary.