Need some advice.....smokers

check out sausagemaker.com

 

I quit smoking over 10 years ago. It's not healthy for you.

 

Cold smoking is going to be hard on anything electric. They tend to get too hot before the smoke even starts. I would rule that out.

All you really need is a box to hold the smoke and a small heat source. You could make one out of about anything - including wood. I think I remember a thread from bogydave smoking salmon in something wooden.

I cold smoke stuff on my Weber propane grill. I use a small propane plumbing torch and a stainless steel bowl to hold chips. All the grill is doing is holding the smoke in.

 

Wondering what pellet grill you are running? I have a GMG Daniel Boone that will lock in temperature down to 150deg and hold it within +/- 2deg.

Perhaps yours isn't capable, but perhaps a look into the control board is in order? Depending on brand, some of these manufacturers are very good at sending replacements.

I always wanted to try something like this for more smoke, but don't really have the need. There are several different varieties on the market, including stainless baskets, etc.

The Smokin Wedgie | Wood Pellet Cold Smoker, Cold Smoke Cheese

 

I've got a Landmann Smokey Motion 3945GLS gas smoker, good for the money, can do a few modification to make it work better. I'm not able to cold smoke very well with it, can hold the temp, but lacks smoke when that low of temp. But I'm getting an A-MAZE-N smoker tray to help with that, burns pellets for up to 11 hours.

SMOKERS

Might work in pellet smoker as well.

 

I got the A-MAZE-N 12" smoke tube that I use at times to get extra smoke on briskets or big roasts while using my GMG Pellet grill, i dont trust it enough to do cold smokes by itself though I just dont think they put out enough heat by themselves
I have been debating for awhile now about getting a cold smoker attachment for my GMG through
Pellet Grill Accessories - Cold Smokers, but they are not large enough to hang sausages like the OP wants to do

 

Yep, I have a smoke generator from A-MAZE-N. I use the same pellets that I use in my Traeger. Cheap and simple.

 

I will offer a suggestion of a charcoal Brinkmann Smoke n Grill, unfortunately this model has been discontinued, but they are generally available on Craigs List and may still be in some stores if you are lucky. Cheap entry point $50 - 60. They can be quickly improved with simple modifications. I'll post up some pics of mine later today.

 

Here are the pics and my mods for the Brinkmann Smoke N Grill.

First thing is to assemble the unit with the legs on the outside and drill a 1/4 inch hole in the body and one in the lid- you can see positioning of those left of the door and factory thermometer (which is crap). Those holes are for inserting cork stoppers that hold real thermometers (mine is a Weber grill thermometer purchased from HDepot. Drill the corks then insert the thermometer shaft). You can see the new legs on the charcoal pan in this pic as well.


Then you can see how the water pan sits on the lower grate and how it all goes together here...


Then for the charcoal pan, you will need four 5/16 inch carriage bolts about 14 inches long, 8 washers and 8 nuts. Mark, punch and drill holes for the leg bolts in the lip of the pan. Install bolts for the support legs. Then mark, punch and drill 5 1/2 inch holes in the bottom of the charcoal pan, near the outer edge of the bottom, for air vents. Line the charcoal pan with two sheets of HD aluminum foil, punch holes the foil at the new vent hole locations. Do not use this on a deck, as hot embers will be coming from those new holes.





You will need a large stick to stir/stoke the charcoal when reloading and an special made heavy duty coat hanger 'L' to poke/auge out the coal bed up through the vent holes about every two hours. Always reload with a hot load of charcoal from a chimney, by lifting up the whole body and lid off the charcoal pan - about every three to four hours. You refill the water pan through the hinged door, via long neck beer bottles. It helps cleanup to spray that whole water pan with PAM prior to starting to cook.

With all of this, you can cook great birds and shoulders. You are limited on the number of racks of ribs you can do, get a upright rib holder, and you can actual forego the water pan and use two levels of grates, but you have to rotate them mid way through the run, which can be a pain.

 

I did the same mods on one of those about 8 years ago. There was a website I found which had a bunch of mods on it. It made the smoker a lot more useable. Then I bought a pellet smoker and never looked back.

 

I have a master built electric smoker it will hold temp really good but can't get much smoke below 200 with the chips I bought. I made some of my own by running chunks of wood across my jointer and catching the shavings in a box haven't tried them yet but hoping they will be better. I'm looking to do the same thing as you. I might even try saw dust. I really like the smoker it's pretty much set and forget other than adding chips.

 

Cool that gives me hope then too. Yeah sometimes it only takes a little bit of smoke time on more delicate foods to not over power them.

 

A friend of mine has that model and has made some impressive dishes with it. He wishes the chip tray would hold more but most people over smoke, including me.