cold smoker

[desert rat]

I want to build a cold smoker. When I was in Tennessee I had a smokehouse. What we did was after the hams were sugared was lay hickory logs about 4 to 8 inches in diameter on the floor with about 4-6â€

[JamesB]

I've thought about making a cold smoker out of an old fridge several times. The one thing I've just about decided on is that it will be electric. You could still do your remote firebox idea, but I'd use an electrical burner and a pan of sawdust. I really don't want to be tending a fire for as long as it takes some stuff the get cold smoked... My $.02

[DATsBBQ]

I've thought about making a cold smoker out of an old fridge several times. The one thing I've just about decided on is that it will be electric. You could still do your remote firebox idea, but I'd use an electrical burner and a pan of sawdust. I really don't want to be tending a fire for as long as it takes some stuff the get cold smoked... My $.02

Ditto to the above.

[Stan41]

I did pretty good cold smoking some meat using my offset smoker and putting an electric hotplate in the firebox and a cast iron skillet of sawdust.
Stan

[Papa Tom]

A word of caution if using a old fridge or similar you must have adequate ventilation or you will have moisture build up. It isn't too hard to do for cold smoking but if you try to hold some heat it can be an issue.

Also if you can find a really old fridge fine but ones made in most of your lifetimes have had plastic interiors that you certainly don't want to get warm.

[OSD]

A word of caution if using a old fridge or similar you must have adequate ventilation or you will have moisture build up. It isn't too hard to do for cold smoking but if you try to hold some heat it can be an issue.

Also if you can find a really old fridge fine but ones made in most of your lifetimes have had plastic interiors that you certainly don't want to get warm.

And don't forget the foam insulation that most are built with now gases off with heat.

[JamesB]

PT and Jim explained why I've only thought about building a cold smoker from a fridge... Have not found an old one that wasn't all plastic on the inside. OK, that and the fact that I haven't found one that the wife would let me keep in the back yard...

[txngent]

Now I always give credit for great ideas and products. As you can see the website for this unit and design if you wanted to go this route.

With that being said, you can easily make a cold smoker following this design. I make my cold smokes with a very similar design. You can modify a regular igloo cooler, mounting it upright so the lid acts as a regular door. Install shelving brackets in the cooler.

Being that I am working on selling them with my new pit line, I am still working on some details. As I have said in earlier posts, I don't plan on getting rich with my pits... (just survival!) I will post my design and pics once completed.

These cold smokers work off pellets.


My design is more like this guys. If I wasn't making my own, I would buy one of these. He has been selling these on eBay and his site for a good while (ebay keyword search : cold smoker). Although I don't know him personally, I have seen him around on the different BBQ sites and his rep is great.