John Setzler Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 http://youtu.be/KRdBpDjIcoEA-MAZE-N ProductsThis tube smoker uses your standard wood pellets that are used in the pellet grills and is really super easy to use. In this video, I ran a test burn on the smoker and then smoked 6.5 pounds of gouda cheese in my Weber kettle grill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwhinton Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Nice video, John. Thanks for the show. Three easy questions: 1. What flavor pellets? 2. My wife can taste smoke on gouda that's smoked for one hour, will you share your experience after smoking your gouda for three hours? 2. Is there any advantage to using the tube over the A-maze-n pellet tray, the one that can use sawdust or pellets? And a bonus question. When are you going to do a video on smoking salt? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 These were apple wood pellets. You can smoke the cheese for whatever amount of time suits your taste. I typically only smoke it for 2 hours and it has a nice smoke flavor after it has aged. Three hours will only intensify that flavor as it ages, so it would definitely be a preference situation. I don't have the maze tray that uses dust or pellets but I do have the 6x6 dust tray. I tried using pellets in it and it doesn't work very well. I can usually get it to burn one line of the maze and then it will not make the turn. The one designed for dust and pellets would be an excellent option for cold smoking. It should burn the pellets all the way around the maze AND it will generate less heat in the smoker than the tube does. The tube is probably NOT the best option for cold smoking cheese, but it would be a great cold smoker for anything else. I started with cheese because I knew it would be a challenge to keep the temps low enough not to hurt the cheese in the process. I'm glad you asked about salt, because I actually do that fairly often. Maybe I'll include it in a future video. Since salt is not sensitive to heat, I will often toss a pan of it on the smoker while I'm smoking other meats... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrvinF Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Tehir website says it should smoke 6 hours cold smoking and 4 hours hot smoking. Did you test it in the akorn to see how hot it gets? Irvin F. King Griller w/Auber PID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 Tehir website says it should smoke 6 hours cold smoking and 4 hours hot smoking. Did you test it in the akorn to see how hot it gets?Irvin F. King Griller w/Auber PID I did briefly. It gets too hot to smoke cheese. It would probably work if you propped the dome lid open 3 or 4 inches during the smoking process and set the cheese on the extended rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toe Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 ^That's just what I've been wondering, if there's any way to get temps low enough for cold smoking on a CGK. What kind of vent settings did you try? It might make sense to keep the bottom vent closed (or nearly so) with the top vent open wide to let hot air escape. Or maybe just keep them both a crack so that it burns slowly? And where did you put it? Take out the firebox and put the tube down at the very bottom? How much difference was there with the top rack vs main grate? Would a water pan help? I don't normally use one, but if it helps keep temps down... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 A-MAZE-N products makes another smoker that would work better for cold smoking cheese in the Akorn... I can't guarantee it, but I don't believe this one would heat up as hot as the tube smoker does: http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDe ... e=AMNPS5X8 This one, using their wood dust, will definitely work. The dust smokers don't produce quite as much smoke as the pellet smokers do, but I have this 6x6 model and it does work well. It will only raise the temp in your grill a couple degrees... http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDe ... de=AMNS6X6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zork75 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Do you think it would be possible to smoke jerky with the tube or the maze on a CGK Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 I don't think so because jerky needs more heat than this would provide. Beef jerky needs to be between 150-160 degrees or so to dry it out. I did an experiment with that on my ugly drum smoker a couple weeks ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zork75 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 So do you think its even possible at all to make jerky on CGK? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zork75 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Other then the external pipe setup that runs to the acorn from the outside Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 Anything is possible with the right amount of attention to the project. It can be done and here's how you would have to do it... Experimentation part: You need to figure out how much lit charcoal is required in your grill to get it stable between 150-160 degrees. I'm guessing 4 or 5 briquettes probably. You might be able to set up an overlapped ring of charcoal around the outer edge of the firebox and get the first 3 or 4 bricks lit and then let it slowly burn its way around the edge to maintain the temp for a longer period of time. If you get much over 160 degrees you will actually be cooking the meat rather than drying it out. Once you get this process figured out, you can do it on the Akorn. Another option would be to use something like the tube smoker in this video and just put the meat on the grill and run that smoker for 3 or 4 hours and then take the meat off and finish it in the oven or on a dehydrator.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delaware Smoker Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I'm thinking about ordering one.Would it be best to smoke the chesse ,using my CG Smoker with side fire box?And should I order the one that uses pellets & dust? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrvinF Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Anything is possible with the right amount of attention to the project. It can be done and here's how you would have to do it...Experimentation part: You need to figure out how much lit charcoal is required in your grill to get it stable between 150-160 degrees. I'm guessing 4 or 5 briquettes probably. You might be able to set up an overlapped ring of charcoal around the outer edge of the firebox and get the first 3 or 4 bricks lit and then let it slowly burn its way around the edge to maintain the temp for a longer period of time. If you get much over 160 degrees you will actually be cooking the meat rather than drying it out. Once you get this process figured out, you can do it on the Akorn. Another option would be to use something like the tube smoker in this video and just put the meat on the grill and run that smoker for 3 or 4 hours and then take the meat off and finish it in the oven or on a dehydrator.... I did that a while back. Three briquettes is about right but when you open the lid to add more the fire gets too hot after closing. I think your best bet may be to use heat lamps on a rheostat. Irvin F. King Griller w/Auber PID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrvinF Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I am thinking you need to have good airflow in order to make jerky properly. Trying to choke down a fire to keep the heat down while having airflow at the same time will be a difficult task in a well insulated container. Irvin F. King Griller w/Auber PID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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