Adapting The Original and Stainless Steel Bradley Smokers
for Cold Smoking
One of the merits of the
Bradley Smoker is the ability to detach the smoke generator from
the smoking cabinet. I use this to advantage in order to fit a
second chamber, consisting of a cardboard box, between the
generator, and the cabinet that contains the food to be smoked,
connected by a 4 inch diameter tumble dryer hose.
Pictured left is the Bradley Smoke
Generator, a cardboard box, open at the top, and a tumble
dryer hose, readily obtainable from hardware stores for under £10.
Turn the cardboard box upside down so
that the open side is on the ground . It is NOT the intention that
the smoke generator be covered by this box because this would result
in it becoming covered in smoke residue. Instead, cut a rectangular
hole in the side of the box just large enough to allow the
protruding horizontal part of the smoke generator to be pushed into
the box. This part of the smoke generator gets quite hot so make the
hole in the side of the box large enough not to touch the cardboard.
Illustrated
to the right is the box with the hole cut in the side, ready for the
smoke generator horizontal section to be inserted. Also shown is a
second hole cut into the top of the box, this hole being round and
ready to receive one end of the flexible hose, which will act as a
'chimney' leading the smoke up to the cabinet.
The water bowl, supplied with the
smoker, should be placed under the box to catch and extinguish the
bisquettes as they are spent.
Pictured
to the left is the smoke generator snug up to the side of the box
and the hose fitted as a chimney, leading up to the cabinet. At the
cabinet end the hose fits rather obviously into the hole in the side
of the cabinet.
There is an advantage in the cabinet
being raised above the level of the box, to assist the flow of the
smoke. The whole rig is pictured below, ready to cold smoke. As with
the the smoke generator attached to the cabinet, the smoker is a
'natural draft' smoker and the flow of air can be controlled
by the vent in the top of the cabinet.
With
this second chamber adaptation there will be next to no difference
between ambient and the temperature in the cabinet. This is helped
by the non-conducting nature of the cardboard box and hose. As
a rule, cold smoking is best undertaken when the air is cool. If you
are cold smoking in the summer, do so early in the morning, in the
shade, or even at night.
Take care that the smoke generator is
not rained upon. Apart from making the bisquettes soggy there are
obviously electrical components inside.
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