I built a cold smoker from an old fridge. My question here is Meathead mentions the added value of a true burn vs electric smoker type. Does that also apply to cold smoking? Or can you even get clean cold smoke? I thought I heard Harry Soo mention that clean smoke is when certain wood materials evaporate and they are colorless. Wouldn't the change in temp cause them to condense again? I am not expert just looking for some knowledge here.
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We don't really do cold smoke here. There is too much risk of serious food borne illness/pathogens. That said, "smoke" is byproducts of combustion. Once combusted, they don't condense back into a pre-combusted state. The point of cold-smokers, as I understand them, is to create good smoke in a separate vessel and then pipe it into the food containing vessel and cool it down on the way. The mistake you are making, conceptually, is equating combustion (change of chemical composition) with evaporation (merely changing the physical state but keeping the same composition.) As an example, car exhaust, the byproduct of gasoline combustion, doesn't condense back into gasoline when it cools, right?
Hope this helps. -
That helps a lot. Still wonder if the best cold smoke is hot fire smoke chilled down. I only cold smoke cheese and salmon and make sure the temperature is very low like around 60-75F then kill the heat so it goes back down to fridge temperatures.Comment
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Cold Smoking is dangerous, don't do it: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech...d_smoking.html
The best smoke is clean light blue smoke. Heavy dark smoke contains volitile organic compounds that impart a bitter taste and aroma: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech...n_of_wood.htmlComment
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