Well the first test is complete with some success and some failure.
- I added a filled the A-MAZE-N with Hickory sawdust at about 2:30. Looking at the pictures it looks like I could have filled it a little more, but I think the picture is a bit deceiving because I pressed down the dust next to the walls to prevent jumping. So, it was a bit higher in the middle of the track.
- At 2:30 it was 36F degrees and the smoker was right in the sun. It felt much warmer than 36 degrees. The side of the smoker was quite hot to the touch just from the sun before even putting the A-MAZE-N in the smoker.
- I put one of my Maverick probes on the lowest rack (about 4" from the bottom) and the other on the top rack (about 4" from the top). Both probes read about 55 degrees to start with.
- I lit the sawdust and let it burn on a rack sticking out of the smoker. It was kind of windy, so the fire kept blowing out. So, I pushed the rack and the A-MAZE-N into the smoker with the door open and lit it again. This seemed to work better.
- With the A-MAZE-N lit and smoking pretty well, I placed it on the floor right next to the element brace, and then shut the door. I had previously removed the smoke box to allow more airflow from the drip hole.
- I had thin blue smoke coming out of the #3 and it smelled incredible.
- The temperature steadily rose from the 50's to the 76 at the highest on the lower probe. The top probe rose with it and pretty much stayed about 5 degrees lower than the lower probe, so maxed out at about 70 degrees.
- I opened the smoker door at about 4:00 and the smoke had burned through about 1/2 of the first row and appeared to be going strong.
- I looked again at about 6:00 and the smoke had turned the corner and was about 1/4 of the way down the next row.
- After the sun went down the smoker temps started steadily going down. At 8:00, the temps were in the lower 60's, At 10:00 they were in the lower 50's, and stayed there until I opened the door at 1:30am.
- I didn't open the smoker door after the 6:00 check as the smoke appeared to still be rolling.
- The smoke finally appeared to stop at 1:30, so I opened the door.
- I found that the dust had quit burning at the end of the second (middle) row. But the weird thing was that it only appeared to burn in a thin line right down the middle of the row.
- The temps seemed about perfect for cold smoking cheese as they peaked at 76 degrees and spent the bulk of the time in the mid 50 range. I really wish I would have had some cheese in the smoker during this test.
- I just wish the smoker wouldn't have been extinguished.
While I had pretty good smoke for the bulk of the smoke, I think the lack of air flow through the smoker (likely decreased throughout the evening as the wind died down) eventually extinguished the fire and thus the smoke stopped.
So, I think ultimately I experienced the same issue that most have with the Smokin-It smokers, being that there just isn't enough air-flow under normal circumstances to use the A-MAZE-N smoker without some type of modification to increase the airflow.
I certainly think the jerky dryer would increase the airflow. But would it be too much? If I were smoking cheese, would it dry out the cheese too much? I don't think this would be as big of a deal with cold smoking bacon. But, wonder if the dryer would dry the outside of cheese too much?
Should it be too much, I wonder if it would work to set the dryer on a couple of half inch boards to raise the dryer a little bit above the smoke hole to decrease the effectiveness of the dryer?
Any other thoughts or suggestions for the next test (other than drilling holes that is
)?
