Well, I've taken the time to compare three cold smoker devices and decided to throw in a topic which most likely has already been covered in this forum.
Yesterday I cold smoked cheese using my 3D and the A-MAZE-N 6" tube pellet smoker, I have already put information on the forum regarding that cold smoke.
Today, I put to use two different cold smoke devices, the Smoke Daddy Big Kahuna and the SI cold plate insert for my 3D.
First, the A-MAZE-N 6" pellet tube: As stated on this forum yesterday, I was very impressed with this little cold smoking device! The box temperature only raised by 18 degrees in two hours of smoking cheese and that was with a pan of ice on the bottom shelf between the tube and the cheese. I placed the 6" tube on the bottom of my 3D right over the bottom drain hole so it would get enough oxygen to stay lit, and it did stay lit a full 2 hours on a little over 2 oz of apple pellets. The 6" tube puts out plenty of smoke and is very easy to light with a propane torch that I used, blowing on the embers a couple of times and off to the races the smoke goes.
A-MAZE-N 6" tube with pellets:
Pros: Easy to light, makes a lot of smoke as long as you have proper ventilation, very easy clean up, very little box temperature rise from start to finish (2 hours for me anyway) 18 degrees increased from start to finish in 2 hours, price is about $24 plus pellet cost.
Cons: Will only last 2-3 hours with a full tube of pellets. Proper ventilation or the pellets will die and smoke will halt. Not good for longer than about 2 hour smokes unless you get the larger 12" or 18" tube for longer smokes or open the smoker and refill the tube and relight.
Smoke Daddy Big Kahuna (BK): Since this was my very first time to use these devices, each was a learning experience for me. The BK is quite the cold smoker! I have to admit it did take some time to fashion a suitable mount but another post helped me with a design and was able to fashion a mount pretty quickly. The main thing I have learned about the BK is you really need to know how to light this cold smoker and feel confident it will stay lit for a long time, in my case, it was over 4 hours of good smoke using cherry wood chips and some maple pellets. One suggestion about lighting the BK is to have some charcoal handy to put in the bottom and light that first, get it going good with a propane torch and then add your chips, small chunks and pellets. Once this cold smoker gets going, wow, it stays going, very impressive! Also, the BK only raised the 3D box temperature by 25 degrees from start to finish, 4 hours, very impressive! I did use a 5/8" ID by 7/8" OD hose to attach to the BK and the top hole in the 3D is 7/8" so the plastic tubing slipped right into the top blow hole of the 3D, nice fit! I would probably re-due the plastic tubing length and place the entire unit on top of the 3D instead of having the tubing about 3' long coiled towards the 3D, you can see my other post with pictures showing that configuration. The smoke is warm/hot coming out of the BK and going through the plastic tube, there is a temperature drop before it goes into the smoker. Having this temperature drop creates, yep, moisture, which collected inside the tubing, thus, having a shorter tube directed downward directly into the smoker top hole would probably prevent this moisture from forming. The colder it is outside, the more moisture will start being created inside the tubing, the shorter tube should help eliminate the condensation inside the tubing. Other than that, and a little more clean up than the 6" tube listed above, this Smoke Daddy BK is simply a smoking machine!! The trick really with the BK is getting it lit correctly, use wood charcoal or regular charcoal, get it lit well, put your chips, small chunks and pellets inside and be ready for at least a 4 hour smoke, probably longer! I had mine go for the full 4 hours and still had pellets and a few chips left.
Pro: Plenty of smoke, long smoke times, adjustable air pump which keeps smoke flowing and ability to regulate the amount of smoke with the air pump. At least 4 hours of smoke per fill, easy to refill without opening the smoker box, excellent cold smoker. There are a lot of YouTube videos that have been done regarding the Smoke Daddy BK, great to get information from!
Cons: Hard to light and keep lit without using a wood charcoal or standard charcoal. Outside is very hot since it is burning wood inside, keep it away from children ;>) Price is $125 shipped, complete, when you call, ask for a discount, they took 10% off for me ;>) Most expensive of the three devices being tested here.
Must have a tube of some sort or direct mounted to the smoker box, either a hose/tubing or drilling and attaching it directly to the smoker box unit, I like the tube method myself ;>)
Smokin-It cold smoke plate:
This is a very nice addition to the SI units for cold smoking. The unit slides in on the bottom rail and puts a barrier between the heating element and the cold smoke items higher up in the smoker box.
According to the instruction that came with the cold smoking plate, I set the temperature on the 3D for 170 degrees for 20 minutes, the smoke started in 13 minutes but I kept the heating element on for another 5 minutes so 18 minutes of heat total. I also had a nice batch of ice on top of the cold smoke plate which helps keep the temperature down while smoking things like cheese. I was a little surprised at this device. The temperature rose 31 degrees in less than 30 minutes. Granted, I did these tests at different times during the day so the outside temperature/smoker box temperature were different, all I did was take the starting smoker box temperature and see where it went from there, with all three of these devices. The SI cold smoker plate temperature rose the quickest among all three devices. The smoker box did not rise anymore than 31 degrees since the element was turned off after 18 minutes, continued to have smoke and then I turned the element back on after 1 hour to complete the 2 hour cycle, again, the temperature did not rise more than 31 degrees during the 2nd cycle but was more than the other two devices from start time to finish time, 2 hours total.
Pros: Very easy to use, slides in and stays in during the cold smoke period. Price is $40+ and is built very well! Good quality smoke and easy to set the temperature and time and forget it, on my 3D. Kept smoker box temperature regulated for cold smoking cheese. Easy to clean and matches the SI smokers ;>)
Cons: Higher temperatures during the cold smoking process than the other two devices, raising the smoker box temperature by 31 degrees in less than 30 minutes with the plate installed and a large amount of ice on top of the plate to keep the temperature down.
Again, these are just my opinions and what I witnessed during my cheese smokes over a two day period. I believe each of these devices are well build, work as advertised and make cold smoking with our SI units very easy and affordable. If I were going to cold smoke longer than 2-3 hours, I'd probably go with the Smoke Daddy Big Kahuna. For a 2-3 hour cold smoke on cheese, the A-MAZE-N 6" pellet tube is VERY hard to beat in my opinion, I'd probably go with that or the SI cold smoke plate, either would work well. If raising temperature is a concern, which it usually is for cold smoking anything, the Smoke Daddy BK or A-MAZE-N 6" tube would work very well and for a set it and forget it option, the SI cold smoke plate would work very nicely! The bottom line is not one of these is the BEST for everyone! Each works as advertised and would work very well for cold smoking with the SI units. It all depends on what your needs are, all three will work great! For me, I'll be continuing to use the A-MAZE-N 6" tube with different wood pellets, it's just so simple, but if the air gets blocked on the bottom hole of the 3D, it will go out, so now what? Then there's the BK, completely outside the SI smoker box and easy to refill, long smokes and plenty of smoke, then for complete easy cold smoking, there's the SI cold smoke plate, slide it in, put ice on top, start the unit for a few minutes and shut the heating element off, very easy and good smoke as well.
I hope this comparison has been worth reading, since I have all three of these devices, I felt a good comparison would be helpful for those who would like to cold smoke but haven't taken the plunge. All three of these devices will work great for you, now, you can decide which one would work best, I'll probably keep all three, for different smokes, and different lengths of smokes ;>) Thanks for reading and thanks to all who have posted similar information which has helped me with my cold smoking fun!
Carl
