New Smoker Build

[Scenic]

Ever check out that new Metal/Steel business south of Bemidji?  May not be what they deal with but been curious about them.

Since moving into their new building they no longer sell retail.

I find my racks at a salvage yard that takes appliances

. We looked at some of those but we need minimum of 8 in a special size.   All we found were to narrow.

[Scenic]

We put a test batch of snack sticks in the new smoker yesterday.  We however did run into a snag.  While the circulation fans are working great with keeping the temps well distributed I believe it is also drying out the casings to much.  The casing turned out tough and this is the only thing we can contribute it to.   
 
Today we are going to run a short batch without the fans and see how the end results turn out.   We cannot ask for a more even cooking right now. 

Final cook  Monitor on the left is smoker temp in three areas and one on the right shows internal temps of a couple sticks.   One probe is stuck in the top and one in the bottom. 

[Scenic]

Those Watlow controllers are nice.  We actually looked at one of those but thought what the heck we have this one laying here. 

Which one of you guys suggested the Watlow controllers?   I can't find it in the comments now.   

[markn]

Scenic, that would be me. I worked for a place that built packaging equipment in Alex. so we had this type of stuff on hand and sometimes they would be thrown away into the scrap barrel. I haven't look for one for awhile, but I do remember they were on the spendy side. They could be wired for 24vdc or 120ac so you need to be careful when turning on the juice for the first time. I'd check Amazon. Hope that helps.

[Scenic]

Scenic, that would be me. I worked for a place that built packaging equipment in Alex. so we had this type of stuff on hand and sometimes they would be thrown away into the scrap barrel. I haven't look for one for awhile, but I do remember they were on the spendy side. They could be wired for 24vdc or 120ac so you need to be careful when turning on the juice for the first time. I'd check Amazon. Hope that helps.

Thank you.   Yes that helps.  For this season we are going to work with what we have but when we are done with this sausage run we are going to adding a different control just to dial things in a bit more.    And you are correct, they are on the spendy side.   

[Iowaboy1]

Scenic,put a pan of water in the smoker if you are having problems with stuff drying out.
I have a couple of smokers and water in a tray was highly recommended by the manufacturer to prevent this.
Maybe you are doing that already??

[Scenic]

Scenic,put a pan of water in the smoker if you are having problems with stuff drying out.
I have a couple of smokers and water in a tray was highly recommended by the manufacturer to prevent this.
Maybe you are doing that already??

We do have the water trays in there but we ended up shutting off the fans and that took care of the issue. 

[Scenic]

A VERY bad picture but we ended up moving the smoker to get it out of the wind.  I was finally able to grab a quick pic of the light and blue smoke coming out of the stack.   Have to zoom to see it. Once we are done with this run we are going to roll it back in the shop and make a few adjustments on it. 

[glenn57]

  you needed police protection in case someone stole your sausage???

[Scenic]

you needed police protection in case someone stole your sausage???

. Just seen I caught the corner of the car in its normal parking spot ..lol.  At the price of meat these days you never know.  Might need back up.

[LPS]

Call 911 sausage when you run out. 

[Leech~~]

A VERY bad picture but we ended up moving the smoker to get it out of the wind.  I was finally able to grab a quick pic of the light and blue smoke coming out of the stack.   Have to zoom to see it. Once we are done with this run we are going to roll it back in the shop and make a few adjustments on it. 

Where you going to winter that monster? Might have to build a lean-to for it to live under! 😉

[Scenic]

A VERY bad picture but we ended up moving the smoker to get it out of the wind.  I was finally able to grab a quick pic of the light and blue smoke coming out of the stack.   Have to zoom to see it. Once we are done with this run we are going to roll it back in the shop and make a few adjustments on it. 

Where you going to winter that monster? Might have to build a lean-to for it to live under! 😉

Yes we do.  After a remodel of the building it is going in the building to stay.  We just ran out of time.  But for the winter it will go up under the shop lean-to.