[tschmidlin]

The problem appears to be the cherry wood dust.  I dried it in the oven as you suggested, and could not get it to remain lit.  After several more tries and failures I switched and dried some hickory dust in the oven and then started it up.  It's still going and will for a few more hours at least.  It is currently going in the box setup I made.

Here are some pics from the failed attempts, when it was still light out.  As you can see, I sat it on a baking sheet with a couple of foil-wrapped bricks (I use them for weighting stuff down when I need to, like when I make corned beef) to hold up the cheese.


I put the box resting on one end of the baking sheet, to let a little more air in, but it looks pretty much like this.  The top brick is to cover slit in the box and to the wind from blowing it around.  It should keep critters from getting in there too, but they might not be interested in the smoky smell anyway.

[beerocd]

Would your dud-dust stay lit if you didn't cover it with the box? Just wondering, you could whip out some more boxes and duct tape to stack boxes to get the smoke away from your doo-hickey and maybe it wouldn't die out

[bluesman]

Depending on the desity of the wood there may be some correlation to combustion. 

Check this out.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/eggbase/fplr1464.pdf

[tschmidlin]

I couldn't get it to stay lit for more than a couple of minutes no matter where I put it.  It needed a flame to keep burning.

Thanks for the link bluesman.  It's possible that the density of the wood is the problem, although it could also be the consistency of the dust.  They weren't obviously that different, but I didn't look too closely and definitely didn't screen them or anything  

[capozzoli]

That set up is awesome. Thats how I do fish quite a bit. Funny  how sometimes the simplest solution is the best. and cheapest.

[tschmidlin]

Yeah, I was trying to think of how to fit a grate in there and then thought, I don't really need a grate at all.  It worked really well with stuff I had lying around.  The top picked up a lot more color than the bottom, and the chunk of gouda (not pictured) that I threw on was a bit too close to the heat source and got a tad melty in spots, but nothing terrible.  Looking forward to trying it after I let it rest for a week or so.

[nicneufeld]

Apparently Whole Foods is launching a campaign. "Chilean Sea Bass is Back"

Nah, they're just buying Peruvian Sea Bass and rebranding it as Chilean!!!!

"Are they...ill-tempered?"

[boulderbrewer]

Tom, what woods have you used to date? I guess you have only smoked cheese with it so far? I just got my smoker which came with some sugar maple as a sample.

[tschmidlin]

I've only successfully used the hickory.  The cherry wouldn't stay lit.  It came with oak I believe, but I haven't tried it yet.  And yeah, just cheese at this point.  I might try some fish soon, but I'd like to dial it in with the cheese first, and make sure I know what I'm doing.  I was almost ready to do it, but the cherry is a bit of a setback, I lost a little confidence.

[boulderbrewer]

I need to catch some fish this weekend to make it worth while.

[bluesman]

Trying to decide what to BBQ this weekend. 

Maybe some ribs or some smoked fish or...?

[boulderbrewer]

Cold smoking Bluesy?

[bluesman]

Cold smoking Bluesy?

Yea...I need to step it up with some cold smoking.

I love smoked fish...Salmon, Whiting, or...

This is the way to go. 

[bluesman]

This is a picture of beauty. 

[boulderbrewer]

Pan fish, for me. blue gill, sunfish,....