If you want to try to smoke your own bacon, ham of just want smokey sausages/burgers then this is a good product to have in your arsenal.
Looking at the box
The box shows the basic setup and components you receive. Hot or cold smoking is possible with this unit. Of course for hot smoking you need a BBQ and/or other heat source.
I opted to purchase the 1 Litre version f. A little more expensive than a tin can on top of a few wood chips but with an 8 hour burn time and constant flow of smoke it’s a small price to pay for consistent/manageable smoke.
There isn’t much else that the box shows other than the fact that it produces smoke from woodchips or pellets.
This product has been built so that it will last for years and the guys from Smokai have really thought through the design to make it mountable for most applications with only slight modification.
Whats Inside?
Inside the box you will receive an airpump, hose the cylinder with mounts and the Lid
The first step for installing onto your gas bbq is to use the rotisserie on the side that most bbq’s have. The 2cm pipe should fit nicely in the side on your BBQ. If not, TAKE TO IT WITH A DRILL!
The Smokai Mounting bracket for me will likely be modified to fit onto the side of my KAMADO alternatively I will be building a wooden box for cold smoking Bacon and Pastrami/ham
Second step is to fill with your desired fuel. Pellets, chips or coarse saw dust are the 3 options. Filling to the brim isn’t necessary unless you want to run for the full 8 hours so just top up as required.
Third step is lighting. Each side of the Smokai has a hole to be able to light the fuel. A match bbq lighter or blowtorch can be used.
The last step is to push out the smoke. Plug in the Air pump and use the included hose to connect to the brass nozzle. Smoke is drawn through the nozzle and pushed into the bbq. You can choose high/low on the air pump for the desired amount of smoke.
unpacking
The 2 main components to this Smoke generator are the Stainless Steel Tube and Air Pump.
Unpacking was easy enough with just the 2x main components hald in cardboard for secure shipping.
Manual inside
The Owners manual outlines the setup as well as tips on what fuel to use
Wood Chips of between 2-10mm in diameter or wood pellets are recommended. Anything finer will likely go out so fine sawdust is not a viable option.
Treated woodchips, glued wood or wood with any toxins/poisons are not to be used. It is safer to stick to products designed for food smoking.
Airhose
This 2x pronged airhose is used to connect the 2x pump outputs to the smoker. Replacement hoses should be very easy to come by at any aquarium supply place.
Look inside
Looking down inside the Smokai Smoke Generator it is all made of stainless steel. Its quite a heavy unit at ~1kg.
The centre tube is used to draw the smoke and push through the tube.
Fuel
Wood pellet brands like BBQr’s Delights have been in Australia for many years and an average bag of pellets would mostly set you back around $10 for a 450gram pack or $25-30 for a 8kg bag. Hickory, cherry, oak, sugar maple and apple are some of the flavours available
Some alternates are to look at local suppliers for Australian products which are usualy woodchips and even pellets.
Fruit like cherry, pear, apple and grape are all available as well as redgum, teatree, rosemary ect.
Hose attachment
Pushing on the air hose to the Smokai Generator
generator. There are no moving parts and basically you fill the cylinder to the top with your wood smoking fuel. The 2 holes on each side is where you light the wood through so that the smoldering process can start.
Using your Smokai
To use your smoker you need to attach the air hose to the brass fitting on the side of the smokai. In case you missed it the hose is usually packed inside the tube when shipped. The hose is attached to the 2x outlets from the pump. When the pump is turned on it will draw smoke from the void at the bottom of the smokai and push it out the nozzle.
As the wood smolders at the base and reduces on the inside of the cylinder, fresh wood above comes in contact with the smoldering wood below and keeps providing fresh clean smoke until all the material is used up.
Your smouldering fuel will slowly burn awa and be replaced with new fuel below the centre cylinder. This will ensure that it is always replaced with clean fresh smoke until all the material is used.
Wood pellets tend to run hotter as they in many cases are designed as a bbq fuel and thus much denser. If you plan on cold smoking it may be better to use either a larger vessel than a bbq or woodchips and just top up as needed.
Conclusion
The smokai is a solidly build smoker which will last anyone for years. While it is designed to easily attach to a hooded bbq I would suggest a much larger vessel for your meats if you plan on cold smoking due to temperature rises and amount of smoke produced. Bees boxes, wine barrels ect are all viable enclosures. This product will definitely turn my dormant hooded bbq into a smoking machine with very little modification
