It's how I control temp from low of say 100-110 for cold smoke up to 225-250 to fully cook summer sausage.
It's a 15 quart cast iron dutch over that I fill with wood. I use all varieties depending on cooking temp and duration. If I'm cold smoking I'll use a combination of saw dust and chips. For longer and or hotter cooks I'll start with chips mixed in with chunks. As you can see in the pics after a few hours you'll have a bed of coals in the pot. I prefer to cook in the afternoon and leave the meat to hang over night unless I'm cold smoking links then I'll pull them as soon as I'm done smoking.
The snack sticks took a to a little bit to perfect and now come out great every time. I use the larger sheep casing that comes on a plastic sleeve. I can't begin to tell you what a time saver this is. I cold smoke for 2 hours then slowly bring the heat up to 180. I hold it at 180 for 1 hour then slowly bring it back to an hour of cold smoke. All total is 6-8 hours depending on outside temp and humidity. When done the casing should snap when you break it in half. If it's rubbery more smoke time or dehydrator is needed. It then cut and loosely bag in the fridge for a week or two to continue drying prior to freezing.
The link below is fully smoked. I prefer to cold smoke as it seems the casing gets tough when fully cooked the re-heated for serving at a later date.
