Smokehouses

Most cabinets need three phase power, a water supply for humidity and shower cooling, drainage, and a flue or extraction route for smoke discharge. Gas heated models add a gas connection and appropriate ventilation. Check your local authority's position on smoke emissions early, since abatement requirements can influence which generator type you should buy.

Woodchip smoulder generators give traditional flavour with moderate cleaning demands and are the most common choice. Friction generators produce smoke on demand with fast response, suiting frequent short cycles. Liquid smoke atomisation is the cleanest to run and simplifies emissions compliance, though purists debate the flavour, so match the method to your product positioning and cleaning capacity.

Inspect the chamber for corrosion at floor level and around door seals, since chamber integrity is expensive to restore. Test the controller through a full programme, confirm temperature and humidity sensors read accurately, and examine the smoke generator for burn damage. Ask for the machine to be run hot during your visit, because heating performance and door sealing only reveal themselves at temperature.

It varies enormously with product, from around two to four hours for a hot smoked frankfurter programme to eight or more hours for heavier bacon runs, and days or weeks in maturing chambers. Cycle time and trolley capacity together define your daily output, so calculate backwards from weekly production targets when sizing. Buying one size larger than today's need is usually cheaper than replacing the cabinet in three years.

Yes, listings across the range appear together on Machinery Masters, so a producer can weigh a refurbished single trolley cabinet against a larger used system or a new machine in one view. Each listing carries seller contact, so you can gather cycle capability and condition details directly and build a genuine comparison. Financing options on qualifying listings widen what is affordable within a given budget.