AFOS has been named a finalist in the Food Manufacture Food excellence Awards 2023 in the Partnership award for our continued work with the Seafish Training Academy
In 2012 Seafish Training Academy met with AFOS to discuss the need for a smaller, portable, and cheaper kiln to use for training outside of its base. Similar products were available, but they failed to smoke fish in a traditional way and were expensive to run.
The solution is the AFOS micro kiln. AFOS invested time and effort into designing the kiln that brings real benefits to industry. It took until 2013 for AFOS to design and build the first micro kiln, it more than met the design requirements of Seafish. Commercial sales began 2014 with numbers growing year on year. AFOS has sold over forty micro kilns to a wide variety of customers.
A micro kiln is the solution to the problem of how to train someone to control a traditional smoking process using a mechanical kiln. A micro kiln does not have microprocessor controls or automated flow reversal and as such requires the operator to think more about the process and to understand the impact of conditions on the process and the product.
As a training tool it is far better than anything else available which is why Seafish has since purchased five micro kilns. These kilns are based across the UK and are used to train both catering students and potential business owners from across the globe allowing the students to gain working hands-on knowledge of the smoking process whilst producing consistent and high-quality results.
The Micro kiln can be operated without power to demonstrate a traditional chimney operation, or with power to demonstrate other forms of mechanical kiln operations. It can smoke all types of food and has a high production capacity. Apart from being a training tool the kiln has proven to be a successful commercial smoker for both small and larger businesses.
When designing the kiln AFOS had to ensure there was an even airflow without throughout the kiln over the product preventing biased at the bottom. A fan was added to the top of the carcass to circulate the smoke, fixing the problem. Tweaking the kiln during the first couple of years has been vital in improving the product.
The Micro kiln meets the needs of the small producers, restaurants and retailers. Larger producers use the micro for Product Development whereas Artisan companies benefit from the control and smoke variations.
As the pandemic struck, people’s views on food changed and people began to revisit eating habits. There was a need to go back to basics and the art of smoking meet this need. People wanted to reduce the amount of processed food and there was a bigger emphasis on the Artisan market. The sales of smaller AFOS smoking kilns increased as the demand for the traditional foods became the trend.
AFOS and Seafish again worked together during the pandemic to bridge a training gap and the Principals of Fish Smoking course was developed. Seafish introduced this remotely delivered course, which with the help of Zoom has allowed the sharing of knowledge to continue.