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Lox or cold smoked salmon

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  • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

    fallis10 thx much for your recipe! After I took tonight’s hot smoke salmon fromnthe brine, I added 1t each of toasted anise and coriander, crushed, based on you and othee posts.

    Your brine just adds another odd datapoint for me to get a handle on this though, as it is less than 1%, only 0.75%, salt. So this makes me think that folks pretty much accept lox from 1% salt to 5% or even 10% or higher on one recipe. It is a huge span of flavor profile, considering 1% salt in sausage I always think super bland, and 3% in sausage or cured meat is at top end where you’re thinking, “too salty!” Hard to know which I will like, and doesn’t seem to be a standard.

    I think I will have to do a test, equilibrium cure 5 batches at 1 to 5% salt, and just taste them all!

    crimsonfancyC Offline
    crimsonfancyC Offline
    crimsonfancy
    Yearling
    wrote on last edited by
    #31

    Dave in AZ
    Sausage standard for me is 1.75-2%. Salmon can be treated the same way but would probably go with 1.25-1.75% (tops.) Aromatics are variables up to the chef.

    Cured meats, pork / dry cured to hang in controlled environment I use 2.75-3% salt until 30% weight loss. More salt if sugar is involved in the formula.

    These numbers I’ll swear by. Hope it helps.

    1 Reply Last reply
    1
    • Dave in AZD Offline
      Dave in AZD Offline
      Dave in AZ
      Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
      wrote on last edited by
      #32

      A datapoint. I brined some 1.25" thick pieces of salmon as above for 1.5 hours, dried in fridge for 1 hr, and smoked/grilled at 325f. Pulled them at 145 internal then seared the skin in pan with olive oil for good crisp. They picked up a good bit of smoke, were fantastic. I would say that was the top end of salt I want inngrilled salmon. Not too salty, but I wouldn’t brine in 21% any longer than that.

      Due to that, I pulled the lox cold smoke salmon from the brine at 4 hrs, and am soaking in cold water for 1 hr to take any excess salt out, as per Marianski. Will dry tonight in fridge then cold smoke tonight in my Smokin It, using my side mounted cold smoke generator. Temps should be 59 to 61 degrees at 0400 until 1000, will smoke then.

      F 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

        A datapoint. I brined some 1.25" thick pieces of salmon as above for 1.5 hours, dried in fridge for 1 hr, and smoked/grilled at 325f. Pulled them at 145 internal then seared the skin in pan with olive oil for good crisp. They picked up a good bit of smoke, were fantastic. I would say that was the top end of salt I want inngrilled salmon. Not too salty, but I wouldn’t brine in 21% any longer than that.

        Due to that, I pulled the lox cold smoke salmon from the brine at 4 hrs, and am soaking in cold water for 1 hr to take any excess salt out, as per Marianski. Will dry tonight in fridge then cold smoke tonight in my Smokin It, using my side mounted cold smoke generator. Temps should be 59 to 61 degrees at 0400 until 1000, will smoke then.

        F Offline
        F Offline
        fallis10
        Yearling
        wrote on last edited by
        #33

        Dave in AZ honestly, even though I do love the results of my recipe, it is pretty time consuming, I have to rearrange my fridge to get the briner bucket in there, crushing and toasting spices is a pain in the butt sometimes… if you’re trying to impress somebody that will truly appreciate the amount of effort that went in to making them a lox bagel or rosettes, try a custom recipe. If I am just making some lox for the freezer or for a dinner party for Easter or Christmas, I just buy the Hi Mountain Alaskan Salmon brine mix. It is fantastic and you can cure about 15# of salmon for $10 or less worth of their product.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • McjaggerM Offline
          McjaggerM Offline
          Mcjagger
          Team Grey Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt PK100
          wrote on last edited by
          #34

          just an observation…fallis10 recipe has 4 grams of cure #1 per 1 gallon of water and Dave in AZ recipe has 15 grams cure #1 per half gallon of water…am I missing something here ???

          processheadP Dave in AZD 2 Replies Last reply
          1
          • McjaggerM Mcjagger

            just an observation…fallis10 recipe has 4 grams of cure #1 per 1 gallon of water and Dave in AZ recipe has 15 grams cure #1 per half gallon of water…am I missing something here ???

            processheadP Offline
            processheadP Offline
            processhead
            Regular Contributors Power User
            wrote on last edited by
            #35

            Mcjagger said in Lox or cold smoked salmon--need info:

            just an observation…fallis10 recipe has 4 grams of cure #1 per 1 gallon of water and Dave in AZ recipe has 15 grams cure #1 per half gallon of water…am I missing something here ???

            Not sure you are missing anything, but when using a liquid brine with salt and cure, there will be some variability in how much of the salt and cure is actually absorbed by the meat/fish.
            The amount of time the fish/meat is in the wet brine is probably the biggest variable, as I see it. The salt and cure will transfer into the meat, and the longer the meat is in the cover brine, the more salt it will absorb until the salt/cure levels reach equilibrium.

            A concentrated brine is going to transfer salt and cure to the meat more quickly. I think you would need to be careful to not leave the fish in a strong brine too long or risk an overly salty product or cure amount that is something higher than what you want.

            Paul

            1 Reply Last reply
            1
            • McjaggerM Mcjagger

              just an observation…fallis10 recipe has 4 grams of cure #1 per 1 gallon of water and Dave in AZ recipe has 15 grams cure #1 per half gallon of water…am I missing something here ???

              Dave in AZD Offline
              Dave in AZD Offline
              Dave in AZ
              Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
              wrote on last edited by Dave in AZ
              #36

              Mcjagger yeah, that is an interesting area that you noticed. I saw that too when standardizing and comparing numerous recipes and did some research. Several of the recipes use cure#1 when smoking, to protect fish while it is in danger zone. However, in all the several hundred sausage or salmon recipes I’ve read, only Marianski starts with USFDA FSIS allowable nitrite concentrations and works from there for his recipes. Which he does for brines like this. So I definitely trust his recipe cure amounts over other recipes, which commonly don’t calculate it correctly at all.

              In this case, processhead is correct in all his points above. The much shorter brine time is calculated for, 1 to 8 hrs vs. 36 to 72 hrs most use with a more dilute equilibrium brine. But mostly it is using FDA amounts instead of an arbitrarily lower amount I think.

              USFDA has different amounts of nitrite allowed if mixed into commutated meat like sausage, 156ppm, vs a dry rub, 625ppm I think, vs a brine or pump/massage 200ppm. For a brine, you actually calculate the uptake per the USFDA as well as the total volume of brine vs. Meat volume if equilibrium curing. So if you pump a brisket with 10% brine, that is used. If you just immerse, the water weight pickup is used. So there are different tables for brine. All of that is in his book, as well as the USFDA regs he references. Anyways, due to the large water vs. Meat volumes, the correct amount of cure always looks high.

              You can use less nitrate, but Marianski cites info that shows below 40-50 ppm of nitrite it’s ability to color fix and protect against c botulin are questionable especially for longer danger zone times like you get in cold smoking. By the time you pull from smoker nitrate is hugely reduced and drops off to almost zero in days, due to rapid conversion to nitric oxide. Foods like cold smoked salmon which do not undergo a heat lethality treatment actually have a MINIMUM REQUIRED ingoing nitrite of 120ppm to ensure safety. Most non-commercial recipes which don’t ever get subjected to, or have to pass, a Food Safety Inspection Service review, just ignore all their data and requirements.

              I use a brine calculator at diggingdogfarm
              dot com as well as Marianski’s tables and calcs for the cure#1 amounts 😉

              Since I already typed so much, for answer completion I will paste the start of Marianski’s brine calc example, where you can see the limit is actually 6T with a 10% pickup, Salmon in an 80degree brine is 3-4%:
              “Immersed, Pumped and Massaged Products Here, it is much harder to come up with a universal formula as there are so many variables that have to be determined first. The main factor is to determine % pump when injecting the meat with a syringe or % pick-up when immersing meat in a curing solution. We will calculate the formula for 1 gallon of water, Cure #1 and 10% pick-up gain. Then the formula can be multiplied or divided to accommodate different amounts of meat. 10% pump or 10% pick-up mean that the cured meat should absorb 10% of the brine in relation to its original weight. For immersion, pumped or massaged products, the maximum in-going nitrite limit is 200 ppm and that corresponds to adding 4.2 oz of Cure #1 to 1 gallon of water. 1 gallon (8.33 lb) of water Cure #1 in ounces Cure #1 in grams Cure #1 in teaspoons 4.2 120 20 tsp (6 Tbsp)”

              zbigjeffZ 1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • Dave in AZD Offline
                Dave in AZD Offline
                Dave in AZ
                Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
                wrote on last edited by Dave in AZ
                #37

                RESULTS:
                20220417_111127.jpg

                I cold smoked it last night after 6 hrs drying in fridge from 0200 to 0930, so 7.5 hrs.
                Ambient temp in Phx was 61 f to 75 f. I put 2 trays of ice in smoker, and piped in smoke with my Bellas CSG. Smoker temp was 62 to 65 f using thermoworks probe. TONS of smoke, after 7.5 hrs and solid smoke production I still had 25% chips and pellets left. Cherry wood and alder.

                My thoughts:

                1. Waaaaay to smoky. In future I will maybe kiss the lox with 30 min, 1 hr max.
                2. As mentioned above by someone, I didnt love the smoke taste profile, too much bitter note as well as acetic acid vinegar. The airtight Smokin It let the vinegar produced in smoke chips condense on fish for a noticeable taste. You can see a light ring near surface, that is move of a ceviche cooked thing than heat.
                3. Brined Lox vs. Cold smoked salmon… I think most of us are thinking of brined product, I know I was. Nova lox has a light smoke, that is likely all I will do in future, or more likely just brine cure and eat without smoke.
                4. Salt content-- very good, exactly what I wanted, not too salty. This was 4 hrs in 21% brine, 1.5 hr rinse soak. So I discussed a lot of salt datapoints above, this is a good one for strong brine. I will say, I believe the broad range now, I could have 2x the salt as this or half and still like it.
                5. Still tasted great, but such strong smoke it needs to be eaten in small amounts, appetizer style.

                Lastly… my patio, clothes, kitchen, and every blue ice packet I own, all smell like smoke lol. I was up from 0200 to 0700 numerous times checking on my CSG and first smoker use. But I don’t feel it is worth the effort for cold smoked salmon, think I’d rather have Lox 😉
                Great first use and experiment, thanks to everyone for their valuable opiniins and recipes and ideas!

                cdavisC G 2 Replies Last reply
                2
                • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                  RESULTS:
                  20220417_111127.jpg

                  I cold smoked it last night after 6 hrs drying in fridge from 0200 to 0930, so 7.5 hrs.
                  Ambient temp in Phx was 61 f to 75 f. I put 2 trays of ice in smoker, and piped in smoke with my Bellas CSG. Smoker temp was 62 to 65 f using thermoworks probe. TONS of smoke, after 7.5 hrs and solid smoke production I still had 25% chips and pellets left. Cherry wood and alder.

                  My thoughts:

                  1. Waaaaay to smoky. In future I will maybe kiss the lox with 30 min, 1 hr max.
                  2. As mentioned above by someone, I didnt love the smoke taste profile, too much bitter note as well as acetic acid vinegar. The airtight Smokin It let the vinegar produced in smoke chips condense on fish for a noticeable taste. You can see a light ring near surface, that is move of a ceviche cooked thing than heat.
                  3. Brined Lox vs. Cold smoked salmon… I think most of us are thinking of brined product, I know I was. Nova lox has a light smoke, that is likely all I will do in future, or more likely just brine cure and eat without smoke.
                  4. Salt content-- very good, exactly what I wanted, not too salty. This was 4 hrs in 21% brine, 1.5 hr rinse soak. So I discussed a lot of salt datapoints above, this is a good one for strong brine. I will say, I believe the broad range now, I could have 2x the salt as this or half and still like it.
                  5. Still tasted great, but such strong smoke it needs to be eaten in small amounts, appetizer style.

                  Lastly… my patio, clothes, kitchen, and every blue ice packet I own, all smell like smoke lol. I was up from 0200 to 0700 numerous times checking on my CSG and first smoker use. But I don’t feel it is worth the effort for cold smoked salmon, think I’d rather have Lox 😉
                  Great first use and experiment, thanks to everyone for their valuable opiniins and recipes and ideas!

                  cdavisC Offline
                  cdavisC Offline
                  cdavis
                  Team Blue Big Green Egg Masterbuilt Canning Kamado Joes Regular Contributors Power User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #38

                  Dave in AZ it looks great 👍

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  1
                  • F Offline
                    F Offline
                    fallis10
                    Yearling
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #39

                    All Things BBQ has a great cold smoked salmon video on YouTube. Just watched it and I might try that this week. Just took a side of salmon out of my chest freezer to smoke on Friday.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                      RESULTS:
                      20220417_111127.jpg

                      I cold smoked it last night after 6 hrs drying in fridge from 0200 to 0930, so 7.5 hrs.
                      Ambient temp in Phx was 61 f to 75 f. I put 2 trays of ice in smoker, and piped in smoke with my Bellas CSG. Smoker temp was 62 to 65 f using thermoworks probe. TONS of smoke, after 7.5 hrs and solid smoke production I still had 25% chips and pellets left. Cherry wood and alder.

                      My thoughts:

                      1. Waaaaay to smoky. In future I will maybe kiss the lox with 30 min, 1 hr max.
                      2. As mentioned above by someone, I didnt love the smoke taste profile, too much bitter note as well as acetic acid vinegar. The airtight Smokin It let the vinegar produced in smoke chips condense on fish for a noticeable taste. You can see a light ring near surface, that is move of a ceviche cooked thing than heat.
                      3. Brined Lox vs. Cold smoked salmon… I think most of us are thinking of brined product, I know I was. Nova lox has a light smoke, that is likely all I will do in future, or more likely just brine cure and eat without smoke.
                      4. Salt content-- very good, exactly what I wanted, not too salty. This was 4 hrs in 21% brine, 1.5 hr rinse soak. So I discussed a lot of salt datapoints above, this is a good one for strong brine. I will say, I believe the broad range now, I could have 2x the salt as this or half and still like it.
                      5. Still tasted great, but such strong smoke it needs to be eaten in small amounts, appetizer style.

                      Lastly… my patio, clothes, kitchen, and every blue ice packet I own, all smell like smoke lol. I was up from 0200 to 0700 numerous times checking on my CSG and first smoker use. But I don’t feel it is worth the effort for cold smoked salmon, think I’d rather have Lox 😉
                      Great first use and experiment, thanks to everyone for their valuable opiniins and recipes and ideas!

                      G Offline
                      G Offline
                      glen
                      Regular Contributors Team Grey Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt Power User Meat Hack Winner Veteran
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #40

                      Dave in AZ You mention airtight, when cold smoking with my Masterbuilt I run with the vent wide open.
                      Closing or restricting the vent produces the bitter taste IMHO

                      Give a man a fish and he eats for a day
                      Teach a man to fish and he drinks beer for a lifetime

                      Dave in AZD 1 Reply Last reply
                      2
                      • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                        Mcjagger yeah, that is an interesting area that you noticed. I saw that too when standardizing and comparing numerous recipes and did some research. Several of the recipes use cure#1 when smoking, to protect fish while it is in danger zone. However, in all the several hundred sausage or salmon recipes I’ve read, only Marianski starts with USFDA FSIS allowable nitrite concentrations and works from there for his recipes. Which he does for brines like this. So I definitely trust his recipe cure amounts over other recipes, which commonly don’t calculate it correctly at all.

                        In this case, processhead is correct in all his points above. The much shorter brine time is calculated for, 1 to 8 hrs vs. 36 to 72 hrs most use with a more dilute equilibrium brine. But mostly it is using FDA amounts instead of an arbitrarily lower amount I think.

                        USFDA has different amounts of nitrite allowed if mixed into commutated meat like sausage, 156ppm, vs a dry rub, 625ppm I think, vs a brine or pump/massage 200ppm. For a brine, you actually calculate the uptake per the USFDA as well as the total volume of brine vs. Meat volume if equilibrium curing. So if you pump a brisket with 10% brine, that is used. If you just immerse, the water weight pickup is used. So there are different tables for brine. All of that is in his book, as well as the USFDA regs he references. Anyways, due to the large water vs. Meat volumes, the correct amount of cure always looks high.

                        You can use less nitrate, but Marianski cites info that shows below 40-50 ppm of nitrite it’s ability to color fix and protect against c botulin are questionable especially for longer danger zone times like you get in cold smoking. By the time you pull from smoker nitrate is hugely reduced and drops off to almost zero in days, due to rapid conversion to nitric oxide. Foods like cold smoked salmon which do not undergo a heat lethality treatment actually have a MINIMUM REQUIRED ingoing nitrite of 120ppm to ensure safety. Most non-commercial recipes which don’t ever get subjected to, or have to pass, a Food Safety Inspection Service review, just ignore all their data and requirements.

                        I use a brine calculator at diggingdogfarm
                        dot com as well as Marianski’s tables and calcs for the cure#1 amounts 😉

                        Since I already typed so much, for answer completion I will paste the start of Marianski’s brine calc example, where you can see the limit is actually 6T with a 10% pickup, Salmon in an 80degree brine is 3-4%:
                        “Immersed, Pumped and Massaged Products Here, it is much harder to come up with a universal formula as there are so many variables that have to be determined first. The main factor is to determine % pump when injecting the meat with a syringe or % pick-up when immersing meat in a curing solution. We will calculate the formula for 1 gallon of water, Cure #1 and 10% pick-up gain. Then the formula can be multiplied or divided to accommodate different amounts of meat. 10% pump or 10% pick-up mean that the cured meat should absorb 10% of the brine in relation to its original weight. For immersion, pumped or massaged products, the maximum in-going nitrite limit is 200 ppm and that corresponds to adding 4.2 oz of Cure #1 to 1 gallon of water. 1 gallon (8.33 lb) of water Cure #1 in ounces Cure #1 in grams Cure #1 in teaspoons 4.2 120 20 tsp (6 Tbsp)”

                        zbigjeffZ Offline
                        zbigjeffZ Offline
                        zbigjeff
                        Sous Vide Team Blue Power User Regular Contributors Cast Iron
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #41

                        Dave in AZ You definitely tore all of the processes apart and put them back together. Good job. Hopefully, you finalize on a positive result.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • G glen

                          Dave in AZ You mention airtight, when cold smoking with my Masterbuilt I run with the vent wide open.
                          Closing or restricting the vent produces the bitter taste IMHO

                          Dave in AZD Offline
                          Dave in AZD Offline
                          Dave in AZ
                          Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #42

                          glen I think you’re right, I’d like a lot of the smoke products to go out the vent. Like the vinegar. Unfortunately, this thing doesn’t really have a vent 😞 Just a 1in hole on top that you can’t open more, and no real inlet hole. It is pretty darn airtight with door closed.
                          It is an electric oven mostly. That will be good when doing sausages and brisket etc, as it keeps moisture and RH high which helps with cook speed, as well as all the FSIS guidelines.

                          Really I think I just wasn’t used to the new smoker, and how smoke tight it was, and just massively oversmoked the fish.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          1
                          • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                            mrobisr and others, I read lox and cold smoke recipes today for a couple hours and converted them all to standard units for comparison. The results are…confusing.

                            1. Marianski uses a brine of 80 degree, which is 21% salt, for his cold smoked and hot smoked recipes. In one table he recommends 1 hour brining for both cold and hot smoke for fish 1 in and thinner. However in his cold smoke recipe he actually says to marinate in the 80 degree brine, that is 21% salt by weight, for 6 to 8 hours and then rinse for 1 hour before smoking. This is obviously not a dry rub or equilibrium cure, and leaving it in that extremely strong brine too long will create a very salty recipe, so the disparity between his two recipes of one hour versus 6 to 8 hours is a big problem. But it probably ends up at 3 to 5% in that 1 to 8 hr frame, after a 1hr rinse.

                            All the other sources used a dry rub or dry brine equilibrium cure for 36 to 72hrs:
                            2. Kutas in his book recommend a dry rub or dry brine equilibrium cure, his salt to Salmon ratio comes to 5% and his sugar is 5%.
                            3. Surg in his recipe here on the forums uses 4.5% salt and a very small amount of sugar, about a quarter percent or less.
                            4. The two most popular recipe returns on Google are from Spruce eats and wholesome yum. Spruce eats uses 4.25% salt and 5% sugar.
                            5. Wholesome yum uses an incredible 26% salt dry rub. While Marianski uses 21% liquid brine for just 1 to 8 hrs, this one is for 36 hrs!

                            These hugely different final salt content recipes leave me scratching my head. It appears anything from 3 to 5%, don’t know what to think on Wholesome recipe at 26% except bad amount of salmon… 1 lb probably should be 5 lbs.

                            I have 2 salmon planks in fridge now, and would have done them today if I could decide which of these saltiness amounts to trust! What I need is a report from a data minded user who actually weighed his salmon and salt used, so I can get a real salt % (cups vs grams vs kosher vs table salt can drive a result from 3 to 5%). Then whose report of “THIS was the right amount of salt, not too much or little” I can rely on. At $35 each for the salmon I don’t want to mess it up.

                            mrobisrM Offline
                            mrobisrM Offline
                            mrobisr
                            Team Blue Cast Iron Sous Vide Canning Dry Cured Sausage Masterbuilt Military Veterans Power User Regular Contributors
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #43

                            Dave in AZ Thanks for the info I cannot wait to try.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            1
                            • Dave in AZD Offline
                              Dave in AZD Offline
                              Dave in AZ
                              Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
                              wrote on last edited by Dave in AZ
                              #44

                              Follow up. Salmon cold smoked was much better the next day. I rinsed it all to get rid of any harsh smoke and acetic acid I could, and I removed the skin which had 50% of the smoke, it peeled right off. I had only tried the very thin belly section, which had a lot more smoke being so thin. I sliced the thick part after 2 day vac sealed, it was very good!
                              My estimations for others using this equip or brine method:

                              1. 4 hrs brine was good. I rinsed 1.5 hrs, but I don’t think it was needed for salt levels.
                              2. Using Smokin It, or other similar tight sealed insulated smoker like CookShack that I heard it is copied from, 0.5 to 2 hrs would be enough smoke, there is almost no smoke loss.
                              3. External CSG, I used Bellas. With ice tray in smoker, it held 64f decent even up to 75 ambient.
                              4. Bellas would smoke for 8 or 9 hours easy. Fill it only 1/4 full, lowest airpump setting, use alder or other light wood.
                              5. Don’t put samon in cold, trying to keep temps down like I did… I dried it unwrapped in fridge, but warm it to ambient. Else you get smoke liquid, mostly acetic acid vinegar, condensing in drops on meat.
                              6. Personally, I will likely do lox as a cure only, no smoke. Maybe a drop or two liquid smoke in brine. If I’m going to smoke it, I will do a hot cook smoke. I just didnt feel the smoke added a ton to the cure that I liked.
                              7. If you fail to put your drip pan under smoker, because you’ve got a drip pan inside holding ice… you WILL get heinous smoke juice concentrate all over your patio. In which case, a commercial degreaser and powerwasher will convince your wife to let you keep the smoker there. 😉
                              zbigjeffZ 1 Reply Last reply
                              1
                              • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                                Follow up. Salmon cold smoked was much better the next day. I rinsed it all to get rid of any harsh smoke and acetic acid I could, and I removed the skin which had 50% of the smoke, it peeled right off. I had only tried the very thin belly section, which had a lot more smoke being so thin. I sliced the thick part after 2 day vac sealed, it was very good!
                                My estimations for others using this equip or brine method:

                                1. 4 hrs brine was good. I rinsed 1.5 hrs, but I don’t think it was needed for salt levels.
                                2. Using Smokin It, or other similar tight sealed insulated smoker like CookShack that I heard it is copied from, 0.5 to 2 hrs would be enough smoke, there is almost no smoke loss.
                                3. External CSG, I used Bellas. With ice tray in smoker, it held 64f decent even up to 75 ambient.
                                4. Bellas would smoke for 8 or 9 hours easy. Fill it only 1/4 full, lowest airpump setting, use alder or other light wood.
                                5. Don’t put samon in cold, trying to keep temps down like I did… I dried it unwrapped in fridge, but warm it to ambient. Else you get smoke liquid, mostly acetic acid vinegar, condensing in drops on meat.
                                6. Personally, I will likely do lox as a cure only, no smoke. Maybe a drop or two liquid smoke in brine. If I’m going to smoke it, I will do a hot cook smoke. I just didnt feel the smoke added a ton to the cure that I liked.
                                7. If you fail to put your drip pan under smoker, because you’ve got a drip pan inside holding ice… you WILL get heinous smoke juice concentrate all over your patio. In which case, a commercial degreaser and powerwasher will convince your wife to let you keep the smoker there. 😉
                                zbigjeffZ Offline
                                zbigjeffZ Offline
                                zbigjeff
                                Sous Vide Team Blue Power User Regular Contributors Cast Iron
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #45

                                Dave in AZ Glad the ice tray worked out for you. You really did take a little bit of this and that to build it “your way”. Yes!!!

                                Dave in AZD 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • zbigjeffZ zbigjeff

                                  Dave in AZ Glad the ice tray worked out for you. You really did take a little bit of this and that to build it “your way”. Yes!!!

                                  Dave in AZD Offline
                                  Dave in AZD Offline
                                  Dave in AZ
                                  Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #46

                                  zbigjeff i got a lot of great input and ideas, which made it a fun project. Trying to give enough results that folks get useful datapoints from their suggestions! 😉

                                  I searched “salmon” at the SmokinIt forums and read every post today. Turns out most agree just 1 or 2 hours smoke and less than 2oz total wood. I didn’t know those forums existed until seeing a 5 year old post by NDKoze I think.

                                  That smoker is super airtight, so drying things out like jerky or smokesticks will be hard. But brisket and butts, where the relative humidity issue stalls things at 150ish, apparently work awesome in it. So I expect I will continue to sous vide finish sticks.

                                  zbigjeffZ cdavisC NDKozeN 3 Replies Last reply
                                  2
                                  • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                                    zbigjeff i got a lot of great input and ideas, which made it a fun project. Trying to give enough results that folks get useful datapoints from their suggestions! 😉

                                    I searched “salmon” at the SmokinIt forums and read every post today. Turns out most agree just 1 or 2 hours smoke and less than 2oz total wood. I didn’t know those forums existed until seeing a 5 year old post by NDKoze I think.

                                    That smoker is super airtight, so drying things out like jerky or smokesticks will be hard. But brisket and butts, where the relative humidity issue stalls things at 150ish, apparently work awesome in it. So I expect I will continue to sous vide finish sticks.

                                    zbigjeffZ Offline
                                    zbigjeffZ Offline
                                    zbigjeff
                                    Sous Vide Team Blue Power User Regular Contributors Cast Iron
                                    wrote on last edited by zbigjeff
                                    #47

                                    Dave in AZ Thinking I’ve sent many to this site and at first they thought “well, I’ll try it. But, don’t think I’ll find my answer.” while on Facebook. Then, after they go to meatgistics and the Smokinit sites, they come back happy as heck. They find out it’s just not like a bunch of blowhards like on other sites. Happy that you had the perseverance to finish your project with success. Spread the word.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    2
                                    • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                                      zbigjeff i got a lot of great input and ideas, which made it a fun project. Trying to give enough results that folks get useful datapoints from their suggestions! 😉

                                      I searched “salmon” at the SmokinIt forums and read every post today. Turns out most agree just 1 or 2 hours smoke and less than 2oz total wood. I didn’t know those forums existed until seeing a 5 year old post by NDKoze I think.

                                      That smoker is super airtight, so drying things out like jerky or smokesticks will be hard. But brisket and butts, where the relative humidity issue stalls things at 150ish, apparently work awesome in it. So I expect I will continue to sous vide finish sticks.

                                      cdavisC Offline
                                      cdavisC Offline
                                      cdavis
                                      Team Blue Big Green Egg Masterbuilt Canning Kamado Joes Regular Contributors Power User
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #48

                                      Dave in AZ great info I truly enjoyed reading it

                                      Dave in AZD 1 Reply Last reply
                                      1
                                      • cdavisC cdavis

                                        Dave in AZ great info I truly enjoyed reading it

                                        Dave in AZD Offline
                                        Dave in AZD Offline
                                        Dave in AZ
                                        Military Veterans Sous Vide Canning Traeger Regular Contributors Power User
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #49

                                        cdavis thx much, also to you zbigjeff

                                        zbigjeffZ 1 Reply Last reply
                                        1
                                        • Dave in AZD Dave in AZ

                                          zbigjeff i got a lot of great input and ideas, which made it a fun project. Trying to give enough results that folks get useful datapoints from their suggestions! 😉

                                          I searched “salmon” at the SmokinIt forums and read every post today. Turns out most agree just 1 or 2 hours smoke and less than 2oz total wood. I didn’t know those forums existed until seeing a 5 year old post by NDKoze I think.

                                          That smoker is super airtight, so drying things out like jerky or smokesticks will be hard. But brisket and butts, where the relative humidity issue stalls things at 150ish, apparently work awesome in it. So I expect I will continue to sous vide finish sticks.

                                          NDKozeN Offline
                                          NDKozeN Offline
                                          NDKoze
                                          Team Blue
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #50

                                          Dave in AZ

                                          Hi Dave, you can do jerky and sticks in the Smokin-It smokers and they turn out awesome. You just need to have/use a Jerky fan to remove the excess moisture.

                                          I smoked 120 pounds of country style sausage through my smoker this past weekend and used my jerky dryer. You can buy the dryer from Smokin-It (that is what I did) or there are several DIY options on the Smokin-It forums as well.

                                          Gregg - Fargo, ND
                                          Smokin-It #3 Electric Smoker that replaced a Masterbuilt XL, Big Chief (still used for fish), and few others over the years, along with a variety of Weber Gas/Charcoal Grills, Anova Sous Vide, etc. devices.

                                          Dave in AZD 1 Reply Last reply
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