Cold smoking 5 lbs of salmon

[MileHiGuy]

Hey all, I'm cold smoking salmon. I have 5 lbs of fresh salmon I covered in about 4 pounds of coarse sea salt yesterday afternoon. I am in Denver and the weather shouldn't get above 60 degrees F today and maybe around 33 overnight. I have alder wood chips. The question I have is how to best cold-smoke the fish? I have a 22" Weber smoky mountain and a Hasty Bake 258. I could smoke it over indirect heat and put ice in the pan below it in either cooker. Any advice?

 

[Brokenhandle]

Can't help you out but I'll bump your thread and maybe someone that's done some cold smoking of fish can help

Ryan

 

[JLeonard]

No help either...But a bump and hope for the finish post.

Jim

 

[MileHiGuy]

I am putting the Alder wood chips I have through a coffee grinder to make them "dust-ish". I have an A-Maze-N smoke tube that I will use to smoke the fish. The fish has been in salt since yesterday afternoon, I'm going to take it out of the salt in a bit and put it in some cold water to get all of the salt off and then I plan to put the fish on a wire rack and in the refrigerator to dry overnight. I'll smoke it in the morning. I'm not really sure how long to cold-smoke it...I'm thinking 8-10 hours. Here is a pick of the wood chips and what I'm doing to chop them up.

 

[JLeonard]

Cold smoked Coho Salmon (whole)

In Florida, you gotta monitor weather to catch a perfect day for cold smoking the salmon. Today we’ve got 52F brisk morning. Smoking time. Fish. Wild caught pacific coho salmon. Kept in freezer over a month. Brine. For 1kg of fish you need 1.2L of water. For each (1kg fish + 1.2L water) we...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Check this thread. It may answer a few questions.

Jim

 

[MileHiGuy]

Hey Jim, I actually was reading that thread earlier today. I saw some good info from an older thread with info from thirdeye as well. Great information! That's something I find really useful about this site is that there is some good information if there is something you haven't done before. Like in my case, cold-smoking salmon. We will see how this turns out.

 

[JLeonard]

Hey Jim, I actually was reading that thread earlier today. I saw some good info from an older thread with info from thirdeye as well. Great information! That's something I find really useful about this site is that there is some good information if there is something you haven't done before. Like in my case, cold-smoking salmon. We will see how this turns out.

Good deal. Looking forward to the finish.

Jim

 

[Bigtank]

Use the WSM put the dust and smallish chips in a tube or maze. smoke for 3 to 5 hours cool in fridge over night. you can rinse oil off the surface if it is bitter. vac pac and eat within a week or freeze.

 

[MileHiGuy]

Use the WSM put the dust and smallish chips in a tube or maze. smoke for 3 to 5 hours cool in fridge over night. you can rinse oil off the surface if it is bitter. vac pac and eat within a week or freeze.

Thanks for the advice, Bigtank. That's exactly what I plan to do. I wasn't quite sure about how long to smoke it but I will go by what you suggest....and share results as well.

 

[SmokinAl]

This may help

HOMEMADE LOX WITH RECIPE & STEPS, PLENTY OF Q-VIEW

I have made lox following bbally's instructions several times over the last year or so. I grew up on lox & cream cheese with a slice of onion on a good bagel. This was a weekly event at our house. Over the years I have tried lox many times & I can honestly say I have never had lox as good as...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Al

 

[Bigtank]

Good looking recipe Al, I like to dry cure my salmon with salt and maple sugar. I don't slice it tillI I'm ready to eat though.

 

[thirdeye]

The question I have is how to best cold-smoke the fish? I have a 22" Weber smoky mountain and a Hasty Bake 258. I could smoke it over indirect heat and put ice in the pan below it in either cooker. Any advice?

I hot smoke considerably more salmon and steelhead than cold smoking, but I have a mini WSM and upright drum smokers that work really good for cold smoking. I put my smoke tube in the bottom, and have all of the vents fully open. Sometimes I'll even use some 2X2s under the lid. You are not going for heat, and want the smoke to be very un-restricted and somewhat light. If you have a block of cheese, make some thick slices and put it on the same grate with the fish. Sample a piece every hour and this will give you a ballpark idea of how much smoky flavor the fish is taking.

This morning my outside temp is 50°F, so I would have no problems is smoking 3 or 4 hours, then returning the fish to the fridge.... and possibly doing another round of smoke tomorrow morning.

 

[MileHiGuy]

This may help

HOMEMADE LOX WITH RECIPE & STEPS, PLENTY OF Q-VIEW

I have made lox following bbally's instructions several times over the last year or so. I grew up on lox & cream cheese with a slice of onion on a good bagel. This was a weekly event at our house. Over the years I have tried lox many times & I can honestly say I have never had lox as good as...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Al

Very good info Al! The result looks great. It is a little different from how I did it but I can definitely see some great tips here for how to do it next. Thank you!

 

[MileHiGuy]

I hot smoke considerably more salmon and steelhead than cold smoking, but I have a mini WSM and upright drum smokers that work really good for cold smoking. I put my smoke tube in the bottom, and have all of the vents fully open. Sometimes I'll even use some 2X2s under the lid. You are not going for heat, and want the smoke to be very un-restricted and somewhat light. If you have a block of cheese, make some thick slices and put it on the same grate with the fish. Sample a piece every hour and this will give you a ballpark idea of how much smoky flavor the fish is taking.

This morning my outside temp is 50°F, so I would have no problems is smoking 3 or 4 hours, then returning the fish to the fridge.... and possibly doing another round of smoke tomorrow morning.
View attachment 680849
View attachment 680850

I noticed the smoke wasn't as strong as what I wanted so I propped the lid open a bit and this helps considerably. Thanks! This is very helpful.

 

[MileHiGuy]

Here are some pics of what I did to De-salinate the fish (take the salt off) and then soak it in cold water last night, and into the fridge overnight. I also put it on the smoker a couple hours ago and the fish are getting smoke right now.