Smell that smell????

[scrappynadds]

I have yet to smoke any fish but I was told by a guy here in Seattle that he uses two smokers one for fish and one for everything else. So my question is: Can you smoke fish in your smoker without having to worry about the fishy smell taking over your smoker?

 

[sprky]

OK here is my take. In my old refrigerator smoker I use to smoke fish and every thing else, some times at the same time. I never had a problem with smells. The only time I had a problem with smell was when I didn't clean the smoker after smoking fish and it was HOT out. 

 

[stubshaft]

If the fish smell in your smoker is stronger than the "smoke" smell than something is WRONG.

 

[adiochiro3]

I've had salmon flavor hit cheese, but only when I smoked them together in the same session.  Otherwise, no problems with cross-over/carry-over with any fish.  

 

[ellisair]

Brother,

I smoke fish ALL the time and never had the fish flavor bleed into anything else.

 

[ironhorse07]

I have heard from other guys that smoke alot of fish that they run separate fish smokers. I don't do a whole lot of fish but usually after I do something oily like salmon I will just crank up the heat for awhile afterwards in the empty smoker to burn off any fish oils, haven't had any odor problems. A buddy of mine smoked some paddle fish one time in his fridge build and ended up taking it down to the car wash to get the fish smell washed out, lol.

 

[ellisair]

A good point IronHorse.

Maybe the type of fish makes a difference. I only smoke Mullet......and LOTS of it!

 

[smokinhusker]

I've only smoked salmon, but haven't had a problem with a fishy smell.

 

[akfan]

I always wash the grates between smokes, but have one smoker for fish, cheese, brisket, pineapple, eggs, potatos it's all good.....Your item will be more impacted by 1) how you prepare it 2) how you serve it 3) the type of wood you use.......good luck

 

[jirodriguez]

As long as you clean your grates well and either put a drip pan or some foil down to catch drips you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[venture]

I am with Johnny and others here.

My grates are cast iron, so they don't get washed.  I do fire up the smoker, burn them in, and scrape them down carefully.

I have never had a negative carryover from one smoke to another.

As Johnny mentioned, I do use disposable drip pans.  I don't change them every time, but with fish, I do.

Good luck and good smoking.