Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska To build a smoker...?

458 Lott, soapy water will kill wasps, liquid dish soap, might take a few squirts but they die. Vern.

Now ya tell me I'll keep that one if the memory banks for smoker Mk II.

When living in Alaska I smoke a lot of Reds. The most important three things I learned were: 1. Freeze the fish for 30 days at below 0 degree temperatures to kill any parasites. 2. Let the pellicule form from the brine solution. 3. Ideal temperature for cold smoking fatty fish (salmon) is 80 degrees F.

Good Luck

of course you could build one like this...



A great thing about this design, one can grill, hot smoke and cold smoke all at the same time.

That's some serious grillin/smokin, I built my smoker out of an old upright freezer with external brick firebox and 4" stove pipe to the bottom of the freezer, 4" vent at top, works great. Make sure you get a freezer that has no paint on the inside and if you're going to hot smoke, it should have metal interior, Vern.

tlfw, that setup looks really cool except for the Texas star . Did you build it?

428 Lott, How did those wasps get into the smoker?

A few things I have figured out and I'm not a quick study:
1) you can overbrine. Most of use use a refridgerator and this lets us reduce the amount of salt in the brine. We also process small lots and these are consumed quickly. Most brine recipes have a 7-10% salt ratio. In my opinion this is waaay too much. I think I have my recipe down to about 2-3%.
2) You can oversmoke. IMO, smoke is mostly for the nose. The pleasure of the smoke is known long before it is tasted. Too much smoke is bitter on the tongue.
3) Previously frozen product will absorb brine at about twice the rate as fresh. Brine half the time.
4) Toughest item to manage in the smokehouse is condensation. I used to soak my wood but no longer do so as drier wood creates less condensation.
5) Less dense product absorbs smoke faster. Dense products such as cheese require longer smoke time and some aging.
6) High fat items absorb smoke faster. Smoked olive oil is good and doesn't take much time.
7) Learn to read the smoke. I watch it as it comes out of the house. As stated previous, cold smoke is about 80F. The warmer the temp the slower the rise in the smoke. Better yet is a thermometer.
8) The product the your smoking should be high quality and well cared for. The old frozen fish from a couple of years ago will smoke up ok but won't taste as good as a fresher product.
9) I freeze all my fish and meat. This gives me a constant baseline.
I cold smoke a few things well, hot smoking is something I know little about.
Every batch of stuff I smoke I learn something new, so it never gets boring, to me.
pak

Pete E
I regularly hot smoke whole hind quarters of deer. I brine, usually add in a bunch of spices, air-dry to form the pellicle, smoke with a load or two of wood and the finish off in a very low temp oven for a pulled-pork style product...

It is easy and very good.
art

OK, now I'm sure you know of what you speak. I'm taking notes.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Dwayne

This true?

Damn..........you Texas boys don't do anything on a small scale do you.............

That is one serious smoker/grill.

Tony

Brother Dave
Partly true... Any fish that has spent time in fresh water is of concern for various flukes. The 30 days is serious overkill though. On top of that, I doubt anything would survive even the cold smoking process and survive. Sashimi is a whole different kettle o' fish though. Any fish that has spent time around sewage effluent and such is also a concern for parasites and disease.

The salmon poisoning dogs get is nasty stuff, but rare in AK. It is a Rickettsial organism piggybacking on Trogilitrema salmonicola a Helminth worm IIRC...
art

Man has to eat .

That pit isn't mine...I don't cold smoke all that often and went for the smaller version.



It holds enough for one meal...

Art,

Can you elaborate a little how you do this?

I've seen people quoting 10 to 14 days in the smoker to cold smoke a whitetail sized haunch...

How long do you do your for and what is the finish product like? I think the long cold smoke process produces something that is "cured" and can be eaten cold without further cooking?

Regards,

Pete

Well..the more I read here, the more questions arise. Thanks for all the input. Guess I have enough to get the smoker built, and will worry about tips then.

Fortunately, The Great One is willing to share recipes/techniques. His fish is tough to beat, and my favorite grub during deer season....

Go look at Uncle Wally's,he has it down pat and can bang 200lbs+ at a whack............

There are MANY successsful businesses down here that do nothing but put together custom BBQ pits.....

It has somewhat turned to a work of art....

we use a old ice box,cut a hole in the top for exit smoke and a 8inch ole in the door to let air in with slide door to adjust air in

Too funny....

OK, not fair you showing us pictures like that at lunch time!
Oh my, that does look fine....
Dwayne

My observations on smokers (cold) from this part of the world are that low tech seems to work better than high. IOW, improvised stuff often using recycled corrugated sheet iron for the sides and top (w/ nail holes included) seems to work about as well as anything. Folks who try to get too high tech seem to have more difficulty in getting their product done right.

A few thoughts:

Smoking does not always involve brining and can be done plain - at least with fish.

Just a few minutes in a brine which will float a firm, fresh potato is all that is necessary to adequately flavor, preserve, and prevent flies on fish.

Most fish are dried some in the process of smoking.

Drying must be started before smoking is done - the outside must be firm or (glazed) over.

Drying preserves better than smoke itself.

Most salmon have parasites even before they enter freshwater. Tapeworms are self evident when cutting the fish. There are a type of round worm common in the flesh which is clear or flesh colored. They begin to come out on their own when the flesh begins to dry. Brine may also kill them if you brine hard enough.

Flies can be a problem if you don't control for them and the weather is warm. That is one of the reasons for hardening the surface of the fish right away. Absolutely fresh fish is less likely to be attractive to flies. Bruised fish or fish which fought a net or line too long are also more attractive. Absolutely fresh fish, quickly killed after the catch, bled, and chilled right away are not very interesting to flies. (Freezing fish will degrade the flesh and make it more attractive to flies if you can't keep them away.) Fly larvae (maggots) seem to enjoy time in a cold smoker - it sure doesn't kill them even in extremely thick and steady smoke conditions although some may drop out.

Fat fish smoke/dry better than non-oily (short river) types. They don't dry down as hard and are better tasting. They do take longer to dry though, especially if losing some oil is desirable.

Air that is dry and in the 50s or 60s seems ideal for drying. The smoke shouldn't be much more than that and can be done at night when the air is cooler to avoid too much heat. You want to avoid heat during cold smoking or you can get spoilage. Cool works, hot works, luke warm is bad. (The only time this might be different is when you get a cool, damp, drizzly day during a several day drying period. Then having a bit of heat can be useful to keep mold from forming.)

The rules to this game vary some according to one's local ambient temps and other local climatic conditions.