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Art,

No disagreement here on my part.

Like I said, I've never known anyone that used propane. That's exactly what I said. I'm agreeing with your thoughts. Did you read my posts? I'm not trying to guess wrong.

I have learned a little bit since I started fishing fifty odd years ago. We have far more in common than differences.

I reluctanty posted my thoughts and I even worried that you would disagree.

I'm not a fuggin' idiot when it comes to fish. BTDT.

I thought I was pretty successful in smoking fish with my old refrig. smoker. Then my double burner electric quit and would not regulate. Bought 4 different electric hot plates
that would not smoke chips? Tough to find a old coil style electric hot plate in AK. All the new ones are plate style and do not work as well.

On the fifth try I found a solid hot plate at Fred Meyer in Soldotna that gets hot enough to smoke chips. Was trying to hold heat by limiting ventilation, IMHO higher DRY HEAT and more ventilation to control temp. worked wonders.

Found a remote read thermostat at Wall Mart to monitor temps. that really paid for itself. Outside humidity also
greatly increases time required to smoke fish.

I have tasted Paks Smoked Salmon and am a beginner compared to Pak sure could use some more samples!!

Lots of good info here and I appreciate you sharing it with me. After talking with another friend of mine who does a serious amount of smoked salmon each year with his fil, I think I am going to turn this into an electric smoker.

Art, that would be great if you could share that schematic of the thermostat and plug-in I would appreciate it. I work as an electrician so this should be simple to do. Any idea where I can get a burner for this thing? My goal is to be able to smoke all my salmon in one shot. Smoked turkey is on the list also.

How about using the coil from your big chief?

I'm not sure it will get hot enough inside this bigger smoker to be able to smoke stuff without having to take a few days to do it.

I like Art's idea of the thermostat and plug in for the electric burner, figuring out where to get a good burner is my next issue.

It's probably going to take me some time to get use to this thing and get it to work efficiently. I've got 60 or so red filets in the freezer I need to get done this weekend and I don't want to ruin them.

The info on the peddicle is interesting, I had no idea it was that important in smoking salmon. How long do you usually let it set up before you start smoking?

Freddys in Soldotna had a adjustable 2 burner hot plate that gets to temp. and works well for $20. Only place I saw one from Anch. to Soldotna. For some reason most of the new style
solid top hot plates will not get hot enough? My old upright
freezer smoker is big like your smoker and the proper 2 burner
electric hot plate works great. You need to shield the hot plate from dripage. I use a couple of charcol briquets for additional heat.

I wiil say this and it's a problem I've ran into before. Use the thinnest cheapest skillet you can find for the wood chips. Too thick a pan and it makes it impossile for it to get hot enough to light the chips on fire.

The right amount of drying to form the pellicle depends on how warm or cold it is and ............. A couple two or three hours, sometimes more, can be enough if it's warm and dry enough and there's enough air circulation. It really important to dry the fish off with paper towels prior to letting it set up.

Call an appliance repair store and see if they have an electric stove you can canabalize... Heat coils are available as replacement items at all kinds of wattage levels.

Kurt's ready-built model from Fred Meyer's would be easier if you can find one.

A big point in my opinion is that smoked fish is fantastic straight out of the smoker and goes downhill from there. Freezing it after smoking produces mediocre fish from the best quite quickly...

I prefer to smoke in smaller batches through the year as needed. If I am sending a bunch out I would do a big batch, but not just to get it done to freeze. YMMV

The pellicle is everything in good smoked salmon! If you have no pellicle the fish will dry faster, and as you noted the moisture is important. It will also help to seal in the white fat if you have a high temperature excursion.

For cold smoke it has more to do with appearance and texture, I believe, but pak may have a different idea... And his idea would be better.

I will draw up a schematic as I need to do the same thing on a new smoker I stole from Dan...
art

I'll throw in one more fish head tip. It doesn't apply to fish that's already been processed and frozen.

If you plan on smoking reds that your not going to scale, add just a litle white vinegar to a bucket or cooler full of water and it melts the slime off. 1/2 cup per 5 gallons of water is about right. It won't affect the flavor and it's a lot easier than trying to scrape or wipe the slime off or scale the fish.

FWIW

A couple of thoughts on pellicle. What is it? A couple of things 1) the salt in the brine reacting with the proteins on the surface and 2) a drying process both of which seal the surface. This step has a lot to do with what your trying to make. For cold smoked salmon strips, jerky and the like the pellicle adds to the texture and appearence of the finished product. For hot smoked kippered the pellicle seals the surface and prevents the fat from oozing to the surface in the form of a white goo. This white goo may be an indication of the fish getting too hot. Edible, but not real pleasent to see, at least for me. It also may alter the product while canning. Cold smoked lox do not have much of a pellicle and is more of a brined product with a touch of smoke than a traditional smoked product. There are a lot of good references around to futher describe.
Now there will probably be a chat about brines, woods for smoke and duration of smoke etc. All of which is fun. With all due respect, 60 fillets at one time for a first time out is an ambitious goal. I used to smoke a lot more than I do now and in the process of my big batch days before I had my process down I wasted plenty of good fish. May I suggest that you experiment a couple of times first.
Pete
PS: Fish head's suggestion of washing the fish in vinegar solution is one of the best suggestions here. I ALWAYS slime and wash my fish in lemon juice and water prior to freezing and also wash and rinse the fish again in the same solution prior to placing in the brine(I wet brine). The acid neutralizes the bases on the surface of the fish that can produce an odor. This also works with shellfish and any fish prior to cooking.

I use a barrel stove and a slope with about 20 degrees of up hill The smoke house is as big as a privy, with screen around the bottom and a roof with a vent whole. I have a Tee just in front of the barrel stove. You would not believe how simple it's all is to make it right.

The pan I used was a coffee can the new style hot plates would not even smoke chips in a coffee can! Shocked me and cost me $200 to find that out!

Man I wish I had known about the vinegar trick for removing the slime of those reds, it was tough doing it under cold water and by hand. I'll give that atry next time around.

I'll start out smoking a dozen filets first to make sure I get this started in the right direction. Still working on a burner and racks for this thing.

I mentioned it in the How to freeze salmon thread.
eta:

I never saw the thread because I was on my way to Chitna to score on some reds. Now I know for the next time. Thanks IB.

After doing a bit more research on getting this smoker thing right, i think i'm going to get a Bradley Smoker Controller from Auber Instruments and i'm seriously contemplating a Bradley Smoke Generator for it as well.

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=72

http://bradleysmoker.com/smoke-generator-with-adaptor.asp

Looking at their example of smoked salmon where they finish at 175F scares me... Check with any commercial outfit... That may be pretty, but it will be anything but good...

Never smoke salmon above 140F. Cooking is a whole other thing...

The smoke generator looks pretty cool! The only thing I would like different would be the option of using other woods. It does make a big difference.

7 different wood choices seems pretty good to me, don't really care for hickory or mesquite on my salmon and much prefer a milder wood like alder or apple. What other wood flavors do you prefer that aren't mentioned?

The only thing i'm not crazy about is having to buy their flavor bisquettes but $40 for 120 they should last a while.

If you can get it apple wood works mighty fine for smoking fish.

I agree with your hickory/mesquite comments. I far and away prefer alder for salmon. Cherry is one of the most delightful aroma wise but I found with aged products such as mild cheddar it gets bitter over time. With stuff that will be eaten soon, as with most salmon cherry is exceptional. I've used maple also, but personally it is not a favorite. Just personal as a hell of a lot of bacon sold is smoked with maple.
Pete