Ruedeleglise

Go to a reptile / pet shop. Pay more but it takes the grunt out of it. The advantage of a ceramic bulb heater is...I think...that it heats up slower and poss that a light bulb enclosed could fail more quickly. More of the energy in a ceramic bulb goes into heat production and not to produce light. Just my thoughts....not an expert in any way!

I went along to a reptile store and bought at stupid expense, (but don’t tell the wife) a “micro climate” thermostat and coupled it to a ceramic bulb heater. I chose the highest wattage he had, but can’t remember what it was! My reasoning was that it was better to have an over powerful heater controlled by the thermostat than an underpowered heater working its socks off and getting nowhere! In retrospect I wish I had either somehow got a more powerful ceramic bulb or installed 2, as I feel it does struggle a bit to get to the 20s.....but so far it does and has!

Hi Justin. I am newish to the smokey art of cold smoking! It is bizarre that only 2 months ago we were worried about to high a temperature and needing to keep a good airflow. Now we have problems with too low a temperature! I installed a computer fan to draw air up the cabinet and this worked well. Now to keep a higher temperature I have installed a heater and a thermostat below the chamber that the smoke enters the cabinet from my external smoke generator. So far I have been able to maintain a temp of 22 to 23 degrees. This  diagram is before the heater was installed, but it goes where the legs are. I have walled in this space. 

Just sharing ideas........ with thanks to original advice from Wade and others on the forum.

oh yes....I smoked 2 halves of sides of Salmon, one skin down and one skin up to see the difference. I must admit both Wife and I preferred the skin down piece. I am about to smoke 2 sides suspended. I am going to use skewers and cord as advised by ....I think yet again, Wade.

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I know the problem only too well.....not smokey enough.....too smokey....texture not the same as last time. Oh well!

Yet another excellent explanation. Thanks.

Thanks the 20 plus hours of smoking has worked well. I note you only say 1 hour of drying after the initial 24 hrs or so of salt / sugar. A number say that this 12 to 24 hrs gives a pellicule surface etc. So in your experience this is not entirely necessary? Makes the whole process much swifter without.

Thanks. Now resmoking my last effort! 

Great. Just ordered. Thanks

Help please!   Yet again!!

I am having trouble getting the required loss of weight have smoked my salmon. 24 hrs with salt/sugar. 24 hrs resting. 6 hrs smoking at 23 degrees C.

This isn’t new I have always had less of a loss than the 15% advised since I started cold smoking even in the summer with less atmospheric humidity.. This last attempt as above resulted in 30gm loss from 660gm, only about 5%.  

Can’t find who I bought off last time.....who do you experts use please?

Looks like a good plan! Will have a go........thanks for such quick reply and advice.

Wonderful reply. Congratulations, it doesn’t get easier with the next ones either! 3 born in the UK but one in Saudi and the last in Canada!

Going back to smoking! ......my sides don’t have the heads on. If strung up by 2 or 3 cords to an S hook do you think they should be safe enough not to tear through?

I take it that by the lack of comment the above question by me is so ignorant that I shouldn’t have posted it!

Further advice please!  Following on from relative successes I am now going to cold smoke 4 sides of salmon at the same time. My smoker has 4 horizontal racks. Should there be any adjustment to the smoking time and will the higher sides take on more smoke than the lower ones or vice versa?

Could you explained a bit more?

Good to have Gurus and a load of experts to call on for advice and general information. Especially for me just starting out from just the occasional hot smoke and bbq.

Just to report I have just got my electriQ model E1QHDVSO. Works a treat and what an incredible company. It arrived within 24 hrs but was damaged possibly in transit. I had a replacement today, only 24 hours after contacting them. I highly recommend both the product and the company.

Magic. Thanks yet again!

Hi. Can anyone tell me where it is possible to get hold of the “metalised” cardboard that food is on and then vacuum packed or wrapped. I have googled, have even phoned catering suppliers...no luck. As an alternative how about cardboard wrapped in cling film? Or are there “nasties” in the cardboard?

Ruedeleglise.

I seem to remember the guy behind the fish counter at our local Tesco’s said all their salmon comes in frozen. I have only tried cold smoking Sockeye once and neither of us thought the texture or taste was as good as the farmed. Possibly just personal taste or a bad bit of sockeye?.....or a bad bit of smoking by me!

This brings up an associated question....if you have smoked some fish and know it isn’t dehydrated enough, is there any contraindication after a couple of days to putting the salmon back in the smoker for further dehydration and smoking?

Wonderful guidance and advice. Thanks.

Excuse the ignorance but does the same adjustment apply to the smoking times?

Thanks. As the fillets are much smaller do I assume the times are adjusted?

I had some cold smoked rainbow trout today. It had a much more subtle flavour compared to salmon. I have not been able to find any reference to cold smoking trout. Is the procedure the same as with salmon?  Any advice / recipe etc would be gratefully received.