Hi All
After having my fish cold smoked commercially for a few years now I thought its about time I had a go myself plus its getting quite expensive.

I am looking for one that can do cold smoking as well as hot and will handle large fillets....... am I being to ambitious?

Iv'e never done any before so your thoughts on equiptment, method and advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Tighter Lines ><((((((º>~~~~~
Itchy

Just coming dear...

To get an idea on prices and types this site will help BBQ Food Smoker | BBQ Smoker | Water Smokers | ProQ Smokers | Brinkmann Food Smokers - Brinkman Smoker

Personally I like the Brinkman Cabinet types like this


Fill your boots.

Beanzy cheers for that link Ive been plyaing with the idea myself. I can see a cold smoke generator winging its way to me soon and a metal dustbin. A couple of brackets in the bin a wire rack sit on top, air holes in the bottom a length of timber for hanging the fillets, will all it will take to make a smoker unit.

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Till The Next Cast

Cheers

JOHN



Some Fishing photos!!

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...t=71c37867.pbr

I was thinking about starting to smoke some of my catches too. I usually fish C&R but occasionally take one for the table.
That's a good site for allsorts of goodies, but I am thinking smaller scale than the cabinets etc. Does anyone have any experience of this cold smoke generator, or is there something better?
ProQ Cold Smoke Generator | Cold Smoke Fish
I already have a large BBQ which I was thinking of using with such a generator.
I will follow this post with interest.
Cheers,
Gary

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"Calling Fly Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job."

Hello...Thought I'd chime in here, as I have quite a bit of experience with "hot smoking" in particular. I spent the past 6 years living in the Pacific Northwest of the USA (Oregon Coast), now in the UK. But while in the USA we smoked a lot of the Salmon, Steelhead and trout, even fresh albacore and halibut we caught. Over those years I tried both charcoal, green wood (native american style) and eventually electric cabinet style smoking. For ease and convenience sake have settled on the electric cabinet smoker. There is definitely a learning curve and a lot of trial and error to smoking. I presently own a Masterbuilt (bought in the USA and shipped over). Not sure how long this beast will run on my voltage converter, but so far so good. When this smoker finally checks out, I will purchase the Bradley smoker (available here in the UK). I have never tried cold smoking, I have thought about it, but I didn't want to turn a portion of my garden into an experimental smokehouse. I very much like the portability and ease of cleaning my Masterbuilt. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter where or how you smoke your fish/game/meat as long as the cure/brine was properly done and the fish/game meat was smoked for an adequate amount of time at the appropriate temperature whilst retaining an acceptable amount of moisture.

Good luck.

Itchy,
this is a great site to see you through the smoking process.
<title>3Men With Nothing Better To Do

Thanks all for your comments so far this what makes this forum worthwhile and welcome to the forum susquehanna.

After reading your comments and researching the tinternet I have decided on a Bradley smoker. So while I am waiting for it to arrive I could do with some info on curing, smoking etc.

If anyone has a Bradley some tips would be handy

eg: what sort of extraction would you use if used inside a summerhouse/shed?

Thanks Again.

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Itchy

Just coming dear...

IB, if you do some searches on Google for home made smokehouses, you'll see all kinds of information and ideas for making your own cold smoker.

The cold smoking game seems to me to be a hobby in it's own right for those who get into it and not really a means to an end like buying a new BBQ or something. The guys that I've known that do it seriously and do it well seem to enjoy the tinkering aspect of building, using, and maintaining a smokehouse as much as they enjoy the product.

They're always trying something new and always scrounging around for the next great source of free smoking wood and finding cheap/free cuts of meat and other stuff to smoke. It seems that a lot of the fun comes in the process, not just in the product.

One of the best efforts I've seen for home-made smoker was made by using a old refrigerator as the "smokehouse" with the smoke generator next to it being made out of an old LP gas tank. I've also seen another smokehouse made out of an old dishwasher (a model that had a stainless steel inside, not the plastic insides like today).

Grouse

As susquehanna states above, probably the most important part of the process in terms of the taste of the final product is the curing stage. I've ruined lots of fillets getting this wrong - the instructions I followed initially gave a product that tasted like salty, fishy, coal! Pick up a packet of smoked salmon in the supermarket and read the ingredients, you'll see that sugar features quite prominently.

Hi James9118.
thanks for your comments on curing. Can you buy the ingredients from the local supermarket eg non-ionised salt etc? Do you buy ready made cures?
I have been told not to go more than a 1-1 mix of salt and sugar.
Just need a tried and tested recipe really, will look in the info thats been supplied so far.

Thanks again. can't wait to have a go....

__________________
Tighter Lines ><((((((º>~~~~~
Itchy

Just coming dear...