Fish...smoker temperature?

Well,a water smoker is sorta designed to keep your temps between 200�-225� when hot smoking.

You don't mention the size pieces that take 3-4 hrs.

If you are slow smoking,to dry some,you are probably down around 160�-170�.

If you are cold smoking,even lower.

I typically smoked fillets at the 200�-225�,and an hr would be plenty ,to a little less than 160�internal.

When I smoke large filets (5-7# each), a 20#+ salmon or chunks from a large salmon in the water-smoker, it takes 3-4 hours using charcoal as fuel. I have only guaged it by appearance/darkness and flesh texture...not real scientific I realize. I like them somewhat firm, but not dry as a bone is the best I can tell you. I don't much care for them real, real soft in the center, so I believe they are smoked "well".

The above recipe seems somewhat strange, but don't let that hold you back from trying it. It has outstanding flavor and gets rave reviews from real anal, smoked-fish Aficionados. I got it from an old guy out in Montana about 15 years back. He and I would catch pails full of 3-4# rainbows and that is why he made the notation in the recipe for "(12-15), 3# trout or salmon". I can still taste those trout...

I smoke salmon fillets all the time. Crank my smoker as high as it'll go (250*) and it takes about an hour for the fish to reach 155* internal. Lately though, to increase the "smoke time" so more smokiness is absorbed into the fish, I'll dial down the temps to 225* or even 200*, and then it may take 1.25 to 1.5 hours.

Also, I use wood chips instead of wood chunks for fish, so they burn more quickly. If you use chunks, not much will have burned in the hour or so that it takes to fully cook the fish.

Good tip on the wood...makes perfect sense!

I ended up smoking some white bass today after fileting and skinning them. The white bass were the 13", 1#+ (live weight) variety.

After brining them, I set my S------ex at 150 degrees and used a somewhat light, 50/50 mix of Macintosh apple and Alder, smoking the filets for 1.5 hours at 150 degrees. Internal temp using a digital probe was 140+ degrees. I raised the temp up to 210 degrees and smoked it until the internal temp was 160-170 degrees. I held this temp for an hour and a half which was actually about 15-30 minutes too long as it produced lightly burnt edges. Were I to do it again, I'd possibly go to 2 hours at 150 degrees and check the filets at an hour after elevating the smoker temp to 210, using additional time depending on filet thickness/type and how dry/moist I wanted them.

I was pleased with the initial results however. The golden brown color was there, a light smoky flavor was present and the overall flavor was very similar to what I'd achieved with my old water-smoker.

Note: According to what I can read from some university extensions online, a time period where the internal temp of the fish is held above 160 degrees for a minimum of 30 minutes is required to insure that botulism is not an issue.