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Formerly used a Big Chief for smoking brined salmon.  At 65F ambient, interior  temperature would max out at 165F.  Technique was to use three pans of alder chips (2 hours smoking) and then 3-4 hours with no smoke to finish  drying process.  Perfect results.  Have  never been  able to duplicate this in my SM066.  Temperature is hit in about 40 minutes and smoke stops.  Results at 5-6 hours  has same doneness and little smoke flavor.   I've tried the cold smoke baffle  (no ice) and get about an hour of smoke - still not enough.  Ideas - ice in pan,  Cameron smoking  box, wood pellet tube,  ????

Last edited by Kern
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I've posted my technique (adapted from Mr T) a couple of times , which you can probably find by searching, but in my SM066, here goes:  I buy exclusively fresh sockeye sides from Costco ( or occasionally Sam's), trying to get about 1.5 lbs per side so I can cut them to three 8 oz pieces each, I usually smoke four sides (12 pieces) at a time, two racks in the two upper slots in the SM066. After cutting (skin on) I brine them overnight in Mr. T's brine mix (again, search here) in a sealed plastic bag, squeezing out all air. In the morning, I rinse off the brine and pat the pieces dry, then put them on racks in front of a fan to form a dry pellicle (about 1.5 hours).  I use about 2.5 oz of alder chunks (never use chips in my SM066, only chunks, and never soak.

I smoke at 200F, no preheat, for about 80 - 90 minutes, until the IT in the thickest piece (by probe) is 145. Remove and cool on racks until room temp. Package or use as you like (I shrink wrap and freeze each piece and they last well over a year). Result is still a bit moist and tender (not "salmon candy" dry), and with minor to moderate albumin production. As long as you keep the salinity right, you can vary the brine favor as you like.

Several people here have given positive feedback on this. Hope it helps.

Last edited by jay1924

In response to my original question I have been experimenting with a different approach than that provided in the several answers I received.  My goal was to smoke salmon at around 165F, which is what a Big (Little) Chief smoker does extremely well.   The typical schedule here was 3 pans of  chips (135 minutes of smoke) and then several hours of drying to the right consistency and moisture content.    I wanted to duplicate this in my Amerique.  I purchased a Cameron's FLIP smoke box on Amazon.  To use this I put three charcoal briquettes in the box and got them started.  Once going I put a couple of Cookshack style wood chunks on the top of the charcoal and once going put this into the Amerique on a rack right above  the Amerique smoke box.  The temp was set at 165  on the Amerique.  Within several minutes smoke was emerging from the Amerique.  I did not turn the heat on in the Amerique until the FLIP smoke box had heated the inside of the Amerique to a steady temperature from the combusting charcoal.  This took about 20 minutes and resulted in about a 50F degree temperature rise from a starting temperature of 80F.  So at 130F I turned the Americue on and the temperature rose to and held 165F.  After about an hour the chunk in the FLIP was consumed.  I opened the door, stirred the charcoal and added another smaller wood chunk.  This was consumed in about 40minites.  The salmon continued the drying process for another couple of hours.

My conclusions are:  I closely duplicated the action of the Big Chief,   The smoke was very clean and not much different from  that put out by the Ameique.  With  a second smoke box one could  alternate between the two and simply switch them out as needed thus supplying continuous smoke indefinitely at any temperature.   Alternatively,  one could control the amount of smoking time with the size of the chunk.  

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