Any one do salmon kippering ala Jack Whelan?

[DocZ]

I hope I don't get in trouble for posting this help question in two places, but since half the job is done at 100F it may or may not be a cold smoke question. That said:
I am ready for my first batch! My CCW fan is in, and my maverick monitor is good to go. My unit is a DBS6. I know that there's a learning curve getting to control things with these smokers, so I am hoping some one on this forum has done kippered salmon ala Jack Whelan? I've used him as my main guru and done his kippering system at least twenty times over the years. I've just about decided that i will have to do the cooldown box to keep smoking temp down to 90-100F,right? Do you folks generally use the smoker to get your pellicle formed or is the fan too inefficient for this task? Maybe with door-open is doable? I think I saw pics on the forum posts with racks laid out over newspapers on a table,. Is that what most people do? Anything else to look out for?  My fish is thawed and I'm doing my brine now, so I hope I catch some's attention soon. Thanks! <`))>><

[3rensho]

Hello DocZ

For forming the pellicle I just set the toweled off fillets on inverted Bradley racks and put a regular fan on them.  Depending on the RH it takes about 1.5-2 hours to form a nice pellicle.  I have an OBS and for cold smoking use the tried and true cardboard box method and the temp never gets over 70F this time of year.  Have never used a DBS or tried kippered fish (yet!!  ;D ;D)

Tom   

[tsquared]

Hi Docz--I have been touting Jack's book for years on this board--glad to see another fan. The method for hotsmoking most people use here is Kummock's strips which is a variation of kippering. You can check it out, I thnk it's stickied at the top of the page. As for your pellicle question, I use a big house fan with the fish laid out on the racks for an hour or two until I get the pellicle.
T2

[iceman]

Yep, I just toss the fish on racks with a big fan blowing across it. Average of 2 hours for most of it.
Jacks book is good to have around for sure.