Too Much Fish

JZ · November 09, 2011, 02:01:58 PM

I took 2 salmon out of the freezer, cut them into strips and put them into Kummok's brine overnight. When I loaded them onto racks for drying, I had more fish than expected. 10 racks in total.

Luckily I had 2 smokers. Just got a BDS and thought I wouldn't use the OBS anymore --- WRONG.

Sailor · November 09, 2011, 04:40:16 PM

A man can just never have too many smokers. Just sayin :o

JZ · November 09, 2011, 05:24:02 PM

Yeah, just posted in the DBS thread that my 9 day old DBS had the heating element quit working part way through the smoke. Not a happy camper!!!!

Luckily I have the OBS and hopefully when my batch of fish in that smoker is done I will transfer 8 racks of fish from the DBS into the OBS. Crossing my fingers that it makes it through the whole smoke.

RFT · November 09, 2011, 06:04:29 PM

Quote from: JZ on November 09, 2011, 05:24:02 PM
Yeah, just posted in the DBS thread that my 9 day old DBS had the heating element quit working part way through the smoke. Not a happy camper!!!!

Luckily I have the OBS and hopefully when my batch of fish in that smoker is done I will transfer 8 racks of fish from the DBS into the OBS. Crossing my fingers that it makes it through the whole smoke.

That Sucks. At least you had a back up.

KyNola · November 09, 2011, 06:14:57 PM

How many total racks of salmon do you have between those 2 salmon and the 2 smokers? If it is 10 racks between the 2 smokers you can smoke at least 8 racks by inverting racks and placing them on top of one another.....just like you have them stacked in the "before going into the smoker" pic in your garage and place them in whichever one of your smokers is working properly. I'm assuming you have the 8 racks in the DBS that is not working properly. How many racks do you have working in the OBS?

JZ · November 09, 2011, 06:33:29 PM

I had 2 racks in the OBS which was outside and 8 racks in the DBS which was in my heated shop. It was working fine with the 8 racks until the element burnt out. The OBS if finished the 2 racks and I have transferred the 8 racks into it just like you said.

Hoping for the best.

KyNola · November 09, 2011, 06:43:02 PM

I'm sure you have saved it. Sometimes you just have to improvise. Nice work.

JZ · November 10, 2011, 05:22:44 PM

Finished up last night about 11:00 pm - too late for me. But the end result isn't too bad. Some of the fish could have been done longer and some was overdone. Everytime I opened the door to rotate racks the temp would drop too much. Never got above 140 in the cab and took a long time to get there with the OBS outside.

Got hold of Bradley today and they are shipping out a replacement element, plus I ordered a second one just in case. Hopefully I will never need it; but if I do I won't have to go through the nonsense I went through last night ------ unless of course I forget where I put the spare element.

Left 2 racks in a cooler on the deck and 8 in the OBS overnight. Outside temps just below freezing. It was a real b*tch to get some of the fish off the racks, especially the original racks - not quite as bad with the Bradley jerky racks. The fish was nice and firm and took to vac sealing pretty well.

So now onto the second batch when I get my new elements - might try putting the one from the OBS into the DBS and cut down on the amount of fish. I think 4 racks will be easier to control.

I noticed that the fish laying on their side ie flesh on the rack (which was about 98% of it) really stuck to the racks. The pieces that were skin side down were muuuuccccch easier to get off. With the frog mats would fish still stick to them with flesh contact?

hal4uk · November 10, 2011, 05:32:08 PM

I'm sure I know quite a bit less about smoking fish than you do; I'd probably just coat the living heck out of the racks with "Garlic Mist".
Anyhow... NICE SHOP!

JZ · November 10, 2011, 07:41:28 PM

Before joining this forum I have only had 1 or 2 succesful fish smokes. Now, thanks to Kummok, my success rate has improved significantly and that is based on the information provided on this forum. I won't take credit for it but I am happy to enjoy the benefits of it.

I used Pam or some other veg spray. Does "Garlic Mist" work better?

I spray the racks with a lot of veg oil before I put the fish on them. I think part of the problem is that I do not dry the fillets properly before I put them on the racks to dry out (pellicle).

SouthernSmoked · November 11, 2011, 08:50:55 AM

Niiice job on the salmon and I love the wood shop - great job JZ!

JZ · November 11, 2011, 11:59:42 AM

For those of you that like the shop - here are some more pics of the inside. Quality is not too good because the res is turned down on the camera, to keep the file size small.

The wife spends her time in the house. I spend mine in the shop.