help with home built rig

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katied

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 8, 2015
1
10
Hi, im looking to build something exclusivly for smoked salmon. I am a machinist/fabricator by trade with a strong culinary background but i seriously lack knowlage of smoking.

i need help with smoke and heat generation, as well as time, tempature and wood selection advice.

My prefrence is to keep everything as close to chemical, plastic, and painted surface free as possible.

Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
For salmon smoking one of the best commercial smokers out there is the big chief smoker. It's not the best construction and the element isn't the best but it does a damn good job of smoking salmon. If I was going to build an exclusive box for salmon I'd use electric heat controlled by a PID so I could ramp temps up. The element would not be used to generate smoke. I would use a separate smoke generator like the AMNTS, or AMNPS in a mail box. I plan on building a dedicated smoker for sausage and jerky and it would be the same if I built one for aalmon. I plan on using plywood, but solid wood could be used. I plan on insulating mine as we get some cold days where I live.
 
Hi, im looking to build something exclusivly for smoked salmon. I am a machinist/fabricator by trade with a strong culinary background but i seriously lack knowlage of smoking.

i need help with smoke and heat generation, as well as time, tempature and wood selection advice.

My prefrence is to keep everything as close to chemical, plastic, and painted surface free as possible.

Thanks in advance!
For salmon smoking one of the best commercial smokers out there is the big chief smoker. It's not the best construction and the element isn't the best but it does a damn good job of smoking salmon. If I was going to build an exclusive box for salmon I'd use electric heat controlled by a PID so I could ramp temps up. The element would not be used to generate smoke. I would use a separate smoke generator like the AMNTS, or AMNPS in a mail box. I plan on building a dedicated smoker for sausage and jerky and it would be the same if I built one for aalmon. I plan on using plywood, but solid wood could be used. I plan on insulating mine as we get some cold days where I live.
You have the background to build a smoker but by your own admission you don't know the in's and outs. 

Dirtsailor has suggested the chief line of camp smokers. There are several sizes. They have been around a very long time. The first one I used was  in about 1970. They are front or top load and the spare parts are not expensive. 

I would say you might look for one that someone tried to smoke large piece's of meat in and are unhappy with. They do fish and jerky well but don't develop a lot of heat.

In the end the PID controllers are very trick. 

By using the chief or some other electric smoker you will learn the In's and outs of smoking. You can also start to put together you materials cabinet element controller and such. if it were me I would use a used MES smoker with a  Auber PID controller. You could then smoke anything and have up to 6 heat and time levels.

Whatever way  you decide to go there is a learning curve. But you will be smoking and learning  that's the important thing.  Jted
 
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