Low temp smoking with my new #2

[bocaboy]

Quick question about my new #2 Smokin-It. Does anyone have experience smoking at low temps, down at 120°, and whether or not that is enough to ignite the wood? I normally use charcoal and wood, and I'd like to use this technique on some salmon tomorrow, but wonder whether the wood will ignite at such a low temp. I keep it at 100-120° for two hours, then kick it up to 170° to finish it.
 
Thanks!

• Tweet
• 

[puddle jumper]

 I don't have any experience with doing that but I would think you would have to set your temp up around two hundred to get it smoking then cut it back,,,but I don't know if its going to stay lit... wood chips or pellets maybe...
But that's just a guess...
Sorry if that's no help...
PJ

[benjammn]

you might just want to use a cold plate to keep the temps low if that is what you are looking for. chips would help too to get smoking faster.

[DivotMaker]

Boca  - If you want to cold smoke, do yourself a favor and get the cold smoke plate.  It works really good!  I use it for cheese, but lots of people use it to cold smoke salmon.  Once you get the required smoke, remove the plate and bump up the temp to finish cooking.  They're not that expensive, well-made, and work as advertised.

Here's a good vid by one of our rivals out there.  It's a really good primer on using the cold smoke plate.  There are probably similar vids on salmon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF3lCLE6I84

[benjammn]

Good video for sure. I am going to order my cold plate soon, I love making smoked salmon. I have a pretty decent dry brine that everyone loves but without the plate I get too much cooking done that I don't want.

[Gunner105]

Quick question for DivotMaker,

Watched the video and the guy
1. Set the smoker to 120-125
2. Put in chips not chunks

So if we use the cold smoke plate, we need the chip adapter as well? Or do you use chunks and turn the heat up more?  I have a cold smoke plate and had planned on doing some cheese and almonds this sunday.

[bocaboy]

Well, here's a picture of my first smoke, and it is delicious! A beautiful filet of steelhead salmon (from Costco), cut into two pieces to fit in the smoker. Rather than try a low-temp smoke, I set the thermostat to 225º and cooked to an internal temperature of 140º. I used a Maverick 732 to monitor the oven and fish temp.

For those that are interested, the smoke started to appear at the upper vent hole at about 125º. It means that that the wood ignites at a pretty low temp. I used one medium chunk of apple and one half-burned hickory stick that came with the smoker. The hickory stick was left over from the initial seasoning of the #2 that I did the day before. These two woods produced more than enough smoke. Any more would have overpowered the salmon.

The oven got away from me a bit. Even though it was set to 225º, it went up to 250º before I caught it. Now I know that it needs to be set a bit lower to achieve my desired temp. This smoker is obviously very well sealed so heat doesn't escape too easily! I had the shelf on the top shelf bracket that was second from the top, so knowing that heat rises may also may have had some effect on the temperature.

The taste was superb! It had a distinct but mild, smokey flavor that didn't overpower the flavor of the steelhead. While I would have prefered to get this out of the smoker at 140º, the internal temp jumped to 145º because of the jump in temperature of the oven. Nonetheless, it was damn close to medium rare, which is what I shoot for. That means the middle of the thickest part is just cooked.

We had half of the salmon for dinner (no leftovers) and the rest I made into a salmon salad for an appetizer for dinner tomorrow. We're having people over and it will be my first cook with baby backs!

Once I get the hang of controlling the temperature more accurately, I am convinced that I'll be able to do slower smoking of fish (bluefish, mackerel, kingfish, lake trout) with a deep, smokey flavor.

Stay tuned! I'll report back tomorrow with the results of the baby backs!

[DivotMaker]

Quick question for DivotMaker,

Watched the video and the guy
1. Set the smoker to 120-125
2. Put in chips not chunks

So if we use the cold smoke plate, we need the chip adapter as well? Or do you use chunks and turn the heat up more?  I have a cold smoke plate and had planned on doing some cheese and almonds this sunday.

Gunner - it actually doesn't matter what you set the dial to.  This is a totally "manual" process; when the cold smoke plate is in, the thermocouple doesn't sense the temp, so it doesn't know to turn the element off at 120, 140, or 250!  That's why you turn the element "on" for 20 minutes, then "off."  Set temp doesn't matter.

As far as wood, I like to use a chunk that I split to a small piece, with a flat side, to put "down" in the box.  It will start smoking quickly.  I don't deal with chips, but some people swear by them.  I think chips would be good for cold smoking, but I don't want to buy a chip screen.

[benjammn]

You really don't need to buy a chip screen, you can just use some foil with a few holes in it to allow air flow.
Glad to see it turned out great even with the higher heat.

[bocaboy]

I purchased the cold smoke plate and I've watched some YouTube videos on how to use it, but I'm still unclear about two things for preparing smoked salmon using a cold cure process.

1. After curing the salmon, how long should it remain in the smoker to get a nice, smokey flavor?

2. How long should the heat remain on in the #2 and at what temp to generate the smoke? My concern is that the thermostat is blocked by the cold smoker plate and I don't want the heating element to be on forever and either burn out or raise the temperature of the smoker to the point that the salmon starts cooking.

I'll certainly experiment but I'd appreciate anyone who has tried this so I have a starting point.

[DivotMaker]

Hey Boca,

I can't answer your question about amount of smoke on the fish, as I've never smoked any.  But, I can help with the function of the smoker with the cold smoke plate. 

First of all, remember that the element is either on or off, and that cycle is regulated by the thermocouple in the back of the smoker.  The cold plate, with a pan of ice on top, isolates the thermocouple, so it doesn't know when to turn the element on or off.  So, it really doesn't matter what temp you set on the dial - it's a fully "manual" process to cold smoke. 

What I do, for cheese, is crank the dial to 250 and leave the element on for no longer than 20-minutes.  I then let the cheese absorb the smoke, with the element off, for 40 minutes.  I usually repeat this cycle 2-3 times for cheese.

Hope this helps!

[bocaboy]

Thanks! I guess I'll have to experiment to see how much smoke flavor I want in the fish. I saw a suggestion on YouTube which was to fire up the smoke with your method, then shut the smoker off and put a glass upside down on the vent to block it which would trap the smoke inside the box.

After I try this a couple times I'll report back with my results. Thanks again for the feedback.

[DivotMaker]

Forgot to mention the glass over the "blow hole."  I do that, too!