I agree with The King. You "cure" your fish with your brine/salt/sugar etc. The smoking process is used to impart flavor and to dry out the fish a bit, not cook it.

I usually run 2 or 3 pans of chips thru the my Big Chief right at the start and then let it continue on for an additional 6-10 hours, sampling along the way until I get the right consistency. I never let the temp get over 90-110 degrees; More than that and you are just cooking the fish.

A couple of tips that have worked well for me are:
1. I cut out a piece of grocery sac to the size of each filet piece and place it under each chunk as it is placed on the smoking rack. When done smoking the skin has adhered to the paper and it peels right off. It also keeps your smoker racks cleaner.

2. For the first 2-3 hours of the smoking process, I baste the salmon with pure maple syrup several times. It adds some sweetness to counter balance the saltiness of the cure, and adds a beautiful glaze.

Hope this helps.

Not getting the temperature over 110 degrees seems to conflict with much of what I've read about smoking, unless you are cold smoking. Of course my smoker has no thermometer so I have no idea what I'm really doing. I do think that my smoker got too hot last night using the box because 4 hours seemed too quick. On the other hand I'm not sure I'm comfortable with only getting up to 100 F.

I am speaking from the traditional viewpoint.

Cold smoking would be no heat at all just smoke. It is the drying process used for making Lox. What you are doing is really called Kippering when you use heat and smoke. The brine cures the meat and preserves it. The smoke adds flavor and a bit of cure and traditionally kept the bugs off. The heat speeds up the cure process by drying the meat out. Having a smoker at 160 degrees and completeing the process is 4 to 6 hours is really cooking the meat with a smoked flavor and defeats the purpose of the brine.

Hot smoking or kippering should be smoked to 150 degrees. Cold smoking or Lox style should be smoked at 80 degrees. Not sure what you're saying about brined fish smoked at 160 defeating the purpose of brining. Brine is not only used for curing but for flavor. My Hot smoked or kippered fish would not be the same at all without the brine. It will also have a longer shelf life with the brine. Most all commercial smoke houses smoke both ways and they brine the fish with both smoking methods. Check out Ed's Kasilof Seafoods site for more details....you might learn something. http://www.kasilofseafoods.com/Smoking.htm

I'm not sure I would feel safe about eating a piece of fish that took 24 hours to dry, good golly! I have seen carp lay on the bank on a 100 degree day in August and let me tell ya, it's nothing I'm gonna eat. I was always under the impression that in order to kill potentially harmful bacteria it's important for the meat to reach 160 degrees, is this not true? The fish I smoke generally takes around 6-8 hours to finish and I suppose if this is technically "cooked" it's fine by me because it's delicious!!

RM

I have been using a little chief smoker for a number of years (like 20). My element burned out. For less than the cost of a replacement element, I picked up a single burner hot plate. Set it up in there. My salmon takes right at 8 hours to smoke to perfection. Venison jerky about 6 hours. I have built a wooden box smoker, but have not caught enough fish this year to load it up, so have not finished it. I can put two of the little cheif racks inside, or lots of my own trays. Will use two hot plates in it. A buddy made it's twin at the same time cause his little chief was dyin' and he knew he wanted to get the hotplate anyway. He has been using his with great success.

Lots of ways to git er done.
Hope yours works.

Steve

RR, Correct if you want cooked fish. Commercial smokers are required to meet certain temps for the health dept and liability reasons. You can cook it up any temp you want if thats what you like. The brine acts as a diuretic and reduces excess water in the meat helping the drying process called curing. It also preserves the meat and adds flavor. I make salami and cure it and smoke it at 42 degrees. Its primarily pork. So don't get hung up on the bactria or parasite fears. Ever eat Sushi?

sushi is frozen first to kill any parasites and then served in restaurants. "fresh" sushi is not usually available.

I cut out an area of cardboard where the pan enters the smoker to avoid having paper within 12 inches of the element. Otherwise paper doesn't burn until 450+ degrees and the Big Chief is around 160 degrees. It's just as important to keep wood chips cleaned off the bottom of the smoker so the fire won't "trail out of the smoker". I also do my smoking inside a disconnected garage to minimize risk to my house.
....However the topic started related to the Big Chief smoker and as such I believe it was designed to hot smoke fish. I can't find my booklet but as I recall it describes how you must bring up temp to around 150 degrees to bind the proteins. This is hot smoking. It also describes how you can cold smoke with a Big Chief by putting wood blocks on the top of the smoker (with the lid off) and setting the rack on top of the blocks over the top of the smoker with the box over it. This is cold smoking.
After Big Chief smoker elements get older and/or due to cold weather the same temps cannot be reached without providing an insulating blanket to conserve available heat.
All I really know is that my Big & Little Chief smokers have been putting out out some kick-arse smoked fish for more than 20 years. Standard equipment for a fishing addict.