Smoked salmon brown sugar/course salt ratio?

Looks like the old school traditional wet brine is dead. Not one mention of it anymore. #wetbrinesmatter. Lol

I’ve tried a bunch of these and they all work fine. The only thing for sure is we all have different tastes and one must experiment to get it to YOUR liking. Some like it salty, some don’t. Some like a tough smoke, some like a more moist finished product... I like to add a maple syrup glaze at the end of the process. Experimentation until you get it dialed in to your own liking is what you must do. Have fun!:D
 
I just have the little chief, so even though heat rises, the trays near the burner are hotter, so I need to rotate them, which lets the heat out. Internal temp of 140 or so. I didn't smoke for the whole time (6 + 8 hours total time for the 2 batches). Winter time I need to leave it in 18 hours sometimes. I like it dried out and jerky like some days, so the tail pieces get that way. I prefer the moist thicker pieces, which are still plenty smoky for me. As mentioned, it's a matter of getting dialed into your preferences and smoker system.
 
I just have the little chief, so even though heat rises, the trays near the burner are hotter, so I need to rotate them, which lets the heat out. Internal temp of 140 or so. I didn't smoke for the whole time (6 + 8 hours total time for the 2 batches). Winter time I need to leave it in 18 hours sometimes. I like it dried out and jerky like some days, so the tail pieces get that way. I prefer the moist thicker pieces, which are still plenty smoky for me. As mentioned, it's a matter of getting dialed into your preferences and smoker system.

Thanks for the reply. I deleted the original message and started a new thread since i didn't want to derail the current thread.
 
sorry if this has been asked before, but do you use the same brine for cold smoke as well as hot?
 
I went with a third less salt this year.
I did 6 full sides plus a few other pieces.
1 bag light brown, 1 bag dark brown, 1 bag demerara, 2 cups course salt.
24 hours in dry brine for the thin pieces, 48 hours for thicker, both batches dried for 10 hours.
I used a tube made of ram board with a box on top to keep the heat in the little chief, but the bigger pieces smoked for 11 hours in about -7C.
IMG_20221208_181935976.jpg
 
I'm new to smoking. I've tried twice at the cabin so far in the Little Chief that is up there. The first time wasn't edible. This past weekend turned out much better, but it was a little too smokey for me as we had Hickory and Mesquite chips up there that seem to be more suited for beef or pork. I'll pick up some Alderwood for the next batch.

Quick question --> Clint's calls his brine a "dry brine" but the fish is clearly in a brown soupy mix. What constitutes a dry brine if that is not a wet brine? I thought dry brine would be just salt/sugar and no water.
it's only dry to start with-the sugar /salt starts drawing out the water from the fish and turns it into a wet mixture-you then remove the fish --stir it up so everything is dissolved and put the fish back into the what is now a wet brine
 
it's only dry to start with-the sugar /salt starts drawing out the water from the fish and turns it into a wet mixture-you then remove the fish --stir it up so everything is dissolved and put the fish back into the what is now a wet brine
Thanks for the reply spring fever. I posted that in 2017. I got her pretty dialled in now haha.
 
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