Smoker

I want to learn how to smoke fish. What kind of smoker would be good to learn on? I’d like to keep it under $300 until I know what I’m doing.

I have a Bradley that I’ve done some salmon and walleye on…worked good…cold temps can be tough to maintain a constant temp but it worked good

I have a Masterbuilt electric, they go for ~ $200. Have used it regularly for 7 years without issue. The coldest temp I can set it at is 125F, so not good for cold smoking. I “cold smoked” some salmon by keeping the door open an inch or so, winter temps help with that.

I’m old school and like my Charcoal/block wood smokers the most. However, temp control is more difficult and they take a lot of babysitting to stay consistent.

As mentioned in some other threads about smokers, is watch out for under sized wood chip holders/boxes. Frustrating that on large and xtra large smokers, you get a whimpy little chip box that is ridiculously small.

I just bought a gas smoker to serve as an outdoor oven as well another smoker. I bought the Dyna-Glo DGW1904BDP-D 43″ Wide Body LP Gas Smoker and so far I’m pleased with it. Plenty of room, duel burners, and pretty simple temp control on it. Was $241 on Amazon

I’d say if your new to smoking, a digital electric is pretty easy to run. I like it for the convenience, and do a good job. As Randy said, the wood boxes can get small, I typically fill mine a couple times while smoking. I run a Master Built as well, it does a good job and was not terribly expensive.

Since this thread is talking about smoke fish… I have always wanted to try to make some smoke fish but was told if I smoke fish in my smoker I will taste the fish in other things I smoke later. Is this true? Or is this only true for oily fish?

Bunk Tuma. If you’re worried about the next round tasting fishy, just add some chips of pellets to the smoker and close it up with nothing in in it for a little while to cover it up. I don’t do a thing with my smoker and go right from Lake Trout to pork the next time and all I taste is smoke. Too many fussy people out there.

Link to old recipe thread on smoke fish.

smoking walleye

Wish I had some fish to smoke.

Be sure to clean the racks and do a high temp empty smoke to rid the chance of fishy future smoked food. I put a piece of foil on a rack under my fish to catch drippings.

I run a masterbuilt 40” electric way more now than I do my wood-fired smoker. You can get 30” models for around $200-250.

You can set the temp quite low on them, like 85-90 on mine I think.

I’ve cold smoked a lot of bacon and chipotles on mine with an A-maze-n pellet smoker sitting in the bottom. Then you don’t even need to run the heat on the masterbuilt unless it’s really cold out. Also, you can get a solid 12-16 hours of smoke on a pound of pellets, eliminating the need to be adding chips all the time.

I swear I don’t sell the A-maze-n, I just absolutely love it. This is one of those rare products that is exactly everything it is proclaimed to be. Plus I’m pretty sure they’re made in MN!

I could sing their praises all day. PM me if you have anymore questions.

Here’s some buckboard bacon I just finished a couple weeks ago

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A better recipe thread

smoking fish question

I have a Bradley, and added an Auber PID Can keep temps within 2 degrees. You can find a Bradley under 300 if you look around. Got mine for 250.00 Service is good also. Replaced my door when damaged in a storm for free.

i found a bradley on the side of the road in someone’s trash. the door was busted off and it was filthy. i fixed it with 2 dollars in parts. i think the heating element might have some issues but i use it as my cold/low temp smoker. does fish and cheeses really well.

Regularpaul wrote:

I swear I don’t sell the A-maze-n, I just absolutely love it. This is one of those rare products that is exactly everything it is proclaimed to be. Plus I’m pretty sure they’re made in MN!

They are. My cousin and her husband are the owners.

I have a Masterbuilt digital electric 30” with their optional external smoke generator. Tons of online forums and info about this inexpensive smoker and recipes to learn from. For $200 you can get the smoker and generator if you shop a little. I can cold smoke cheese at ambient temps, and it held temp smoking outside at 0 degrees this winter. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to start.