how many sockeye to fill a CHIEF?

[jjmoffett]

hey guys after the summer of SOCKEYE i have a freezer full and was hoping too load my big chief. does anybody know how many i should brine up to load it? i have five racks but have no clue how many to defrost. they all around the 5 to 7lb range and are filleted. any guesses would be appreciated. i was thinking 8 fish?

 

[tubber]

Can you just lay the frozen filets on the racks and eyeball it? That's what I would do. Also, I've been experimenting with brining for longer than overnight, so if you thaw too much you can get them in later and they will still be fine or even better. 7/8ths cup non-iodized salt, one cup brown sugar, 1 gallon water.

 

[Kildonan]

I did 4 at a time in my big chief, but could have done 5. I like to leave ample room around each piece on the racks so I kept it to 4.

It turned out delicious too. [] I ended up with 18 pounds of vacuum sealed smoked goodness after filling two big chiefs.