Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hehehehehehehe

Harvested 3 of the 4 fish from the purge tank tonight - in preparation for the smoking experiment tomorrow. I harvested the 3 smallist ones. Turned out that 1 was a Jade (was pretty dark when I netted them the first time) and 2 were silvers. Weights were as follows:

Jade: 489gms (399 gilled, gutted and scaled)
Silver 1: 396gms (339 g,g & s)
Silver 2: 360gms (294 g, g & s)

Reason for the major variation in whole weight to gilled, gutted and scaled weight is that the fish were all carying major fat deposits in guts. Bit of a waste really. Gotta wonder why the native feed has as much fat in it as it does, given that so much ends up in gut deposits.

I scaled the 2 biggest fish, but left them on for the third to see what difference it makes in the smoking process. I will salt the fish in the morning (early) and start the smoking at about 11am with the intention of having them for lunch. Les is coming over to share in the experience. It will very much be a hot smoking process - I will use the general pricipals laid down in C1's post in the smoking thread.

I don't have very high hopes for the first effort, but lets cross fingers. They will all be smoked whole. Maybe next time I'll try doing fillets and use a moist brine - rather than dry salt - in the brining process. Here is a pic:

PS - see the difference in the shape of the jade when compared to silvers. Jade is actualy shorter - but quite a bit heavier.

nice one veggie

size and shape differences are very evident aren't they. Have fun today

Smoking went well for a first effort. Some lessons learnt that will come in handy for next time.

I salted the fish with a mixture of cooking salt, mixed dry herbs, bit of garlic powder and some brown sugar first. I had this mix on the silvers for 3 hours and the jade for 4 hours (on outside and in gut cavity).

Put 15 heatbeads in each of the 2 bead holders (the good size genuine heatbead brand briqs). I was reluctant to use more than this because I thought the bbq may end up too hot and cook the fish too quickly thereby not allowing it to smoke properly.

As it turned out 15 briqs on each side was a good choice. It kept the bbq at about 180 degrees, which worked well. I used the savory herb wood pellets (oak, oregano, rosemary & thyme), following the directions provided. Directions stated that the pellets (contained in the aluminium foil pocket that I made up per instructions) should last for 30 minuted. Unfortunately it lasted to much less time (say 10 or 15 minutes) but during that time produced heaps of smoke. It may be that the hole I punched in the pocket was too big (about size of a paper hole punch hole). To try and make the smoke last longer next time - I'll try just making the hole a lot smaller. If that doesn't work, then the time after I will raise the pocket off the heat a bit.

After the smoke stopped, I was tempted to add another pocket, but didn't in case we ended up making the fish taste too smokey.

Ended up cooking the fish for about 45-50 minutes.

It tasted very nice - but would have been better if exposed to more smoke. The flesh around the rib cavity, which was exposed to more smoke due to it being thin and also was more effected by the salting process, tasted distinctly different to the thicker parts of the fish. I would say that these parts had a nicer flavor and therefore more smoking would have been a good thing. But then again, a whole fish tasting like this may not have been favoured by the end (might have been a bit much). For use on crackers, or to make dip or anythign like that - I'd definitely try to get the fish more like the taste of the thin portions.

Anyway - this was the first try and I'd say it was a success.

yay!

...the SP tasted delicious vb, thanks for lunch

...I think it lacked a little heat, next time invite Steve over with his flame thrower

somehow never did get around to grading the barra that I went across to help you with - talked about it a lot tho in between liquid sustenance

SP and JP are a good fish for smoking - first thing I did on returning was to dig out the webber and check my supplies of heat beads - some of my SP may not last until xmas now

I'm dribbling...ooops, wet jeans...well, I am 50 now.

Sounds great!! The fish I mean, not SNAG's jeans.

I still have problems eating my fish..... Like eating your dog. Even with 500 of them in the tank. Oh well.

Silver Perch for dinner tonight - me and my 2 children to share the one fish, so will be fairly small portions. The fish is 500 grams gilled and gutted and has been purging since I pulled the ones out to smoke (3 weeks I think). Will fillet and crumb, because this is the way the boys like it. Lovely sized silver, 35cm long. They just don't hold as much weight as the Jades.

Am pretty sure this silver was a female and had eggs - which I would have thought strange given no hormone injections or anything. Will post some pictures of the gut contents sometime to see what you all think regarding the existence (or not) of eggs).

Don't forget to photograph the kids enjoying their home grown fish for us!

Told you I'd be there next weekend, not this weekend VB

vb, quite normal for the female to have eggs in her gut, she just won't spawn. Silvers reabsorb these. Quite normal also for the males to be full of milt. They just have fairly specific spawning cues as a species, from what I have read.
The hormone injection provides the hormone necessary to facilitate spawning. Of itself it does not make them fertile, it just gets them 'over the line.'