My Favorite Fish Brine  ( preparation for smoking fish )

  My favorite fish brine came from experimentation of mixing many things that taste good.  And from buying commercially smoked fish that tasted just like salty shoe leather. I think you'll like this if you follow it closely.
 I start off with a clean 5 gallon crock or plastic food bucket. Use one or the other that has a lid. Add 1 gallon of water and 1 gallon of apple juice. Include 2 cups of non iodized pickling salt and 6 to 7 cups of brown sugar.  Add 1/4 cup of ground cinnamon and 1/4 cup of ground cloves. Dice up one whole sweet onion and add 1/2 cup of malt vinegar.  Add one tablespoon of soy sauce and one tablespoon of worchestershire sauce.  Stir all the ingredients together untill the salt and sugar have dissolved.
 This is enough brine solution to brine ten pounds of fillets. I generally add fillets of trout or salmon to this brine that are cut to Hand Size Fillets or sometimes the whole side fillet of fish until I have just enough room to close the lid on my crock or plastic bucket.  I do keep this refridgerated and stir this about every 4 hours for a minimum 24 hours and sometimes up to 48 hours.
 Afterwards I rinse each fillet lightly under cold tap water and then place on an oven rack to air dry for 4 to 6 hours. This step is a must as a thin glazing forms across the fish called " a pellicle". This is a sticky glazing formed by the air drying process which is necessasy to properly smoke cure fish. It's not recommended to skip this process.   I use two different types of smokers when smoking foods.  An electric smoker is real consistent and leaves my smoked foods moist and never burned.  A charcoal smoker that I have has a good sized water pan that also leaves my food moist but burns hotter and takes less time to acheive the same results as the electric smoker.  Either one you choose I think you'll be pleased with the flavor. I use fruitwoods when smoking fish and poultry and sugar maple, hickory, or mesquite for pork chops or ribs.  You can also substitute white zinfendale wine for the apple juice. You can speed up the pellicle process by using a small diameter oscillating fan blowing lightly over the top of the fish, and end up with the same results.  Follow this and you should be fine.