I'd read the Salmon U brining steps a few days ago, and indeed some of my questions were answered, but it also made me more curious. I already brine for 18-20 hours, and I know a lot of folks brine less, so I wouldn't think lack of brining time is an issue.

The Luhr Jensen manual says to air dry for an hour. I'd noted that Salmon U said longer. Of couse the problem I have is that I'm usually smoking on a weeknight and don't get home until 5:30 to rinse and start the drying. I dried for nearly two hours last night and didn't see much of a difference in tackiness after the first hour.

What I don't know yet is exactly what the cured flesh is supposed to look like to tell me that the pellicles have formed sufficiently. Should it just be lightly tacky, or should it have a thick glaze on it. One of the pieces last night had much more of a thick glaze to it, but others just looked more "sticky".

Re the heat in the smoker, now that I think about it, I guess there would be more heat at the bottom. I was thinking that the heat would rise and make the top hotter, like our upstairs has been all summer...

Thanks for the responses so far.