Need Help - Looking for Smoker for Fish

My neighbor and buddy is a prominent seafood supplier here in Charleston and is looking to buy a smoker dedicated to smoking fish for customers. He wants the ability to hot smoke and cold smoke and needs a smoker large enough to put fairly big pans in. He's looked at a Viking commercial smoker here at a local restaurant (gravity-fed/stainless) and the guys running it swear it will cold-smoke out of the box. I don't believe it. Don't even think that's possible without some sort of tweaking. In my mind, an electric may be his best bet.

Thoughts? Anyone have experience here? When I say cold smoke above I'm talking about holding temps in the 100-120 range. Just don't think a vertical smoker fueled by charcoal and wood can do that without dry ice or something.

Thanks guys!

Hook_Line_and_Sinker said:

I have that smoker , and it may cold smoke out of the box with some considerations
Althought it is insolated outside temps will impact smoking temps
I did manage to maintain 100 degrees on a 50 degree night - it was the coldest I could get it - I made a jerky run that night so it was ok
With colder outdoor temps it may be able to get a lower smoking temp, but there is a limit as to how small a fire you could maintain. It is a stumps smoker design and stump owners could pipe in with thier experience.

You could always use a cold smoke tray, but with that any smoker could work!

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Is there something about the gravity-fed design that allows them to run cooler than my Pitmaker (which is a water smoker)? The fact that the fire box is offset? I'm just trying to figure out how you could get a smoker to run that low - i.e. 120 degrees without putting the fire out. I assume you're using a very small amount of fuel?