I only ever brined salmon overnight once.
I never did cold smoke it though. Either you like it salty or like me it's your first run at it.
My brine was 4 parts salt to 1 part brown sugar I believe....it's been a while.
Now I run a 5 to 6 hour brine, it's not time it goes by feel, 2 hours to 3 on the pellicle.
I also used to smoke it way too long....Only cook to eat, not any cold smoke at all......what you are making is usually tasty for sure.
this was a 2# salmon or so.
the recipe is:
3/4 cup sugar - i break this up 50/50 between unbleached sugar and dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pickling salt (mortons green box) - not kosher salt (kosher salt, Morton's, this recipe then goes to 3/4 cup morton's kosher salt)
white pepper to desired amount
cracked black pepper to desired amount
1/4 cup dried dill
combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
apply 50% of dry brine mixture to flat side of salmon and gently rub/push into the salmon. then do the same on the front side (non-spine side) of salmon. if you rub too hard, you'll be sandpapering your salmon; don't do it like that. a gentle rub/pat/press into the flesh is the technique.
place in an airtight container (meaning closed container not exposed to circulating air of the fridge) and fridge for 24 hours.
remove from fridge, rinse off all brine and then place salmon on rack and then onto tray and place in fridge for minimum 4 hours to develop pellicle.
then leave fish on rack and place racked fish on grill, or a very confined container and cold smoke it for 90 minutes. cold smoke means don't light any coals, just light your pellets (which I use nd have found best/easiest to use to cold smoke salmon). I use maple pellets only for this lox. I use this CSG (cold smoke generator
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N3QG4QL/?tag=tvwb-20)
when 90 minutes are done, wrap the smoked salmon in plastic wrap, tightly, and fridge overnight. this helps mellow the smoke flavor and allows the smoke flavor to settle into the flesh better.
then slice to your desired thickness.
the only parts that are more salty to the taste are the belly portion and the tail portion. otherwise the flavor profile is quite balanced and you get a great bite and taste of smoked salmon.
i've worked on this recipe for over a year+ to get it to this stage and I, along with many taste testers agree, this rivals some of the best lox you can get in NYC (think Jewish appetizing like Zabars or Russ and Daughters).
the pics below are post smoking and then sliced into a container for enjoying. the salmon picks up a lot of color post-smoke and rest.