White Smoke? What the Heck is White Smoke?

[dave from mesa]

Got around to making my first bacon. Did Pop's brine. Did a mailbox mod and used the AMNPS with hickory pellets. Drilled two 3/4" holes in the mailbox front.

Cold smoked for about 10-11 hrs and then put it in a ziplock bag and put it in the refer. Next day went out and looked at it and smelled it and don't really like the smell. Want to smoke it again but don't want white smoke.

Never been able to take a pic of the smoke before as I that always be thin blue smoke. Finally got smoke that I could take a pic of and it's white. 

What am I doing wrong? Too hot not hot enough or what. Really hate to waste 2+ weeks of work and waiting.

Didn't use any heat at all except to first start it to get the smoke going. Weather was a little warm as my Maverick went up to 90 deg but not sure that had anything to do with it.

Will try again tomorrow to add more smoke if I can get this figured out.

FullSizeRender.jpg

• dave from mesa
• Jan 31, 2015

thanks

dave

 

[daveomak]

Smoke looks good......    Did you thoroughly dry the bacon and form a pellicle on the meat, first.... was the bacon warm or still cold from the refrigerator...   Sounds like it may have been wet and smoke and water make an acid like acid rain causing an acrid, bitter flavor....

 

[Bearcarver]

Did you get a Pellicle on it first???

You shouldn't be able to make enough smoke from an AMNPS lit on one end, to be too much smoke.

If there was no pellicle & the surface of the meat was wet, the smoke could land on it & turn into bad tasting stuff.

Bear

 

[daveomak]

  .... What Bear said... 

 

[Bearcarver]

 

  .... What Bear said... 

LOL----If we both got the same answer---There's a good chance we're right.

Bear

 

[dave from mesa]

Took the bacon out the day before and dried it with paper towels and left it in the refer overnight. Not sure what Pellicle looks like. Put it in cold.

This pic was taken 6-7 hrs into the smoke.

Did light the AMNPS only at one end. 

2 days before I did ribs with this setup just as a test and got TBS.

So tomorrow should I take the bacon out and let it come up to temp before I put it in the smoker?

thanks

dave

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Took the bacon out the day before and dried it with paper towels and left it in the refer overnight. Not sure what Pellicle looks like. Put it in cold.

This pic was taken 6-7 hrs into the smoke.

Did light the AMNPS only at one end. 

2 days before I did ribs with this setup just as a test and got TBS.

So tomorrow should I take the bacon out and let it come up to temp before I put it in the smoker?

thanks

dave

I personally never had a problem with cold meat, as long as it had a pellicle.

I would first try to wash the surface of the Bacon with warm water.

Then put it in the smoker without smoke for 2 hours with about 130° of heat.

Or put it in front of a fan for a couple hours.

Either of these two ways should get you a Pellicle.

Then I'd try smoking it again. I use that same 130° for smoking, but once you get a pellicle cold smoking should be OK too.

Bear

 

[dave from mesa]

So if I got that bad tasting stuff on it should I not bother to try and smoke it again or will washing it maybe remove the bad taste?

Only did a 2# piece to try the first time so it wouldn't be a big loss to toss it if it is gonna taste nasty. May taste it to see if the salt is right tho. 

Used Pops but only did everything at 3/4 instead of 1 cup. Used 1 heaping tablespoon of pink salt.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
So if I got that bad tasting stuff on it should I not bother to try and smoke it again or will washing it maybe remove the bad taste?

Only did a 2# piece to try the first time so it wouldn't be a big loss to toss it if it is gonna taste nasty. May taste it to see if the salt is right tho. 

Used Pops but only did everything at 3/4 instead of 1 cup. Used 1 heaping tablespoon of pink salt.

I never had this happen to me, but I'm hoping washing it will get rid of the bitter taste on the outside.

Then you start over, by getting the pellicle first & re-smoking.

If it doesn't work, I'd try to cut the surface off.

Or Chuck it & start over on the rest.

Bear

 

[mr t 59874]

The  price we adventurist sometimes pay for our education.  As this was your first bacon and you most likely will be making it and other products for years to come, let's start out by taking smaller steps.

First and most important, learn how to keep good note's of the entire process.  Start by noting the product preparation prior to smoke/cooking. Then record the type, species and amount of wood.  You also want to record type of smoke generator used, internal, external, etc.  Record the color, density and length of time that smoke is applied along with the finished results such as color and taste.  You may then learn to smoke to a desired color rather than time.  

You will find that smoking times will vary depending on the color and density of your smoke.  Your mailbox setup looks great for producing cold smoke.  Now all you have to do is to learn how to use the smoke that it produces and in time you will learn how to even adjust that.  The advantage of using the mailbox type generator is that it produces what I refer to as a much cleaner or smoother smoke by removing much of the smoke residue prior to entering the smoke chamber containing the product.

I personally cold smoke my bacon in the neighborhood of 72 continuous hours to get my desired results, but this is using a very, very pale blue smoke at ambient temperature.  Looking at your smoke output, I would start smoking no more than one hour and make adjustments from there in your next smoke.

Personally I disregard any mention as to how long to smoke a product if it doesn't include the type of wood, color and density of the smoke.  Over the years, I now basically use four different smoke generators each having its own purpose.  Smoke may be applied to liquids for as little as a few seconds to days for some meat products and everything in between.  Now is the time to be patient and learn. Increase your smoking options as you go.

You may find the following helpful, glean from it what you want.  Understanding Smoke Management - updated 12/08/14

Hope this helps,

Tom

 

[wagdog]

 
I personally never had a problem with cold meat, as long as it had a pellicle.

I would first try to wash the surface of the Bacon with warm water.

Then put it in the smoker without smoke for 2 hours with about 130° of heat.

Or put it in front of a fan for a couple hours.

Either of these two ways should get you a Pellicle.

Then I'd try smoking it again. I use that same 130° for smoking, but once you get a pellicle cold smoking should be OK too.

Bear

I've started doing the same thing Bear is mentioning here with putting it in the smoker with no smoke until the surface is dry. Works well with bacon and even catfish if you are so inclined. 

 

[mr t 59874]

Follow-up to post ten.

Dave, You have a very nice set-up there.  Don't know if you would want to use the following or not to learn more about it without any expense.  At least it would give you a reason to make some smoke.   New to smoking or have a new smoker?

Tom

 

[dave from mesa]

Thanks Mr T. Will be reading that.