# Cold smoked bacon - Smoke times?



## Ginslee

Hi everyone, 

I recently bought a secondhand Bradley Digital smoker + the cold smoke attachment. For my first smoke I dry-cured a pork belly which needs a few more days to go. Since I haven't smoked anything on the Bradley I have no idea how strong the smoke is and how long I should be smoking the bacon. I've come across people saying 1-3 days but not using a Bradley. 

Does anyone have any experience with the Bradley and bacon? I'm looking to achieve that nice reddish color on the bacon and my plan was to use a combo of Apple + Cherry. 

thanks!


----------



## Bearcarver

I get Great color & flavor from about 11 hours in my MES with Smoking Temps of 100° to 130°.
So figuring it takes 2 to 3 times as long when Cold Smoking, I would say if I was going to Cold Smoke Bacon, I would go 22 to 33 hours.
And as long as you're using only a light to medium smoke, I would just go for about 30 hours, if Cold Smoking.
IMHO, that could be 3 days @ 10 hours each day, or 30 straight hours, if the Ambient Temp allows that.
Mine:
*Bacon (Extra Smoky)
*

Bear


----------



## Ginslee

Thanks Bearcarver, over on the Bradley forum they advise 4-6 hours. Maybe I'll try two days of 6 hours! Although I believe the smoke from the bradley pucks are a bit heavier than what your would get using pellets.


----------



## Bearcarver

Ginslee said:


> Thanks Bearcarver, over on the Bradley forum they advise 4-6 hours. Maybe I'll try two days of 6 hours! Although I believe the smoke from the bradley pucks are a bit heavier than what your would get using pellets.




You won't know until you try it.
However Don't forget:
Many hours of Light to Medium Smoke is a Good Thing.
But Even a Short time of Heavy Smoke can be a Bad Thing.

Bear


----------



## daveomak

I generally cold smoke my bellies for 6-12 hours using the dust I get when I break down pellets...  The dust burns cooler by about 20 deg. F keeping the smoker cooler...  Also, the dust being less dense, the #'s of actual wood burned is less per hour giving a very fine smoke which, I think, penetrates the meat much better...  the outside of the belly does not get dark and smoke covered but the flavor penetrates the meat...
Temp. theory or observation...











belly smoked <70 deg. F for many hours...






This bacon is dry rubbed using 2% salt, 1% sugar and 0.25% cure#1...  ~12 days cure, 2 days cold smoke (6 hours per day), then 1 week rest in the refer to bloom..  on a wire rack no wrap...

....


----------



## Ginslee

Very interesting Dave. I actually used your percentages for the dry cure. The only big difference will of course be that I will be using the Bradley smoker which I believe cannot be compared to using pellets(dust). I will see how this turns out and maybe setup a A-MAZE-N AMNPS in the Bradley if this first smoke doesn't turn out to well.


----------



## Ginslee

Hey Dave,

Wonder if you had any advise on the following. So the belly has been curing for 8 out of the 10-12 days and it's pretty firm all over except one of the corner tips feels fairly soft.

Should I just let it go to day 10-12 and not worry about it or add more salt to the soft area? The fridge has been running at 36.68F by the way.

thanks!


----------



## daveomak

I'd let it go for as long as you can..   I would turn the slabs every couple days.. The stuff you put on the meat will find it's way to pretty much every nook and crannie...  Give the meat a rinse under cold water then dry to form a pellicle prior to adding smoke..
This is a pork loin I did a couple days ago...   Nice pellicle before smoke added...
..........


----------



## JZ_Focus

I typically cold smoke my bacon for about 10-12 hours.  I use apple wood pellets in an amazn tray which i have in a mailbox below my MES30.


----------



## marc1980augrad

OK, maybe I'm missing something.....I cured 2 pork bellies in a modified Pop's brine for 2 weeks.  I semi cold smoked it for 12 hours at 140 until internal temp reached 130ish.  It smells great, but when I cook it, it tastes like I'm licking an ash tray.  I used my MES 30 with an AMNPS in a separate container (Walmart grill) and pipe the smoke in. Vent was full open on smoker and smoke was blue and thin.  I had done this previously with no heat and went 24 hours.  That was even worse.  Is it the pellets? Too much smoke? Or do I just not like smoke flavor as much as I thought?  This may sound crazy, but I'd really like to make bacon that tasted like what I buy in the store....help?


----------



## Bearcarver

marc1980augrad said:


> OK, maybe I'm missing something.....I cured 2 pork bellies in a modified Pop's brine for 2 weeks.  I semi cold smoked it for 12 hours at 140 until internal temp reached 130ish.  It smells great, but when I cook it, it tastes like I'm licking an ash tray.  I used my MES 30 with an AMNPS in a separate container (Walmart grill) and pipe the smoke in. Vent was full open on smoker and smoke was blue and thin.  I had done this previously with no heat and went 24 hours.  That was even worse.  Is it the pellets? Too much smoke? Or do I just not like smoke flavor as much as I thought?  This may sound crazy, but I'd really like to make bacon that tasted like what I buy in the store....help?




Sounds like you did most things about like some of the methods.
However you didn't mention "Pellicle". Did you get a proper pellicle before adding smoke?
Pellicle is the Dry Tacky surface you get through numerous methods, such as:
Putting it in front of fans for a couple hours.
Putting it in the smoker without smoke for an hour or two (at about 130° or so).

Without a pellicle the smoke can hit the wet surface & the smoke & wetness can turn into an ashtray-like tasting mess.

Bear


----------



## marc1980augrad

No....I did blot the meat dry with paper towels, but I did not purposely get a pellicle before smoking.  But, would this really affect the INSIDE of the meat?  I sliced the bacon pretty thin, so not much exposed surface per piece.  In reading, I have seen where maybe my intake vents aren't open enough causing incomplete combustion?  Next time I'm going to have as much air coming to the pellets as possible, form a pellicle, and stop at 3 hours. We'll see how that turns out.


----------



## Bearcarver

marc1980augrad said:


> No....I did blot the meat dry with paper towels, but I did not purposely get a pellicle before smoking.  But, would this really affect the INSIDE of the meat?  I sliced the bacon pretty thin, so not much exposed surface per piece.  In reading, I have seen where maybe my intake vents aren't open enough causing incomplete combustion?  Next time I'm going to have as much air coming to the pellets as possible, form a pellicle, and stop at 3 hours. We'll see how that turns out.




Now it sounds like it is at least partly you, because I can't think of anything that will make the "INSIDE" of the meat taste like an ashtray.
And if you really have thin blue smoke, you shouldn't have to cut it down to 3 hours. Thin blue should be good with 10, 20, or 30 hours.
IOW-->Many hours of Thin smoke is good, but only a short time of Heavy smoke can be bad.
So Yes---Get a good pellicle, and open your vent, or whatever your smoker needs to get air flowing (Incoming & venting).
Then let us (Me) know what happened.

Bear


----------



## Ginslee

So I removed the belly from the fridge today and rinsed it with water. Then I cut off a piece and fried it. The salt/Sugar levels seemed fine although the smell is more of a piggy smell than the bacon smell that I'm used to(factory bacon). Other than that it seems to taste ok, nothing special though. Does smoking bring out that real bacon smell?


----------



## daveomak

Yep, and the addition of heat brings out the pink color to the meat, more so than the lower temps....


----------



## Ginslee

I was planning on cold smoking it. But Hot smoking might be a better option?


----------



## daveomak

Ginslee said:


> I was planning on cold smoking it. But Hot smoking might be a better option?




Why is that ??

..


----------



## Bearcarver

Ginslee said:


> I was planning on cold smoking it. But Hot smoking might be a better option?




Try Splitting the difference, like I do: (*Warm* Smoke)
I smoke Bacon at temps between 100° and 130°.
That's high enough to put smoke on it twice as fast as cold smoking, Low enough to not seal the surface & not render any fat, and gets Great Color & Flavor in 10 hours or less.
The Best of 2 worlds.
Like this:
*Bacon (Extra Smoky)*

Bear


----------



## Ginslee

daveomak said:


> Why is that ??
> 
> ..



That's actually a good question. I think the main reason is that I don't believe factory's or butchers that make bacon around here(EU) Hot smoke it. Other than that I don't really have a good reason. I guess I just started reading cold smoke threads first.. But I would think the only reason for hot smoking is safety concerns. But I will be trying both to see which turns out better. 



Bearcarver said:


> Try Splitting the difference, like I do: (*Warm* Smoke)
> I smoke Bacon at temps between 100° and 130°.
> That's high enough to put smoke on it twice as fast as cold smoking, Low enough to not seal the surface & not render any fat, and gets Great Color & Flavor in 10 hours or less.
> The Best of 2 worlds.
> Like this:
> *Bacon (Extra Smoky)*
> 
> Bear



Yes, what I did was I split the belly into 2 parts. I'll try the cold smoke method and your method. I might not have time to do the second method tomorrow. Would it be ok to freeze the belly and try the hot smoke method in 2 weeks or so?


----------



## daveomak

Safety concerns...  Back in the '50's, all bacon came in slab form at the butcher's shop...   It was all cold smoked...  They sliced it for you while you watched.... 
Anywho, you cook it before you eat it...   I bake my cold smoked bacon...
Curing in the refer....





In the oven....


----------



## Ginslee

I will try both Dave! Thanks for the tips so far


----------



## Bearcarver

Ginslee said:


> That's actually a good question. I think the main reason is that I don't believe factory's or butchers that make bacon around here(EU) Hot smoke it. Other than that I don't really have a good reason. I guess I just started reading cold smoke threads first.. But I would think the only reason for hot smoking is safety concerns. But I will be trying both to see which turns out better.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, what I did was I split the belly into 2 parts. I'll try the cold smoke method and your method. I might not have time to do the second method tomorrow. Would it be ok to freeze the belly and try the hot smoke method in 2 weeks or so?




I never froze cured Belly before Smoking.
It's been discussed here in the past, but I don't remember the concensus. Dave probably knows the results, and can tell you. I think it might screw up the cure, but I'm not sure.
Or you can freeze it before curing, and then cure & smoke that one in 2 weeks.
That would be Fine.

Bear


----------



## pugsbrew

marc1980augrad said:


> OK, maybe I'm missing something.....I cured 2 pork bellies in a modified Pop's brine for 2 weeks.  I semi cold smoked it for 12 hours at 140 until internal temp reached 130ish.



I think we need the REAL definition of cold smoking here.  I'm not understanding the quote of "semi cold smoked.......at 140".  140 is above any cold smoking numbers I have seen.


----------



## daveomak

Marianski: His smoking temp defeintions..
Cold Smoking
Cold smoking at 52-71° F (12-22° C), from 1-14 days
Warm Smoking
Continuous smoking at 73-104° F (23-40° C), from 4-48 hours depending on the diameter of the meat, humidity 80%, and medium smoke.
Hot Smoking
Hot smoking is the most common method of smoking. Continuous smoking at 105-140° F (41-60° C), 0.5-2 hours


----------



## thebigman65

I have tried both methods....cold and hot smoking and much prefer cold smoking.  I use 1 tbls of MTQ and 1 tbls of Brown sugar per pound of belly (you can add some garlic, pepper, or whatever if you like also) and dry cure in vacuum sealed bags (turning every day) for 14 days.  Wash off the cure and let dry overnight in the refrigerator.  Then I use the Amazn tray with pellets and smoke it for 10 hours. Then back in the refrigerator over night and smoke it again for another 10 hours.  Turns out awesome!.  I only do bacon in the spring and fall as I want to keep my temp in the smoker at 70F-75F.


----------

