# Researching pork belly to bacon



## Oursmokinghobby (Jul 9, 2019)

i have spent the past couple hours researching the forum about bacon.... hoping to prevent any costly mistakes with our first try. 

We have a Smoke Hallow 38202G Vertical. 

We purchased a nice pork belly (12 pound) at Costco we would like to turn into a simple bacon. Maybe a salt pepper garlic flavor profile. 

I need to purchase the recommended Tender Quick and can then start the curing process. 

What we are having trouble finding is if our smoker goes to a low enough temp to low smoke getting the final step of the smoked bacon process complete. We have read temps ranging from 86 degrees to 120 degrees. 

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.


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## drunkenmeatfist (Jul 9, 2019)

I also wanted to start making my own bacon so last week I started this recipe. I smoked it yesterday. I chose to use my Pit Boss since it could hold lower temps, but the lowest it got was 175. 

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2002/10/lynnes-breakfast-bacon.html


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## SmokinVOLfan (Jul 9, 2019)

I cold smoke all of my bacon after it is cured. Check out the AMNPS pellet tray. Sit it in your smoker...don't even have to turn the smoker on and get about 11 hours of steady smoke out of it. Here's a pic some I have going in my smoke vault with the AMNPS tray rolling with apple pellets.


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## JC in GB (Jul 9, 2019)

I hot smoke my bacon at 190 - 200 degrees F and have gotten great product with no issues.  As with all things BBQ, you need to ignore what others consider a success and concentrate on what you want the finished product to be. 

I use Disco's dry brine, hot smoked, bacon recipe most of the time.  It gives great flavor and is a simple and straight forward approach.

As far as flavorings go, I would try at least one slab of sugar/salt/cure bacon before experimenting with flavors.

My $0.02....

JC


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## OldFartFarmer (Jul 9, 2019)

you have a link to Disco's dry brine method ?


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## BigW. (Jul 9, 2019)

Here you go...and then some.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/discos-posts.282215/#post-1902558


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## zwiller (Jul 9, 2019)

Welcome!

So many ways to make bacon and so little time.  +1 to Bear's and Disco's bacon threads.  Also check out Pop's brine: no need to use math or scale.  I found this a bit easier in the beginning.  I prefer mine cold smoked a long time (24hrs).  Hopefully you see it in your research but the common cure rate is 1/4" per day thickness.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 9, 2019)

Oursmokinghobby said:


> i have spent the past couple hours researching the forum about bacon.... hoping to prevent any costly mistakes with our first try.
> 
> We have a Smoke Hallow 38202G Vertical.
> 
> ...




That recipe you followed was not curing long enough---4 or 5 days is too short.
Depending on how thick your Belly is, it should cure for 8 to 14 days.
If you want to use Tender Quick, and you can get temps between 100° and 130°, then the following Step by Step should be your "Huckleberry".
It shows you everything you need to know:
*Bacon (Extra Smoky)*


Bear


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## bill ace 350 (Jul 9, 2019)

Check out Pop's Brine.  easy, nearly foolproof for bacon.


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## daveomak (Jul 9, 2019)

Purchase a needle valve and install it between the regulator and burner...  That will allow for a reduced propane flow and cooler temps in the smoker....  
Then modify your burner to handle the lower propane flow...  
You can plug up to ~75% of the holes....


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## rexster314 (Jul 9, 2019)

Use this calculator and with Cure #1. Digging Dog Calculator. You'll never go wrong and easy to figure different weights of pork belly. I also use it for figuring cure for canadian bacon. I don't have room for Pop's brine, although I have used it a couple of times for pork butt/buckboard bacon. Follow the amounts religiously and you can add whatever else seasonings you want. Bellies will be ready in 7 days, or you can go longer. My ratio is perfect as I don't have to rinse them for excess salt. I do close to 200 pounds of pork bellies each month this way, then cold smoke in my MES 40" smokers using the AMAZEN smoking tubes.


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## chopsaw (Jul 9, 2019)

JC in GB said:


> you need to ignore what others consider a success and concentrate on what you want the finished product to be.


Smoking hobby , until you figure out what to do and how to do it , I would ( and did ) listen to any and all opinions and methods . I have tried them all . They all work , they are all good , and they are all different .


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## JC in GB (Jul 10, 2019)

chopsaw said:


> Smoking hobby , until you figure out what to do and how to do it , I would ( and did ) listen to any and all opinions and methods . I have tried them all . They all work , they are all good , and they are all different .



Agreed.  I didn't mean that As broadly As it may have sounded.  I am speaking more of things like is brown sugar better  than white sugar, what kind of  smoke is best, that sort of thing.
As long as you follow safe handling guidelines you should be fine.


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## chopsaw (Jul 10, 2019)

JC in GB said:


> I didn't mean that As broadly As it may have sounded.


I know you didn't . I understood the point to your comment .


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## Oursmokinghobby (Jul 11, 2019)

SmokinVOLfan said:


> I cold smoke all of my bacon after it is cured. Check out the AMNPS pellet tray. Sit it in your smoker...don't even have to turn the smoker on and get about 11 hours of steady smoke out of it. Here's a pic some I have going in my smoke vault with the AMNPS tray rolling with apple pellets.
> View attachment 400153



Thanks for all the helpful tips. We’ve noticed that many on here mentioned the AMNPS. So before investing another question? When you cold smoke with this am I understanding correctly that the outside air temperature needs to be cooler as well? Not like our recent PA temps of upper 80 degrees outside?


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## Oursmokinghobby (Jul 11, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> That recipe you followed was not curing long enough---4 or 5 days is too short.
> Depending on how thick your Belly is, it should cure for 8 to 14 days.
> If you want to use Tender Quick, and you can get temps between 100° and 130°, then the following Step by Step should be your "Huckleberry".
> It shows you everything you need to know:
> ...



Thanks Bear. We like the the sounds of your recipe for a first time try. However we haven’t tested the smoker yet to see if we can reach the very low temps of 100-130 degrees. That’s on our list for this weekend. So after testing for temps then we will begin the curing process. We will share pictures too. Thanks again everyone!


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## zwiller (Jul 11, 2019)

When I was lurking before joining I was convinced people were "shilling" the AMNPS since Todd the owner was a member.  However the thought of 12hrs of TBS were enough to convince me to try one and as they say the rest is history.  Love that thing and it is definitely a big part of my success.  It does takes some getting used to.  Temps for bacon are hotly LOL debated but I think summer temps are doable.  Leave the smoker off.  Also, you want to run dust for cold smoking.  Pellets burn hot and add heat, dust doesn't.  I make my own dust using a grinder but there are other methods.    

Rich, I seem to recall you prefer TQ dry cure for bacon or?


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## SmokinVOLfan (Jul 11, 2019)

Oursmokinghobby said:


> Thanks for all the helpful tips. We’ve noticed that many on here mentioned the AMNPS. So before investing another question? When you cold smoke with this am I understanding correctly that the outside air temperature needs to be cooler as well? Not like our recent PA temps of upper 80 degrees outside?



With Cheese yes you gotta smoke at lower temps just because it will melt. If you are doing bacon slabs you will be fine even if its 80 outside. Grab a few cold ones and let the smoke roll


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## disco (Jul 11, 2019)

The reason you are getting different temperatures are there are different techniques. I have tried all and they all give a great but slightly different result. You can cold smoke only with an Amazen'n product. You can double smoke by cold smoking, let the bacon sit overnight and then hot smoking. You can just hot smoke. I suggest you try one from a trusted source. Then try the others and make your choice. Don't worry, all 3 will be great, you are just choosing your preference.


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## Oursmokinghobby (Jul 11, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Purchase a needle valve and install it between the regulator and burner...  That will allow for a reduced propane flow and cooler temps in the smoker....
> Then modify your burner to handle the lower propane flow...
> You can plug up to ~75% of the holes....
> View attachment 400155
> ...


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## Bearcarver (Jul 11, 2019)

zwiller said:


> When I was lurking before joining I was convinced people were "shilling" the AMNPS since Todd the owner was a member.  However the thought of 12hrs of TBS were enough to convince me to try one and as they say the rest is history.  Love that thing and it is definitely a big part of my success.  It does takes some getting used to.  Temps for bacon are hotly LOL debated but I think summer temps are doable.  Leave the smoker off.  Also, you want to run dust for cold smoking.  Pellets burn hot and add heat, dust doesn't.  *I make my own dust using a grinder but there are other methods.    *
> 
> Rich, I seem to recall you prefer TQ dry cure for bacon or?




Since retiring, I have found that if you sit around long enough, without moving much, you can collect your own Dust.


Bear


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## Oursmokinghobby (Jul 11, 2019)

daveomak: not sure if adding a needle valve is possible with our setup or might already be installed. Hubby has been in the HVAC industry for 30+ years. His man cave garage is set up with a propane in floor boiler system, bathroom, tv/stereo theater system, etc. Our regular family gatherings average 50 people. So his garage can be quickly converted to a party area within an hour notice. So he took the existing propane tank and added ???whatever it all is??? so that not only does he supply his garage but it runs both the smoker and gas grill or gas turkey fryer (which is used more for boiling corn on cob) any two gas appliances at the same time. He can switch out whichever appliance he is using at the time. I will share your input though as I am sure he would understand exactly what you mean. We should know better what our smoker can do after running some more test temperatures in the low areas. He also modified our smoker when we purchased it to prevent wind blow out of burner and excess smoke escaping from around both doors.


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## Norwester55 (Jul 12, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> Since retiring, I have found that if you sit around long enough, without moving much, you can collect your own Dust.
> Bear


It helps if you sit in front of a fan, otherwise you have to stand up and shake once in a while.


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