# dry aging cold smoked bacon at room temperature?



## solman (Feb 27, 2019)

i'm researching how to do my first bacon, and was reading up on "bricans" method of cold smoking and dry aging bacon. my initial plan is to cold smoke it for 16 hours over several days, and hold in the fridge between smokes. 

after the cold smoking, i was planning to hang it in a part of my house where the temperature fluctuates with the outside temperature. it being winter, it's around upper 40s to lower 60s. my plan was to dry age it at least 7 days. as winter is coming to an end, the outdoor temperature may start to rise, so at what temperature should i start to get worried and move the bacon to the fridge to continue dry aging?


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## daveomak (Feb 27, 2019)

If the smoker temp is below 60-70 deg F, no need to move it to the refer...  I don't see where you are at in your profile...
I hold mine in the refer, on a wire rack to age and dry out...  I cure it on a wire rack also..  
Bacon should be a ambient temp, smoker temp, so condensate does not form on it while the smoke is added... 
I cold smoke below 70 F..
You can wrap in butcher paper, non waxed, to slow the drying process....  I use the peach/pink made in USA paper Amazon has...  I refuse to use the made in China paper from recycled paper...  USA only....  FDA approved paper....


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## solman (Feb 27, 2019)

i'm in northern va. ten day weather outlook shows it's creeping up to the mid 50s by middle of march. so my storage room temp should remains below 70 easily for another month at least. assuming one week cure, one week equilibrium, a few days to smoke, then another week to dry age open air in my storage room, if i start beginning of march it should be done before april.


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## chef jimmyj (Feb 27, 2019)

I'm not familiar with Brican's process but with the exception of smoking, all steps through the drying, should be accomplished at 40° or less. The Cure #1 lets you smoke at temps from 40 to 100 or store above 40 for about 7 days. But it IS NOT designed for a long drying process over 40°F. Another problem with curing and drying meat by somebody else's procedure is, Temp is not the only variable that must be maintained. You also need to know the Humidity level Brican dried the bacon at. Too dry and the surface gets so dry, the interior does not dry enough before the meat sours. To high a Humidity and Spoilage Bacteria and bad Mold can rot the meat before it dries. This is the reason guys use Temp/Humidity Controlled Curing Cabinets.
Options:
1) Get more specific details including how long the bacon was Smoked, too little can be an issue dry preserving the meat and measure your rooms environment for a match.
2) Follow a procedure that you can easily match like DaveOmak's Refer Bacon.
3) Take a chance and hope the bacon dries sufficiently to not spoil before the room temp gets more than a few degrees over 40.
4) Wait until next year when it Will be <40° the whole time and the season change is not so close and unpredictable. Rainy Weather is your enemy.
5) Build a Curing Cabinet and make anything you want, Bacon, Ham, Salami, Lonzino, any time you feel like it.
Just some things to think about...JJ


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## solman (Feb 27, 2019)

looking at some of his posts, i think he aims for 60F temperature with 50% humidity. looking for total weight loss of 15%. and cold smoked over 3 days, 8 hours per day.

i'll aim for 24 hours of cold smoke too, then try to dry age in my storage room a minimum of 4 days, and keep a watch on the temp and humidity to see if i can go longer on the dry aging.


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