# Any way to tag bellies?



## alblancher (Jan 8, 2011)

I picked up 5 bellies from the butcher the other day and intend to do a communal smoke with some friends.   I'll have to weigh them before I put them to cure and want to know if anyone has any ideas about keeping them identified through the cold smoke process.

I'm just going to ask my friends to pay for the cost of the greenbacon so I would like to be able to tag them with the precooked weight.

Any ideas?    Would sharpie marksalot on a piece of plastic cup with a tiewrap work?  I've seen soft metal tags that when you write on them with a hard sharp object it leaves an indentation but they would have to be stainless to handle the cure.

Thanks for your help

Al


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## fpnmf (Jan 8, 2011)

Is the skin still on? If so carve a letter or number in the skin.


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## alblancher (Jan 8, 2011)

Hadn't thought about that.  Sounds like a great idea.  Do you think that carved number will still be there after 12 days of dry cure and 14 hrs in a smokehouse?  Should be.

Thanks,

Al

I hang bacon in the smoker with stailess steel wire so I leave the skin on, its also easier to remove after smoking.


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## scarbelly (Jan 8, 2011)

You could always cure them in separate containers and mark the container. Then when you are smoking use 1 -5 paperclips in the skin to identify them


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## eman (Jan 8, 2011)

You just tell me the weight and i'll pay you for it.

 I like sweet bacon but i think that can be accomplished during the smoke instead of the cure?


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## Bearcarver (Jan 8, 2011)

Bacon? Did I hear Bacon????

Don't worry about marking them!

They're all mine!--mine!!--mine!!!!!!

Ahahahaha, mine mine!!

Hey what's this!!!----who are you?? Leave me [email protected]#$%^&*

Sorry, Bear finally lost it---They just took him away.

Mrs Bear


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## fpnmf (Jan 8, 2011)

alblancher said:


> Hadn't thought about that.  Sounds like a great idea.  Do you think that carved number will still be there after 12 days of dry cure and 14 hrs in a smokehouse?  Should be.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> ...


I would scribe it after the rinse. The skin is coming off so I might just dry it off and use the sharpie on the skin.


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## mballi3011 (Jan 8, 2011)

Al I would just cut o hole with a knife the you can buy some different color zip-ties and that way everyone will know who's is who's.


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## alblancher (Jan 8, 2011)

Eman,

Get with me about what you want to do to add the sweetness.   I was planning on weighing and  starting them in the cure Monday,  Wed re-stack and do a little massage, Friday rub in the remaining cure, add a bit more salt, some sugar and re-stack.   That makes the following Tuesday a heavy sugar day.  Friday before I go to the farm I'll rinse off the cure, do a taste test for salt, soak if needed and do another heavy sugar dust.   That way we have a good day for the bellies to rest before going in the smokehouse. Do you want to do a final sugar rub Saturday before they go in the smokehouse or how about  a jar of honey to rub in before the smoke?  I have about 65lbs of belly and they will have to be cut so I can fit them in the containers and fridge.  That's why I need to weigh and mark them.   I believe I paid $ 1.89 lb for them. 

Bear,

It's cold in Pennsylvania, come on down the weather is fine and we got room for you!

I bet I could buy a cheap soldering iron and burn a number into the rind of each piece.  Does that sound workable?


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## alblancher (Jan 8, 2011)

You guys are creative,  different color zip ties.  Hadn't thought about that.  I'll have about 10 pieces I need to keep track of.  Interested in finding what kind of weight change we have.


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## DanMcG (Jan 8, 2011)

The soldering iron idea is interesting, Let us know if it works if you try it. I also like marks idea for the color coded zip ties, just log the color tie and the weight, and if you run out of colors just start another batch with 2 ties ....That Mark is one smart feller


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## Bearcarver (Jan 8, 2011)

alblancher said:


> Bear,
> 
> It's cold in Pennsylvania, come on down the weather is fine and we got room for you!


HB,

Your talk of Bacon was too much for the Bear. 

The men in white coats took him away.

It was just a matter of time.

Sorry,  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Mrs Bear


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## bill in mn (Jan 8, 2011)

You can always do what we do on fishing boats make cuts in the fish (bacon) 

1cut on the head is yours.

1 cut in the tail is yours

1 in the head 1 in the tail

2 in ... well you get the idea

I have seen boats with 20+ people and we all knew who's was who's and when we caught a fish the 1st mate would ask you your cut ,worked great.Bill


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## alblancher (Jan 10, 2011)

I decided on the tie wrap method to identify the cut bellies. I tried branding them with a solder iron but I was able to dampen the mark and rub most of it off with my thumb.  Didn't want to depend on the brand mark for a long cure time.



















Tucked in and ready for a nice long nap in the spare fridge.

Put away 65 lbs 1 oz of green bacon  Ended up with 5 bellies and cut them in half to make them more manageable and so they would fit in the fridge.   I'll rub in the remaining cure, flip them, add a little extra salt on Thursday.

Al


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## Bearcarver (Jan 10, 2011)

Looks like a good way to identify them Al.

Wouldn't just the colored ones be enough?

You must have a reason for using both---just wondering what it is.

Curious Bear


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## alblancher (Jan 10, 2011)

10 bellies 4 colors plus neutral  need to double up on them somehow and I have a bunch of neutral to use as base tag.  Five single tags, neutral, orange, yellow, blue, green and 5 double tags,  neutral+red, neutral+blue, neutral+green, neutral+yellow and neutral+neutral

You wife let you out of the time out lounge?  Last I heard you where running around the house screaming  BACON,  BACON, need more BACON!


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## Bearcarver (Jan 10, 2011)

alblancher said:


> 10 bellies 4 colors plus neutral  need to double up on them somehow and I have a bunch of neutral to use as base tag.  Five single tags, neutral, orange, yellow, blue, green and 5 double tags,  neutral+red, neutral+blue, neutral+green, neutral+yellow and neutral+neutral
> 
> You wife let you out of the time out lounge?  Last I heard you where running around the house screaming  BACON,  BACON, need more BACON!


I'm OK now. They took the jacket that buttons in the back off of me, fed me a pound of Smoked Bacon, and sent me home. I think they were full up, and didn't have a spare padded room. All I needed was a Bacon Fix! I'm fine now.

You gotta get more colors. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I got so many different things in my freezer, I put them all in their own plastic shopping bag.

Then I take different colors of electrical tape, and put big strips of it on both sides of each bag.

Then I have a Master list beside the freezer, with what each color has in it.

I have about a dozen different colors of tape. I get them free.

Every tower or cell phone site my son builds needs colored tape to color code the sectors, cables, & antennas.

The cell phone companies furnish all of the materials, and they always give him at least 4 times as much tape as is needed.

He always takes care of old Dad!

Bear

On Edit:  Some of my tape supplies:


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## alelover (Jan 13, 2011)

Looks like you have a lot of hobbies there Bear. Nice storage area.


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## Bearcarver (Jan 13, 2011)

alelover said:


> Looks like you have a lot of hobbies there Bear. Nice storage area.


Thanks,

I built that set-up for my son's shop, including a good sized pipe rack at the one end. I got twice as much storage room by the "in & out" method in the picture, and it provides plenty of support for his big loft above.

When he was a kid, I let him play with most of my tools. Now he lets me play with most of his, and he has more & bigger tools, like skid steers & fork lifts.

I think I made out in the deal !  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


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## beer-b-q (Jan 13, 2011)

How about making a small branding iron out of wire and branding the skin...


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## meateater (Jan 13, 2011)

Toothpicks........just remember your number.


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## alblancher (Jan 14, 2011)

I tried that with a soldering iron but I was able to wet it and rub the burn mark of with my thumb.  Unless you burn down deep enough to make a divit in the skin I would be afraid that the curing process and smoke will make a brand hard to find.   If you burn the skin out you may as well use a knife and cut marks into the skin as Bill in MN mentioned

Al


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## Dutch (Jan 14, 2011)

Al- glad you got the tagging issue figured out.

Back when we used to do custom smoking of hams and bacon, we used metal tags that were stamped with a number. The customer's name was put in the cure book along with the tag number and the green weight of the ham or bacon. The tag was afixed to the meat with a tag hook and sent back to the smoke room. The meat would then be pump injected with the pickling cure and then placed into barrels containing more pickle solution. Our 2 smokehouses were each able to handle 150 lb of bellies and about 250-300 lbs of ham.


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## pops6927 (Jan 14, 2011)

What kind of smokehouses did you use?  Dad's were gas-fired Koch, about 8' tall, 6' x 6' square.


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## pops6927 (Jan 14, 2011)

We used to brand all our pork with an electric branding iron with interchangeable letters and numbers.  We kept a chart, similar to your curing book, listing each customer's products brought in, assigning code numbers, then branding each piece into the skin.  In the 70's however, skinning hogs vs. scalding them became much more fashionable and we had to resort to skewering each piece with butcher twine (30 ply) and attaching metal-rimmed cardboard tags that would not disintegrate in the brine, then used indelible ink to write the code on each.  When magic marker Sharpies came into being, we just knew someone invented them just for us, lol!


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## alblancher (Jan 14, 2011)

Did you write directly on the pork skin?  I would imagine not  because of the dampness.

If you use 5 different colored tie wraps (neutral, red, blue, green, yellow) and use up to two tie wraps per belly you have 31 possible combinations.   Way more than I need.  The colored tie wraps where pretty cheap at Home Depot.

Al


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## pops6927 (Jan 14, 2011)

Pops6927 said:


> *.... we had to resort to skewering each piece with butcher twine (30 ply) and attaching metal-rimmed cardboard tags that would not disintegrate in the brine*, then used indelible ink to write the code on each.  When magic marker Sharpies came into being, we just knew someone invented them just for us, lol!


No, we wrote the tag codes on the metal-rimmed cardboard squares with Sharpies and used a meat needle to skewer the tag into the pork w/30 ply butcher twine.  A meat needle is:







As you can see, you poke it through the ham or belly or hock or shank, thread butcher string or twine though the eye of the needle and pull it through, then tie a knot in the string after attaching the tag.


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## Bearcarver (Jan 15, 2011)

And nobody in the shop stood around doing nothing, as long as Pops had that thing in his hand !


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