# Bacon Issue



## motoman3b (Sep 15, 2011)

So I recently gave bacon a try, and after many problems, I think its come down to I just got a bad piece of meat, I started with about 7 pounds of skinned belly that had an unusual amount of fat all along the bottom of it (1/2" thick atleast)  The problem was no matter what I tried I always got a funky creosote taste in the bacon,  I even ordered an amazing pellet smoker and tried that still had the problem and I just got off the bottom layer of fat and it tasted great after that.... 

Just kinda puzzled what was going on, did it possibly not get cured well enough and was going rancid during the smoke?  Or was it just soaking up too much smoke, anybody have any ideas?  Thanks


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## alblancher (Sep 15, 2011)

99 times out of 100 if you have a creosote taste it is improper smoking.  You may not be venting the smoke well enough to keep it moving over the belly instead of stuck hanging on the belly


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## tjohnson (Sep 15, 2011)

Are you hanging the belly or laying it on a shelf?

Is the AMNPS directly under the bacon?

Cold Smoking or with heat?

Type of smoker used?

It could be that the smoke is rising up and deflecting off the underside of your bacon.

Just a thought

Todd


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## motoman3b (Sep 15, 2011)

The bacon was cold smoked, using my smoke hollow smoker (added intake holes and a 3" stack out the top)  The pellets were off to the side and the bacon was laying flat.  I think maybe it was an issue with smoke being trapped under the bacon or something....  Next time I'll try hanging it vertical and I might even use my larger smoker, just used my small one cause my larger one is in my processing barn,  I definately dont think it was a venting issue as the 3" stack was always flowing nice looking smoke


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## alblancher (Sep 15, 2011)

You can always build a rack to hang the bacon on and place a cardboard box over the bacon and smoke generator.  This will give you as much room as you need, you can cut the vent holes as you need.   In my experience it is hard to get a slab of green bacon to hang vertically in a smoker unless it is designed specifically to do that.


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## Bearcarver (Sep 15, 2011)

The only thing I can think of is maybe you didn't get a good pellicle started first.

If you're going to add a little heat, it's easy. Just put it in the smoker with a little heat for an hour or two, without any smoke. The meat will get dry & tacky on the outside, and will be ready to take smoke. If you don't do this, the smoke will get slimy & wet & taste like creosote.

If you aren't going to add any heat (cold smoking), you can't use this method. You will have to put it in the fridge uncovered overnight, or put it in front of a fan for an hour two. This should get a pellicle formed & you should be ready to smoke.

I'm betting this has been your problem.

Bear


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## motoman3b (Sep 15, 2011)

The pieces sat in the fridge atleast 24 hrs to form pellicle, the last one was like 3 days,  It was definately dry on the outside


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## motoman3b (Sep 15, 2011)

I've also never had any cresote problems in the past with anything I've smoked, just was really looking forward to some great bacon and kinda frustrated that after so many attempts (I cut the pieces and smoked about 5 different times trying to get it right after the first batch was totally too strong) The apple for 10 hours of smoke was good once I cut the smoked side of the fat layer off so I'm leaning towards it needed to be hung vertical or put in a bigger smoker


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## Bearcarver (Sep 15, 2011)

motoman3b said:


> The pieces sat in the fridge atleast 24 hrs to form pellicle, the last one was like 3 days,  It was definately dry on the outside




Hmmm, after reading all of the earlier comments, that was the only thing left in my bag, that wasn't already mentioned.

I'm stumped!

Sorry,

Bear


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## jeff 1 (Sep 18, 2011)

How far was the bacon from the smoke source?  Did you place a baffle between bacon and smoke to keep the bottom from getting hit directly with all the smoke?  I have always hung mine and had a baffle using the amzn smoker in my vertical brinkman.  I can hang 4 peices of half slab and I have done them for as long as 20 hours with no problem.  I am thinking the bottom was taking all the direct smoke.  place something between your smoke source and the belly so the smoke just rolls around it


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## tjohnson (Sep 18, 2011)

I vote the bacon was catching the smoke on the underside.

TJ


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## woundedyak (Sep 24, 2011)

TJohnson said:


> I vote the bacon was catching the smoke on the underside.
> 
> TJ


I agree with TJ. I did a batch once and had the smoke about 6-8inches directly under the belly and poor ventilation. It tasted exactly how your clothes smell the next morning after sitting next to a campfire all night.


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## Bearcarver (Sep 25, 2011)

Woundedyak said:


> I agree with TJ. I did a batch once and had the smoke about 6-8inches directly under the belly and poor ventilation.* It tasted exactly how your clothes smell the next morning after sitting next to a campfire all night.*


LOL---Mine usually smelled like "Here Is My Heart", but it got chilly during those nights.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Bear


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## fpnmf (Sep 25, 2011)

What curing method did you use?

I always lay mine flat on the racks.

I have not had a bad taste issue yet.













Good luck!!

  Craig


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## Bearcarver (Sep 25, 2011)

fpnmf said:


> What curing method did you use?
> 
> *I always lay mine flat on the racks.*
> 
> ...


Yup---Same here (I always lay mine flat), but my AMNS or AMNPS is below my empty water pan, more than 6" to 8" below. Don't know if that means anything.

Two different Bacon Smokes (One cold--One Warm):













Bear


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## roller (Sep 25, 2011)

I am not a bacon expert having only done it once and it came out great but I say to much smoke for to long. Are you lighting both ends of your AMAZN and are you stacking the pellets to the max in it ? And as Al said you got to have good venting...


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## motoman3b (Sep 26, 2011)

I just used a regular morton sugar cure for about 8 days, It wasnt too close to the smoke either about 20" away,  going to give it another try sometime and try hanging, do you guys let your bacon come up to room temp after forming the pellicle in the fridge?


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## pops6927 (Sep 26, 2011)

I would guess it was because there was nothing between the naked belly and the smoke.   You said it was a *skinned *belly.  There was no drip pan or water pan between.

In your pics, Craig, you're smoking skin side down and then removing the skin.  In your's Bear there is a pan baffle between.

If you are allowing the smoke to go directly into the meat horizontally and then flow over the meat directly, the absorption will be much greater.  If you leave the skin on then remove it you will reduce your absorption, or better yet use a drip pan and allow the smoke to deflect off it first, tempering the particles.  If you imagine a candle burning you will see at the tip, black smoke followed by flame.  You want to dispell that black (creosote) smoke to allow the flame with lighter smoke to permeate.

By removing the initial layer of fat subjected to the direct smoke the bacon was fine; that was your baffle.  

In the future, see if you can have a drip pan in between your meat and your smoke source or leave the skin on and remove it afterwards so that the smoke is not going directly to the meat itself; it's being deflected and the initial particle burn is not being directly absorbed.


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## daveomak (Sep 26, 2011)

Pops6927 said:


> I would guess it was because there was nothing between the naked belly and the smoke.   You said it was a *skinned *belly.  There was no drip pan or water pan between.
> 
> In your pics, Craig, you're smoking skin side down and then removing the skin.  In your's Bear there is a pan baffle between.
> 
> ...


Pops, Now I know why some of my stuff tasted bad... I had better quit experimenting and stick to proven stuff....

     There I go, learning something else today... Thanks...


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## Bearcarver (Sep 26, 2011)

Makes good sense Pops---Should be one or the other.

Thanks for the input !!!

Bear


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## eman (Sep 26, 2011)

To add one thing to what Pops said,  The skin is alot easier to remove after smoking than it is when raw.


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