Bacon curing 911

[derag2]

So I checked my bacon thats in pops brine in my mini fridge out in the garage and at some point the top inch froze! I pulled out all the ice and dumped almost a gallon of more brine in the bucket. My 2gal bag of brine standing next to it get no ice in the bag. Should I just brine it a Couple extra days? I checked on Sunday with no ice. My garage is heated to 50 degrees and the fridge was set at like 39 degrees. I turned up the thermos stat. What do I need to do to keep going on the bacon. I flipped all the pieces over to put the slightly frozen ends in the bottom of the bucket.

 

[indaswamp]

Someone else might be able to help you better, but here's what I would do....

Thaw the ice then chill it to 38* and add that back to the brine. Continue brining the bacon. Put a thermometer in the fridge and keep it as close to 38*F as you can.

 

[pc farmer]

So you threw out the ice and added more cure brine. How long was it in the brine before the ice?

I suspect even thou you added more cure brine your still safe. Pops brine is very weak in cure. Just enough to get the job done. So even if you doubled the cure I say your still safe.

 

[derag2]

I pulled the ice out and mixed up a gallon per pops brine. Water 1tbs spoon cure and I did half cup of each sugar. I didnt add more salt because I dont like salt. The original cure brine did have the salt in it... I filled the bucket full...., it was in the brine for 4-5 days before it probably froze today was its 7th day total. Was looking to smoke it Sunday.

 

[indaswamp]

I'm willing to bet that the ice was mostly water and almost all of the salt and cure stayed in the remaining liquid and got concentrated. Adding more of pops brine just increased the concentration of both, but like pc farmer has said, you should be fine.

 

[desertlites]

Your fine a little ice won't hurt, warmer section of the fridge and leave it be.

 

[daveomak]

The meat will not accept cure below34-35F... Keep the temp around 38 and you'll be good to go... I'd raise the temp and add 5-7 days....
Also, when your brine freezes, it does not include salt in the ice... only water... Ice bergs in the ocean are water only.. the salt precipitates out of the brine... The ice "may not" include sugar and cure also... I don't know if it precipitates out, but a SWAG is, it does separate...

According to GOOGLE: "Plain water freezes at 32 degrees F, but when sugar, or salt, or other solutes are dissolved in it, the freezing point gets lower. This link says the standard 4:1 solution starts freezing at 26-27 degrees F." which is around - 3 C.

When you add sugar to water, the water (the solvent) becomes a solution (a solute dissolved in a solvent). Adding sugar disrupts the liquid state because sugar molecules move around aimlessly, making the liquid water molecules less organized. Sugar molecules don't pack together with water molecules, so when the water molecules start to freeze, the sugar molecules remain in the liquid water. When the water molecules create ice, the sugar molecules have a smaller volume of liquid in which to move.

What happens when you freeze salt water?
The reason has to do with the behavior of ocean water when it freezes. When salt water freezes, much of the salt is expelled from the ice or gets trapped in pockets of salty liquid water within the ice. Eventually, most of the salt makes its way into the water just under the ice.

Can you freeze salt out of water?
If the ice forms very quickly, however, the salt can get trapped in pockets in the ice. You probably know that salt water freezes at lower temperature than pure water. ... But if you freeze it too slowly, the water outside the cells forms freshwater crystals, leaving the unfrozen water with a lot of salt in it.

 

[Bearcarver]

All good Info above!
Curing longer won't hurt with Pops mix, because I believe it's an Equalizing mix.
The only thing I'll add is that this would be a good one to do a "Salt-Fry-Test" to.
When you finally pull it from cure, take a cut through the thickest point of the thickest piece.
Observe the color in that cut---Does it stay pink all the way to center, or does it turn gray in the middle.
If it stays Pink all the way to center, the cure got all the way to center.
Now take a couple slices & Fry them up, to see if it's too salty.
If you're happy with the flavor, Time to get your Pellicle & Smoke.
PS: You can also wait a couple days before smoking.

Bear

 

[derag2]

I have it set now at 39-40 degrees, it has been for a couple days. If I took it out and cut the thickest piece and it shows pink all the way it would be good? I may check a piece tonight. Id like to try smoking it tomorrow. Next weekend is pretty busy. The last time I left it in cure an extra week it was more like ham than bacon.....
Thanks for all the info so far.

 

[Bearcarver]

I don't like to go too deep into that kind of curing, because I Dry Cure with TQ.
I go by Thickness for how many days to cure. I'll let the Cure #1 masters of Brine curing help you.

Bear

 

[chopsaw]

I have it set now at 39-40 degrees,

Are you going by a therm in your fridge , so you know for sure what the temp is ?

 

[derag2]

Are you going by a therm in your fridge , so you know for sure what the temp is ?

I have a probe in the brine is how I'm getting the readings now

 

[indaswamp]

I recommend putting a probe on a rack in the frig. next to the brine container as well.

 

[Bearcarver]

If anyone is interested, below is how I keep my Curing Fridge exactly how I like it:
Curing Fridge Set-up (Bear's Method)

Bear

 

[derag2]

I have my probe in the bucket with my meat amd brine, and the monitor outside the fridge... Reads 39-40 when I turn on the monitor when I go out there. Similar to your method. I need to get a fullsize fridge out there instead of the mini fridge.