Anyone cold smoking bacon?

[Wildhogfd]

I'm thinking of giving it a go, but have a few questions.

Can I or should I use a uds, or build a vertical fridge setup (nice excuse for another smoker)?

Should I purchase an AMNPS?

How well does sliced bacon keep?

Thanks for all your help everyone.

[Skidder]

Your UDS will probably work.I cold smoked mine in a WSM what I used was a coffee can with holes poked in it with 3 briqs and a few slivers of wood every hour or so and it took 7 hours total. I kept the smoker just under 100 degrees the whole time. I vacuum sealed and freeze mine. http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q64/Skidder1/thanksgiving044.jpg

[nmayeux]

What he said. I use my BSKD and build a small fire with cherry or apple if I have it, and shoot for that 80*-100* range. However, I don't store sliced, but find it really easy to slice right out of the freezer. Also, I only leave in the smoke for a couple of hours. I don't have any regular bacon pics, but here are a few of my British bacon...

[Soulman1282]

No offense, but under 100* for 7hours seems like a long time in the danger zone. I know it's cured and all but... I did mine at about 180* for 4-5 hours until it hit 150* internal. I think to truly cold smoke it you need the fridge smoker and do it at like 45* or below. I sliced mine, portioned into meal size bunches, wrapped in plastic, and then in foil to prevent freezer burn. Seems to keep pretty much forever! Good luck!

[Phrasty]

Cowgirl does some awesome cold smoked meats. She has an actual smoke house she made. I believe the details of the smokes and the smokehouse are all on her blog. Check em out.

Cowgirl's cold smoked bacon (http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2011/12/smokehouse-cold-smoked-bacon.html)

Cheers

[cowgirl]

I cold smoke bacon. Pork fat renders at temperatures of 85 degrees F and above. I cold smoke below that (usually at 65 degrees) to keep the bacon from "warm" or "hot" smoking, thus cooking the meat.

Properly cured meat is safe to cold smoke for hours. I cold smoke larger hams for days.
Here's an old post on some cold smoked bacon...
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53606

It's tasty stuff and you have so many more options on how you want to cook the bacon later.

Good luck!

[Wildhogfd]

Thanks for all the help guys.
Is there anything to keep temps down when cold smoking, I live in the south and it stays pretty warm round here.

[Wildhogfd]

Anyone?

[gtr]

I've seen folks putting tubs/trays of ice in their cookers to keep temps down. Bluetang lives in FL and he does a lot of charcuterie, including cold smoking - I think its his pix I've seen with the ice.

[Phrasty]

I use full pans of ice in my smoker as well. :thumb:

[Wildhogfd]

Ok awesome, I'm trying to pick up an up right freezer, use an amnps, sound like a good setup?

[bluetang]

Here is the one I did with the ice. It was a long smoke and a lot of ice!
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112917

[Divemaster]

Ok awesome, I'm trying to pick up an up right freezer, use an amnps, sound like a good setup?

If you are looking to smoke in the freezer, I would avoid anything that had plastic sides. All you need is a little extra heat and it's done for... If you are going to use the amnps, why not use your uds?

[Wildhogfd]

Well if I use the freezer I can reline anything with some sheet metal thats no prob. I'm looking to do about 4 bellies at a time so the uds would be too small.

[thull]

Thanks for all the help guys.
Is there anything to keep temps down when cold smoking, I live in the south and it stays pretty warm round here.

I'd try to go smaller with your heat source over adding ice to the smoker. That said, I'm just realistic that I'm not trying to smoke cured salmon or cheese from May to Oct. There's something about being seasonally appropriate with it.

I've had pretty good luck with a hot plate and pan of chips for cold smoking. The hot plate is ~1500 W, and I picked up a cheap, small cast iron skillet at the Lodge outlet (there's one down the road in Commerce, GA if you need an excuse to go).

I built a cold smoker out of a re-purposed Henny Penny holding cabinet (my one CL score). If I put the hot plate in the bottom, I can run at 120F to 140F in the cabinet (~130F is where Rytek Kutas' book suggests to smoke bacon). I've done andouille and a pork rib roast this way. Both were cured, and I did take the rib roast in and cooked it more in the oven at 180F after smoking.

I can also put the hot plate in a Smokey Joe with a dryer duct to the cabinet and run pretty much at whatever the ambient temperature is.

This is working pretty well for me. One thing I've seen with trying to run at 180F to 200F in my BBQ smoker is that it stays very moist inside and I don't get good coloring like I do using the electric heat setup.

[cowgirl]

Thanks for all the help guys.
Is there anything to keep temps down when cold smoking, I live in the south and it stays pretty warm round here.

Like the others said.. ice trays do work well. One of my friends in Florida set up a mister above his smokehouse. He says it lowers the house temp by at least 15 degrees F. :-D Before I built my smokehouse I used the trench and barrel method to cold smoke.

. (~130F is where Rytek Kutas' book suggests to smoke bacon). ..

Yes... Kutas recipe calls for a combination warm/hot smoke.. He does not cold smoke.

Heres a little bit of info if anyone is interested... Mods feel free to delete this link if not allowed. :thumb:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/meat-smoking/cold-smoking

[thull]

Like the others said.. ice trays do work well. One of my friends in Florida set up a mister above his smokehouse. He says it lowers the house temp by at least 15 degrees F. :-D Before I built my smokehouse I used the trench and barrel method to cold smoke.



Yes... Kutas recipe calls for a combination warm/hot smoke.. He does not cold smoke.

Heres a little bit of info if anyone is interested... Mods feel free to delete this link if not allowed. :thumb:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/meat-smoking/cold-smoking

Thanks for the link. I picked up that book (Marianski) somewhere along the way also. Haven't looked at it in a while.

I'd be concerned that the swamp cooler method has limited applicability in the SE. Too much humidity for a big chunk of the year for evaporative cooling to be effective.

I don't have the capability (yet) to smoke for really extended periods of time, so running in that middle range for 4-5 hours has worked for me well. I'm also not going for shelf-stable bacon, either. I did a batch of bacon a long time ago and cold smoked it for ~12 hours or so, and it got smoky but didn't pick up the coloring at all.

[KnucklHed BBQ]

You could still use the UDS for 4 bellies - just grab some "S" hooks and hang them below the rack

http://www.homebutcher.com/images/S%20Hooks.jpg