“BBBB”—Bear’s Buckboard Bacon (Pic Heavy)

[Bearcarver]

Hi Bear - I'm trying this recipe as we speak, and the meat has been in the fridge for about 6 days now. My concern is that there isn't a lot of juice - I made bacon a month or so ago, and there was a lot of juice in the bag. But with this, there is very little. I did vacuum seal this one - on the regular bacon, I just put that in ziploc bags. Is that the difference?

Each hunk of meat is different:
I've had some with a whole lot of juice, and some with hardly any.
They all ended up fine.
It's a little late now, but in the future you could add a couple TBS of water to the bag to help transport the cure & seasonings. That would be best done by the 2nd or third day, or sooner.
Also, when you do get a lot of juice, don't dump it out until the curing is completed.

You could also add a couple extra days for curing, and don't forget the Salt-Fry-Test, after curing, to check the center for color.

Bear

 

[old smokey nj]

Gotcha. I will keep the added water trick in my notes for next time. I'll let it cure for a couple days more than the planned 10 days. I do massage and flip it everyday to try to get the juices distributed - I'm sure it will be fine. I'll let you know how I make out. THANKS!!!!

 

[Bearcarver]

Gotcha. I will keep the added water trick in my notes for next time. I'll let it cure for a couple days more than the planned 10 days. I do massage and flip it everyday to try to get the juices distributed - I'm sure it will be fine. I'll let you know how I make out. THANKS!!!!

Perfect !!

Bear

 

[chopsaw]

. I did vacuum seal this one - on the regular bacon, I just put that in ziploc bags. Is that the difference?

Just a comment on the vac seal . I've done both ways , prefer to use just a zip lock when curing , vac for marinate .

 

[old smokey nj]

Just a comment on the vac seal . I've done both ways , prefer to use just a zip lock when curing , vac for marinate .

Thanks Chopsaw - I did think about that, and thought initially that vac seal might force the cure in better, but not sure if that line of thinking is accurate. I do like the thicker bag on the vac seal. Last time I made bacon, I got a small tear in the ziploc and that made massaging / flipping a bit trickier.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Not sure about your vac-seal but mine I can seal without doing the vac. Just saying so you can use the heavier bag.

Warren

 

[Bearcarver]

Not sure about your vac-seal but mine I can seal without doing the vac. Just saying so you can use the heavier bag.

Warren

Good point, Warren!!
I use ziplocks for curing, but when I use my Vac Sealer, I usually stop it when the blood or liquid gets close to the sealing strip, but I could stop that from sucking at any time, even before it starts.
Ziplocks work Great for me.

Bear

 

[old smokey nj]

Thanks Warren - I'll do that next time. I do like the heavier bags.

 

[nimrod]

i found out the hard way that the zipper type freezer bags can leak. They were OK until I turned it over and leaked in the fridge. Wife gave me heck over that that one. The vacuum bag just sealed solved that problem. Just my input...
Craig

 

[Bearcarver]

i found out the hard way that the zipper type freezer bags can leak. They were OK until I turned it over and leaked in the fridge. Wife gave me heck over that that one. The vacuum bag just sealed solved that problem. Just my input...
Craig

Yup, that can be a problem!!! A Vac seal bag can fix that.
I just make sure the Zipper end is higher than the rest of the bag, so even if it was open it wouldn't leave the bag.

Bear

 

[Fueling Around]

Thank you for your Service!
Proud and active member of Minnesota Beyond the Yellow Ribbon.

Wishing you God Speed on recovery.

 

[Bearcarver]

Thank you for your Service!
Proud and active member of Minnesota Beyond the Yellow Ribbon.

Wishing you God Speed on recovery.

Thank You Much!!
Appreciate that.

Bear

 

[Murray]

Plywood blocks the Sun from hitting the MES Heat Sensor, & confusing the electronics:

I had the morning sun shining on the right side and the controller. The right side was considerably hotter than the shade sides of the smoker. Was smoking BBB at 150F, the smoker ran as expected for about an hour then overran the 150F set point. Unplugged the MES30 and let it cool, restarted the smoker and still it would overrun the set point. Moved the smoker into the shed(100% shade) and the darn thing ran flawlessly for 5 hours. At no point was the sun shining in the door just on the chip loader side and the top(controller). I have been fighting this overrun issue pretty much since I’ve owned the smoker, this is the first time I’ve tried to run it in full sun.
Do you think the sun is my issue?

 

[Bearcarver]

I had the morning sun shining on the right side and the controller. The right side was considerably hotter than the shade sides of the smoker. Was smoking BBB at 150F, the smoker ran as expected for about an hour then overran the 150F set point. Unplugged the MES30 and let it cool, restarted the smoker and still it would overrun the set point. Moved the smoker into the shed(100% shade) and the darn thing ran flawlessly for 5 hours. At no point was the sun shining in the door just on the chip loader side and the top(controller). I have been fighting this overrun issue pretty much since I’ve owned the smoker, this is the first time I’ve tried to run it in full sun.
Do you think the sun is my issue?

The only time the Sun ever effects my MES is if the Sun is low in the sky (Fall, Winter, and Spring), and it manages to shine through the door window, and hits the sensor on the back wall, causing the MES to think it’s hotter inside than it actually is. Then it shuts the heating element off.

The sun shouldn’t cause your MES to overrun the set point, other than a few degrees above when it’s hot out, just like when it’s real cold out it will run farther below the starting set point before it starts rising.

So far I’ve never heard of the sun shining on the controller causing anything freaky, but maybe next time it happens, leave it in the sun, but put something up to shade just the controller just to see what happens.

Bear

 

[Murray]

The only time the Sun ever effects my MES is if the Sun is low in the sky (Fall, Winter, and Spring), and it manages to shine through the door window, and hits the sensor on the back wall, causing the MES to think it’s hotter inside than it actually is. Then it shuts the heating element off.

The sun shouldn’t cause your MES to overrun the set point, other than a few degrees above when it’s hot out, just like when it’s real cold out it will run farther below the starting set point before it starts rising.

So far I’ve never heard of the sun shining on the controller causing anything freaky, but maybe next time it happens, leave it in the sun, but put something up to shade just the controller just to see what happens.

Bear

Thanks, my son in-law drags his MES out in the middle of the patio in the summer months, full sun, and has no issues. Darn smoker works flawlessly for 2-3 smokes then out of the blue temperature overrun, thank goodness for high temperature alarm on my TP-08!

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks, my son in-law drags his MES out in the middle of the patio in the summer months, full sun, and has no issues. Darn smoker works flawlessly for 2-3 smokes then out of the blue temperature overrun, thank goodness for high temperature alarm on my TP-08!

Bear

That was why I noted (Fall, Winter, and Spring).
The Sun is to high in the sky in the Summer for the Sun to get on the Sensor on the back wall of the Smoker. I other words that particular cause never happens in the Summer.

How much above set temp does yours go, and is the element on or off when this happens?

Bear

 

[Murray]

Element is on, say heating to 150F, the MES element does not shut off, keeps heating till I do a “manual shutdown”. First time this happened climbed to 287F till I shut it down. Masterbuilt claims it’s the extension cord. Have had this happen with all my cords so I’m thinking something isn’t quite right with the controller. Hit and miss.

 

[old smokey nj]

Hey Murray are you using the bluetooth app? Every time I used the app, the unit would spike. The display would say like 800° (even though it can't go above 275°). I'm not sure what the actual temp inside was - I was too busy freaking out about the high temp. I stopped using the bluetooth, and it never spiked again.

And Bear...The buck board bacon came out awesome! So even with vacuum sealing, it worked out fine. I'm still going to leave air in the bag and vac seal next time - I feel better being able to see the juices as it cures. Thanks again for all your guidance on this!!!

 

[Bearcarver]

Element is on, say heating to 150F, the MES element does not shut off, keeps heating till I do a “manual shutdown”. First time this happened climbed to 287F till I shut it down. Masterbuilt claims it’s the extension cord. Have had this happen with all my cords so I’m thinking something isn’t quite right with the controller. Hit and miss.

Sounds like a controller problem to me, but You’re asking about this in the wrong place. Not enough of the right people are seeing it, and it’s hijacking my “Step by Step”. I don’t mind a little of that for a good cause, like yours, but you would do better starting a new thread, with the subject line something like “MES Element Won’t Shut Off at set point”, or send a Private Message to @tallbm, and ask him for help. He’s my Goto guy on Electronics.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

And Bear...The buck board bacon came out awesome! So even with vacuum sealing, it worked out fine. I'm still going to leave air in the bag and vac seal next time - I feel better being able to see the juices as it cures. Thanks again for all your guidance on this!!!

That’s Great Smokey!!
I’m real glad you’re enjoying that BBB!!
And I agree—-Vac Sealing is fine, but I’d leave it a little loose.

• Bear