Bacon curing in fridge, lack of liquid in bag?

[Chasdev]

I'm doing my first pork belly bacon run and used digging dog caculator for salt and curing salt.
Only other thing I added was brown sugar and all three were rubbed in before going into the bag and into in the fridge.
Aiming for 14 days and am about a week in.
The bag showed some liquid for two or three days (not much liquid mind you) but now when I flip it over I can't see or feel any liquid at all.
So is this normal or should I intervene berfore the brine time is up?

 

[TNJAKE]

Perfectly normal. Keep on curing!

 

[chopsaw]

The bag showed some liquid for two or three days (not much liquid mind you) but now when I flip it over I can't see or feel any liquid at all.

That's perfect and what you want . The salt and cure are doing their job , pulling some liquid out and soaking it back in .
Like Jake said , keep going .

 

[SmokinAl]

Happens all the time, Don’t know why there is more juice in some bags than others, but they all turn out good. If you vacuumed the bags, you won’t see much moisture at all. I vacuum mine, but not tight so the juice can move around in the bag. It would be just the same in a zip lock bag, but I just feel safer with the vac seal. No leaks in the fridge.
Al

 

[crankybuzzard]

I just pulled out a bag that had been curing for 10 days and almost zero moisture as well.

Like others have said, it's normal and the next batch you may have more than you did this time. Each cut of meat has it's own way of acting.

 

[thirdeye]

The amount of bag liquid is variable, even when curing pieces from the same belly, but in separate bags. I tend to put 2 or 3 tablespoons of purified water in each bag to prime the pump so to speak. And usually by day 7 or 8 I hardly see any liquid when I flip.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Not a drop in my 6 bags either... started curing on the 5th. Sometimes there is some, other times not. Good to see several members here doing their 1st try at bacon!

Ryan

 

[indaswamp]

Just a note here....fat is only around 15% moisture while lean meat is around 75% moisture so it really depends on if the belly is fatty or lean as to how much fluid is released then reabsorbed.

 

[crankybuzzard]

Just a note here....fat is only around 15% moisture while lean meat is around 75% moisture so it really depends on if the belly is fatty or lean as to how much fluid is released then reabsorbed.

Most excellent point!

 

[chopsaw]

really depends on if the belly is fatty or lean as to how much fluid is released then reabsorbed.

Yup , and it can happen fast too . Just because you never see it doesn't mean it was never there .

 

[DougE]

Normal. Some pieces give up some liquid and reabsorb it and others don't. Carry on.

 

[thirdeye]

Just a note here....fat is only around 15% moisture while lean meat is around 75% moisture so it really depends on if the belly is fatty or lean as to how much fluid is released then reabsorbed.

Good point. I cut my last pork belly into 3-pieces, each one had a different ratio of lean-to-fat, and that was reflected in the liquid in the bags. On the top piece in this picture, I cut off the first 1-1/4" of the leading edge before slicing.

 

[Chasdev]

Sadly mine is mostly fat, pretty much all I can find around here at the mainstream grocery stores.
Next time I'm heading to a butcher shop and see if they speak bacon belly.
I used a vac seal bag but just ran the seal function so all air remained.
I'm stoked to make my own!

 

[DougE]

Belly is generally pretty fatty. If you want something meatier, go with buckboard next go.

 

[thirdeye]

Sadly mine is mostly fat, pretty much all I can find around here at the mainstream grocery stores.
Next time I'm heading to a butcher shop and see if they speak bacon belly.
I used a vac seal bag but just ran the seal function so all air remained.
I'm stoked to make my own!

The reality is... the producers package the products that come in each day, they have no control over the quality. It's up to the buyer to choose what's available.

 

[DougE]

Buckboard bacon.

 

[crankybuzzard]

Sadly mine is mostly fat, pretty much all I can find around here at the mainstream grocery stores.
Next time I'm heading to a butcher shop and see if they speak bacon belly.
I used a vac seal bag but just ran the seal function so all air remained.
I'm stoked to make my own!

Sadly? Heck, you havent tried it yet. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

Let that stuff finish, fry some up and see what you got!

You'll find that fatty bacon from the store is a LOT different than the fatty bacon you make at home.

Hang in there, you'll probably be amazed at what you create!

 

[Chasdev]

Buckboard bacon.

View attachment 686059

So is that pork belly or from a different area of the belly normally used for bacon?
Never seen it like that before.

 

[chopsaw]

So is that pork belly or from a different area of the belly normally used for bacon?
Never seen it like that before.

Cut from the shoulder . I use the fat cap side of a pork butt . Looks more like bacon .

 

[Chasdev]

Ah so, very interesting.
Tastes like bacon then?
The wife loves pulled pork (she's from Memphis) so this may be a win-win for me.