Curing large quantity

[Sloewerider911]

hey all!. Im about to do a large run of bacon, like almost 300lbs. I've never done this much at once and wondering if there's a better way to cure so many bellies at one time. Usually I mix my cure for each belly separately, then apply to the meat and vac seal it and toss it in the fridge for 10days - 2 week, turning every other day. This has always turned out perfect for me and anyone that has had some. But with 25 bellies, that will be a lot of expensive vac bags. So, for anyone that has done large quantities here, what did you do?

 

[daveomak]

The cost per pound is the same.... one belly or 25 bellies...

I don't use vac bags... I feel the compressed meat is not absorbing the ingredients properly....
I put the bellies in a plastic tub... stack them... and rotate the stack every few days... Cure mix is weighed for each belly... applied to the meat side and meat to meat stack... The liquid in the tub will reabsorb...

 

[gary s]

Lot of Meat, never done that amount

Gary

 

[pc farmer]

Pops brine would the easiest for that many lbs.

 

[pops6927]

We did over 300# of bellies at a time at my dad's store. Buy a 55 gallon drum and stack the bellies in it. Then make up 50 gallons of Pop's Curing Brine and cover in curing brine and weigh down so they don't float.

Pops6927's Curing Brines - Regular and Lo-Salt

These are my Curing brines for pork, beef (corned and dried), poultry, and so on. Regular Curing Brine: 1 gallon of clean water 1 cup plain, regular non-iodized table salt 1 cup sugar or sucrolose 1 cup brown sugar or sucrolose equiv. 1...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Let cure for 21 days. Take out and smoke to a minimum if 135° for partially cooked or 145° for fully cooked internal temp!

 

[JC in GB]

I agree with the brine approach suggested here. I would do all ingredient measures by weight.

for each 100lbs (45 kg) of meat plus water

113 grams cure #1
788 grams salt
833 grams sugar

So if you use 50 lbs of water for 50 lbs of meat you would use the same amounts as if you had 10 lbs of water and 90 lbs of meat. Ratios are per 100 pounds of ingredients.

JC